Friday, 28 February 2014

One month on

So the task didn't exactly go according to plan this month. I'll tell you for why.

One week into my trauma and orthopaedics rotation, I played a bit of sunday night football and during that sunday night football, I managed to damage myself. My right little finger took the brunt of a fall onto the turf and, working in a hospital in amongst hand specialists, I got myself checked out. Turns out that I have a volar plate injury. Now by no means is this a crippling injury but in terms of playing guitar obsessively and improving my string skills...well you can imagine it's not quite cricket.

So anyway, that aside, in other news, I have witnessed the return of my doppelganger. Now this person, whoever it may be, simply will not leave me alone. It seems he has ventured out of London and is now closer to my place of work in Reading. The other day, I was stopped in the street by a reasonably old and slightly creepy man. He carried a Tescos bag in one hand, the contents of which looked dubious. His exact words were, 'You were in the shop weren't you.' It was a statement and not a question. Needless to say, I was most certainly not in the shop - something that I proceeded to tell him in no uncertain terms. At first he refused to believe me (no word of a lie). When I again reiterated that I had in fact not been in any commercial outlets that day, he replied with the words, 'well it was someone who looked EXACTLY like you.' The identity of this imposter continues to evade me. One day I'll find him. One day.

Of note this month, I have been surprisingly successful in celebrity spots. Having ended the month with a week off to continue the 3rd draft of my novel (Its coming along well), I found myself first of all face to face with KT Tunstall. In real life, as my FB posts will tell you, she is very small. But also pretty damn hot. And then I saw Nadia from Big Brother. Not as good a spot, I'll grant you but a spot nonetheless.

Anyway, not much more to tell you. Next month, I depart from London for good and I will be moving into my new flat if all goes well. It will be a sad but exciting time. As such it promises to be a busy month full of recovering volar plates and possibly some developing six packs.

Until next time.

W

Saturday, 1 February 2014

I'm back!

So it's been a while. I thought it would be appropriate to kick start my new blogging extravaganza as I come to the end of my first six months back at work. In some ways it has flown, though in others, my year out seems a long way back. I move from general medicine next week onto trauma and orthopaedics, and in their wisdom, they have started me on call. This means one very simple thing - for all those in the Reading area of the UK, it would be a pretty bad idea to break any bones next Wednesday. Just saying.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I wanted to create a video that summed up everything I did in my year out which I have done. It lasts 35 minutes, so I'll only put it up on youtube for those who are interested. Otherwise, if you see me around, get me to play it to you! It serves as a great memory, but as they say the show must go on.

In the last six months, I have got back into medicine, bought a flat and finished the second draft of my novel. The novel requires one more draft I think before I release it to a wider audience so stay vigilant. The band Gun Hill Riffs have really developed as well and we are now on the verge of releasing an EP and commencing some regular gigs. We have a website - http://gunhillriffs.com/ - so be sure to check us out and spread our songs!

The purpose of restarting the blogs is two fold. Firstly, it's a great way to document things that happen and hopefully share some cool stuff. Secondly, its a way to push myself forward once again by way of the tasks that I left back in my year out. With work a large part of my life once again, it is sensible I think to reduce these from weekly tasks to monthly tasks. This gives me the chance to address things from a slightly different angle but as always, there will be a list to tick off on this blog, full of old tasks not quite managed and new ones still to be conquered. As always, suggestions are welcome. (Nothing too illegal)

I'm going to kick off this month with something a bit different. I have been playing guitar since I was about 16 but in the past few months seem to be playing the same songs over and over with the band. This is no bad thing of course, but I now set myself the task of bettering my skills on the strings and diversifying my style. Difficult to benchmark I know but something to focus on.

So, next month I will return and tell you what's been going down, how my task has been going and anything else awesome that pops into my head. Suggestions and comments are welcome, as are pints of beer. Until next time!