The Break

I’m back from Las Vegas. I guess you knew that as I’m sure you all use Facebook. The question to ask seems to be “how was it?” or “how much did you lose/win?”. At the start of the holiday I didn’t really know why I’d decided to tag along. I wasn’t really in the frame of mind to gamble any money, nor was I excited about being across the other side of the world. Las Vegas didn’t seem like the place to unwind and relax. I still don’t think it is.

I adjusted to the strange pace of life after a couple of days and I started to enjoy my time there. After a mini blip with the jet lag and air conditioning screwing up my body for a day, I played my first whirl of slots and the Mojito Magic started. I still had my moments, the hot weather, the ice cold mojitos and the pool-side tanning, washed away my stresses.

There aren’t really many highlights to talk about; I’m not saying the trip was rubbish, far from it. I’m saying, we did some walking, talking, swimming, drinking, eating and gambling. I guess the one thing worth mentioning is the Penn and Teller show at the Rio – thoroughly entertaining. Although some of the tricks were not that impressive, it still was a nice night out.

Although there were a few frustrating moments, some minor disagreements, some frayed tempers, those moments complement the many wonderful memories of my week in Las Vegas. I’m not sure when or if I’ll ever return to that strange city but I had a great time.

O, I only lost around 20 dollars

Jab

As many of you know I’m heading off to Peru for a couple of weeks in the summer. I’ve been delaying it for weeks but I finally booked an appointment with the nurse to get some vaccinations.

I was looking forward to being vaccinated against a wide range of scary diseases such as yellow fever and the nurse was slightly confused by my descriptions of where I was going. Anyway, once the confusion had cleared, we figured out that I was not going to the “extreme risk” regions of Jungle Peru and I was only given a single jab. The single jab, I believe, was for typhoid and hepA but having no written record of what my left arm is battling at the moment I can’t be 100% sure.

I’m not complaining that I’ve only one dead arm to deal with and nothing more serious, but having been told by the same nurse minutes earlier that it was recommended that I took a whole list of other vaccinations a single jab seemed somewhat an anti-climax! I believe the other vaccinations included rabies, tetanus, tb and diphtheria. Thinking about it now, I’ve probably had all those vaccinations before.

Anyway, you know how nurses and doctors always start up a conversation to try and distract you before injecting you with poison. I found today that it was more a case of the conversation drawing attention to the fact that I was going to have a needle stuck in me in a few minutes. I was perfectly calm and ready for the vaccination before the nurse started yapping about languages and culture! Also, do they really have to hold the needle upright and flick the needle right in front of your face!

Anyway, despite all it’s shortcomings, the NHS is awesome! I can get my drug fix on demand!

The pharmacist at Boots however is another matter. I needed to buy anti-malarial tablets for my trip and requested a couple of different types. The pharmacist decided that because they appeared to have only the one on the shelf, that that would be enough and persuaded me that it was one of those “combination” things. A second opinion at Superdrug proved her wrong…. meaning I need to find a pharmacy where they stock the other malarial tablets I need. Grr…

Today is the start of Euro 2008, one of the biggest sporting events in the world and especially Europe. It may also be the last time that I get to watch the championships too – not just because of the linked article, but because I’m heading off to the other side of the world shortly.

A few things are coming up in the next few weeks. There’s my premature leaving do next Saturday (that I hope all of you will come to) and the Summer Ball the following Saturday. In between all the partying I have to wrap up my final year project report, give a presentation and hopefully, fingers crossed, get my code to do what I want it to do!

I don’t know if it’s a side effect of hayfever but I’ve had a sore throat for the last few days. My attempts to fight it off with isojin and lemsip but seem to wake up worse off as each day passes! It sort of reminded me that I have to make a trip to the GP to sort out my hayfever prescriptions and also any vaccinations for the trip to Peru.

I seem to be just blabbering on about a plethora of topics today. I suppose it reflects my current state of mind.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to balance the football watching with the project work but I have half an hour to put in some solid coding before the opening match starts! None of the home nations are participating this tournament, which I guess cuts out all the disappointments but does cause a bit of a dilemma in deciding who to support.

I was thinking today that I should probably figure out exactly what I was going to do come the Summer. I know I’m already jetting off to Las Vegas for a week post-uni.