The Passage: A Book Review

I have finally finished the slog that was 1008 pages, and to be truly honest, I think the only reason I carried on past the 30% mark, was the tea and book challenge.

It started off promising, and you started to 'feel' the characters and really become interested in their story. Written like a crime thriller, it kept me captivated and intrigued. And then, it all of a sudden jumps to a whole new set of characters in a whole new time zone, and for a while is just seriously baffling. I must admit, sticking with it, it eventually became quite gripping again, but with such a disappointing ending, I feel like it was a waste of all those pages. My first criticism is that it is far too long, and for what is achieved, I think the book could have been half the length. My second, that it felt like two split books, written by different authors, which made it confusing. Having said this, I like the concept of the story, and it did have some great characters (some not so great), maybe with some heavy editing, an okish book could have been a great one??

That's 2 out of 4 for my book challenge......now what to choose next?

xoxo

Catch Up Time

I haven't been great at keeping up with the blogging, I will blame the never-ending stretch of night-shifts I seemed to have been dealt! But now I am off for a whole week, with time for me me me :)

The Diet

Now on to day 13 of the diet I have reached 8st 8lb. My original target was 8st, but I think I have decided on 8st 7lb as my target now. Firstly, the loss of half a stone has made what feels like a difference to my overall size, but today will tell, as later I plan to dig out the tape measure and see how much change there really has been. But also because I this diet was never about being fat, just having put a little extra on, and wanting to loose that, and get back in shape. So really, I don't want to go overboard, I'm not looking to start a career in modelling after all. So once the final pound has dropped, I am going to enter the consolidation phase, and start introducing carbs again, which to be honest I think makes for a better all-rounded diet. I am going to up the exercise too. One thing that I have got out of this (as well as the weight loss), is realising how much I had been depriving my body of water, and also, that really I had just got greedy. I think I have probably halved my appetite, especially on night shifts. My will-power has stayed pretty strong and I have only slipped once when on night 5/5 I had a Mcd's breakkie on my way home. Okay, so if I was going to cheat, I could have been a little better, but why do things by half. In fact, it gave me an immense stomach ache and I didn't enjoy it at all......serves me right really!

The Book

Having some annoying insomnia since 4ish this morning, I have made it to 75% through the Passage. At about 33% of the way, I was ready to give up, it's not the best book I have read, and nor can I see why it has to be so long......did the author get paid per page? However, saying this, it seems to be improving again, or maybe this is just because I know I am nearing the end??

So, on my day off, up at 7am, tea in hand, I think I will finish my book and crack on with the boring housework chores and enjoy the rest of my week off. Hurrahh!

xoxo

Dukan Day 6: Who knew vegetables were such an exciting prospect!

So a lapse in up-dates, but with my night shifts and looming essay deadline, I have been pre-occupied. Today I start day 6 of the dukan diet, which means the protein only phase is over, and I can now eat some vegetables. I can honestly say that this has never seemed such an exciting prospect until now. The diet has been relatively ok, I mean I love meat, and haven't felt overly restricted, but have started to get fed up of the one texture, and can't wait to crunch on a raw carrot.

I have stood by my guns and churned some will-power out of somewhere and haven't lapsed or cheated. I have lost a total of 4lb in the protein attack phase, my aim was 5 so not too bad considering there was one day with no weight loss at all. I think I could do with cutting down on the eggs though, but they do seem to form the base of so many recipes.

I have been pro-active once again, and searched the internet for suitable recipes, and also found out from a friend that many of the slimming world recipes can be used (some with minor alterations), and have planned a weeks worth of menus to stick on the fridge and help me get through the next stage.

Now, I am said to be cruising. I have chosen to complete 5 days of alternating protein and veg and pure protein, and at the end of this 5 days will move on to a protein day followed by 5 protein and veg days and completed with a protein day. I will compare the weight loss over these two periods and then decide what pattern to stick with until reaching the target weight.

Continuing with my reading challenge, and using my kindle as a distraction from food thoughts, I have started the next book in my reading challenge; The Passage.....and it seems that it's just starting to get interesting!! (Book Review will follow, however, I am only 22% in, so might be a while!)

xoxo

Dukan Day 2

I found the protein filled meat feast a little easier last night, and have already noticed my hunger subsiding. I am also finding it easier to take all these fluids on board, and did prepare myself well for last nights shift and took plenty of skimmed milk for tea and coffee, I had a great crew mate with a flask too, so hot drinks were on tap!

I once again had not managed to do my 20mins of exercise before my night shift, and no patients appeared to be on the top floor or require carrying, so I need to step up my game there! I even had the will-power to turn down chocolates that were given to us by a patient. So I now start Dukan Day 3 and Night Shift 3 weighing in at 8 stone 13lb, and even managed to squeeze in a 20min session of Zumba on the wii before I have to go to work. Go Me!!

xoxo

War Horse: A Book Review

It's a just a short one, both my review and the book! I was able to read it at work a chapter or two in between each patient, and luckily for my crew mate who wanted to read it but doesn't have time due to revision she got a synopsis at the end of each chapter.

A very heartwarming story, narrated by a horse named Joey who is sent to war. Encompasses the issues with war and soldiers on the frontline and within their camps. Poor Joey has a succession of owners and riders, some far better and more loving than others, looses his best friends in battle (both horse and rider), and comes through the other side with a miraculous recovery for tetanus. It definitely tugs on the heart strings in places and is written to be full of emotion! Turns out to be a happy ever after story that leaves you with a smile on your face. Really looking forward to the stage production and film!

xoxo

Back to Work and Dukan Day 1

So after three weeks off, I put my uniform back on and drove into work feeling both a little nervous and anxious. As  I pulled up at the station, so did another student paramedic that I have worked with before, and we discovered we were rostered together. Thank God! Somebody nice to work with to ease me back in. And well, what can I say after the first job, it was like I hadn't been away at all. Well what I mean is, that getting back in the saddle so to speak wasn't as nerve wrecking as I thought. We had a difficult and upsetting job which is never the best start to a run of night shifts, but other members of staff were very supportive.

So night shift number 1 also co-incided with Dukan Day 1. Jeeze I have never had to wee so much! I stuck rigidly to the regime, ate only proteins and drank huge amounts of fluids. Every time we had a patient that didn't want to go to hospital, I panicked about not being near a hospital. My stomach did rumble at one-point and I hadn't taken quite enough food to work with me to see me through the 12-hour shift so I replaced my hunger with cups of black tea (no skimmed milk available) and also took my kindle to work and to try and distract me from thinking about food, I just read. So on the scales after day 1, I am 1 pound down. Let's hope it picks up a little, or if nothing else at least stays steady at a pound a day.

xoxo

4am

It is almost 4am, and I REALLY should be getting my essay sorted, but instead, after 3 weeks off of work, I am preparing myself for a number of things. Firstly, the first of four 12 hour night shifts (hence the reason I am awake until the early hours getting ready to sleep all day), secondly the Dukan diet, and although I ate very well last night, the simple thought of it is already making my stomach rumble. And lastly, to choose and start another book.

The christmas decorations all came down last night, which I always feel is a little sad, and I still didn't manage to buy any wise men to come and visit my baby Jesus....maybe next year. Putting the decorations away managed to cause WW3 in our household as I seem to have accumulated a few to many sparkling splendours and they didn't quite all fit into the hide'y hole cupboard under the stairs. Ooops. Can I just note that this will not stop me from buying more next year, I LOVE christmas.

The shopping arrived today in preparation for my forthcoming diet regieme. I have a mantra ready to chant when times get hard 'I will be skinnier than my mum' and a rigid plan stuck to the fridge to put a stop to temptation. Having already had two dinner invites next week, I have no idea how or where I will find the will-power required.

I am quite excited about the prospect of the book challenge (see last post), and even more excited about all the book blogs I have since discovered. I have followed a few, and intend to think about joining a few more challenges. For now, I have decided what books to read over 700 pages, but I do have the whole year for the challenge to be completed, so am undecided whether to dive straight in there with another hefty number, or read something on the lighter side.

And lastly, I know I keep going on about it, but this essay is going nowhere fast. After creating a huge pile of chaos, I really thought I had it all going in the right direction. But 1004 words later (only 396 of my word limit left) I have a lot of waffle and only half of the necessary content. Bummer! Considering there is so much riding on the damn thing, I should be able to find more motivation to get it completed.

Oh well. So I'm off to scour the kindle and pick my next read.

Tea and Books Reading Challenge

So now you can tell I am really trying to avoid writing my essay! After a quick flick through other people's blogs (In search of how blogging should really be done), I have come across

so have decided to join the challenge and have chosen the level of Berry Tea Devotee, which means that I have to read 4 books with over 700 pages in. I am waiting to find out if I can include Shantaram as number 1, or if I have to start from scratch. So now the hard bit is choosing the books......will update accordingly and of course with my progress.

And for now, back to Law and ethics...........


*UPDATE*

I have chosen the four books I will include in the challenge:
1. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts 933pgs
2. A Game of Thrones - George R.R.Martin 864pgs
3. The Passage - Justin Cronin 1008pgs
4. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 848pgs

I have chosen these from a list of books I had wanted to read but that also fit the challenge. Secondly, last year I aimed to read a classic on every 5th book, but didn't do so well, so by choosing Anna Karenina I am hoping to start this personal challenge again too.

xoxo

Shantaram: A Book Review

It's not something I have actually done since school. I keep a book record as such and list all of the fictional books I have read each year, and I do scribble a couple of lines: 'easy read, well written, story about....' etc, but I have't literally reviewed a book since I was in school. I have just finished reading a book called Shantaram. It was my tree present from my husband's nana. I had put it on my amazon wish list as somebody I met recently recommended it. Being so used to my Kindle now, I couldn't believe how huge this tree book was, and how clumsy I felt trying to hold and read it. I really thought I was going to hate a kindle but they are a pretty amazing piece of technology.....and who am I kidding I love a new gadget.

But I digress. Don't read below if you don't want to know too much about this book, although in my opinion it quite simply cannot be spoiled.

Words cannot describe how powerful this book is. I have read books with pituresque, idillic sounding settings and thought 'Oh, wouldn't it be nice to go there', but NEVER did I think I could read a book set in a slum in bombay and want to travel there so much. A book about a man with a heroin habit, that commits armed robbery, escapes from prison in australia and becomes a fugitive hiding out in the eclectic city of Bombay. He commits more crime, falls in love, becomes a slum doctor, joins the mafia, goes to war, and to top it all off disguises a dancing bear as the elephant god Ganesh. Summing it up, it sounds ridiculous, but even more ridiculous, this story (true life), has covered not only crime and warfare, but love, religion, philosophy, spirituality and the ideology of both right and wrong in such as passionate, powerful and gripping way that you felt that you were living the trials and tribulations of Lin with him. Not only is it an amazing story that I have not been able to put down (933 pages in only 6 days), it is so beautifully written, that I feel like the characters are my friends and family also, and I too felt the sorrow of their deaths, mutilations and punishments, but also the joy they shared. I take my hat of to this author, for not only living through this strange experience, whatever wrongs he committed, he learnt right from wrong, for the right reasons, and learnt most importantly how to forgive, and he has created a very moving novel that will touch many.

Through amazon I have discovered there is a sequel to Shantaram, out later this year, and honestly, I cannot wait! I'm not sure what to read next now??

xoxo

A Windy Start: Law and Ethics or Housework??

Whilst every facebook and twitter status has also commented on it today, I am just going to chip in and wonder what on earth all that wind was about last night/this morning. I had the worst nights sleep, which has not helped in the slightest with my plan for an 'organised and productive' day. Tonight I think I will have to tape the letterbox and the door knocker down.

So today I was supposed to get up and write a Law and Ethics essay (yawn yawn yawn). They tell me that by the end of my training this will help me be a better paramedic......now if only I could find the motivation to get scribbling. It's not even that its not interesting, I thought the topic would send me to sleep, but it is the fact that it is going to be inconsistently scrutinised by people that are perhaps not quite up-to-scratch with marking schemes and methods, or at least that's how it seems. Also, my local library is pants, and whilst there is a whole shelf of law text books on hubby's bookshelf, none seem to include medical law and ethics so I don't exactly have a great set of references to get me going. I managed a hatched plan and have now moved the subject to the very (very) back of my mind.

Instead, I continued to read my book, did the washing (I know things are bad when I turn to chores as a source of amusement) and eat as many carbs and left over chocolate in possible in preparation for my all protein attack phase diet. Two days left of freely eating and drinking before I turn into a serious grouch.

On the up-side I also did some great online shopping today and bought a full length evening gown from monsoon (£160 reduced to £55), and LBD (£85-£40) and a little pink number (£75-£20). I don't really have the money, but hey who can resist a bargain!!

Tomorrow I really must get this essay under my belt and am returning to Zumba! My predicition.............It's going to be a painful day.

xoxo

2012 Begins

So, I'm not entirely sure that anyone is going to be interested in what I have to say, but from briefly reading a few blogs I don't think it entirely matters. I always used to try and keep a diary or journal, but it really is so time consuming, that I no longer update them, and to be honest, it may also be the case with this, but I will give it a whirl.


2012 hasn't exactly started as I hope for it to go on, but it has made me think about all the things that I want to do, perhaps not all this year (I think my list may be a little ambitious for 365 days), and what better way than to record it all and just see how much I can manage. Now much of the 'stuff' on my list is of very little importance, just niggley little things that I never get round to doing, or half finished projects that I want to pick up and complete. I would also like a venting ground, like many of my colleagues, although I am not entirely sure at this moment where the land lies with blogging about my job (although so many people have brilliant and fascinating blogs on the subject), so this is definitely something high up on my 'to-do list' to find out and hopefully put into practice.


I am currently reading one of the most amazing books I have EVER read, and will recommend to everybody. It's called Shantaram and is truly inspiring. I think it partly has a lot to do with the birth of this blog, and the realisation that there is still so much out there to discover and do. I have made no real new years resolutions, but do aim to complete as many 'things', 'tasks', 'goals' from my list, and I guess keep discovering and adding to it. If I pick up a few friends or followers along the way, then that will be an extra bonus.


The start of 'The List'
1. Read more - aim is at least 26 novels a year
2. Use my camera more and blog with pictures as well as words - maybe a project 52??
3. Start the Dukan diet and actually stick to it (This begins on Friday 6th - could be some moody blogginh to follow.......I hate being hungry)
4. Study harder and not just for exams
5. Put together a more professional portfolio
6. Travel abroad as a volunteer in a medical capacity
7. Finish all the crochet projects I started last year
8. Choose and apply for a masters degree
9. Get involved in public education
10. Pay of my debts (This should probably be top of the list)
11. Spend some time on a maternity unit
12. Spend some time in a minor injuries unit
13. Be more organised
14. Have more time for my Husband (this sounds bad, I have a lot of love and time for him, but am not always great at sharing it out well with my shift patterns)
15. Learn a useful language
16. Learn Sign language
17. Decorate the hallway
18. Get a new kitchen floor
19. Buy a new bed
20. Invest in a dishwasher 
21. Go to Zumba classes
22. Spend more time with family
23. Complete my paramedic training (also another thing that should be higher in my list)
24. Learn about world history

25. Doing an advanced ECG course

26. Getting back my drive and will-power (And maybe working out what has driven it out of me over the past couple of years) I used to be able to put my mind to anything, I now seem so easily distracted.

27. Write more and eventually a book, probably a text book as I'm not overly imaginative or creative with the English Language.

So as I said, not all profound and meaningful, and probably only the start. It's the beginning of 2012, lets see how it all turns out!




xoxo