Harry Potter Sunday :)

Well, Adam and I finally went to see the last Harry Potter film today. I've been waiting to see it, and wanted to get to the cinema before I start work full time and won't have all the free time that I'm used to now. And it was definitely worth the wait (and the £15 for two tickets, cheers Adam! <3 ) it stayed true to the book in all the important ways. The films are never a substitute for the books, but it makes me happy to see the books come to life. I've loved these stories so much, and have such an emotional attachment to the characters. Reading the books, I've felt like I've lived through the stories along with them, sharing adventures and battling dark wizards along with Harry and his friends. And every time a favorite character was killed off, it was like losing a friend. Recently I went through and re-read all the books, and even though I know the story by heart and there was no more anticipation of what would happen from one page to the next, the story still had the same emotional impact through all of the happiest and saddest parts. I think I could read them 100 times over, and they would still be as beautiful and sad and inspiring each time. It's sad to see all the films come to an end now too, but I'm glad that I've gotten to see them all. Truly, this is one of the best-told stories of our time. Hats off to JK Rowling and this wonderful tale she's created, and the whole cast and crew of all the films who brought these stories to life on screen. The message of courage and friendship and loyalty and strength and hope and love, the wise words of Dumbledore, and all we've learned from Harry's adventures will always stay with me, even though the story's had it's end. Ok, I know it's a bit geeky that I'm gushing on about it, but it's one of my favorite stories, and has meant so much to me.

So, this has been my Sunday afternoon, happily basking in Potter-mania :) Guess it's an appropriate day for it too, on the birthdays of both JK Rowling and Harry Potter. Sundays for me since I've moved here have always been a day to spend with Adam, having a lie-in in the mornings, then going grocery shopping, having Sunday brunch, and either having a lazy afternoon, or going out and doing something together or with family. I guess Sundays will change now, once I'll be working on them probably more often than not, soon enough. That's one things that I'll miss, not having as many days to spend with Adam anymore. But still, when I remember how it was when I still lived back in Delaware... at least I'll always come home to him every night, and even just a few hours to spend together every day is a lot more than we had back then. I'm just so thankful for where I am now, for Adam, for the places I love, for the stories that have been an inspiration, for the characters that have been my friends, for all the little things in life that bring me happiness. For the fish pie I'm about to be having for tea :) and for knowing there are always things to look forward to, and the good times and the stories that have already happened can always be revisited in memories.


Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?  -Dumbledore

First day yesterday

So yesterday was my first full shift at work, and I think it went well, I was happy enough to be there and keeping busy, even spending much of the day clearing tables and washing dishes was ok with me. It's just good to have a job to go to that's a pleasant enough environment, and it's one more thing that makes me feel more like I'm really living here now. The people there are nice enough, although I think it'll take some time to break the ice a bit, so to speak. I'm not always good with getting to know new people, and I still feel a bit out of my element sometimes, being in a new country. And since I tend to be introverted anyways, sometimes people don't understand why I'm quiet, I guess. But I felt a lot less nervous yesterday than I did on my "trial" day earlier in the week. I've spent some time at the counter, sort of expediting for whoever is on the till, and had about five minutes learning to pull shots on the espresso machine, which is a lot different to the one we had at Brew-Haha. It was just too busy at that point for me to start learning though, and I think that will be the challenge, finding time when it's not too busy for me to try it out and get used to it. But I'm sure it'll work out and sooner or later it'll be second nature to me. For now I have off until Thursday, as I think the schedule had already been done when I was added to it and there weren't many open spots for me to be added on, but the following week I'm on for four days, and after that five days a week for the rest of August. So I suppose I should enjoy my free time while I have it, LOL, and anyways, it'll give me time hopefully to see the dr. in the beginning of next week, I need to give them a call Monday morning and get in ASAP. My symptoms haven't been bothering me in the past day, I suppose since yesterday I was too busy at work to be stressed by anything else, and when I can relax and not stress then these symptoms really do become no more than a dull roar here and there. But I know better than to think it's gone just because I'm feeling better for now, if I ignore it now it'll just come back again next time I get stressed about something. Best to deal with it now before it happens again.

Anyways, here it is Saturday morning, Adam's at work today so it's just a quiet day to myself. I think there's supposed to be a street festival going on outside today, so I might wander outside later if the weather brightens up a bit. No plans this weekend, but some downtime will be nice enough.

pains again

So the pains around my left rib cage and side have been back again since last week. This has been an ongoing thing for months now, where it starts up and causes me to worry about what's going on, while it seems that worrying like that only exacerbates the symptoms. Then it goes away for a bit, but always comes back again at some point, usually at times when I'm stressed or nervous or upset about something, and tends to also be linked to stomach issues (either IBS-type symptoms, or a burning-acidy feeling) and I've been wondering why all this time, these things seem to be related, when the dr. thought that the pains were related to a muscular inflammation. So I Googled my symptoms today, and a lot of people who are describing the same symptoms that I have are saying that their problems have been either stomach or gallbladder-related, as part of your stomach is located in that area under the breast and around the rib cage where I've been feeling the pain. I wonder if this has been the answer all along. Not that I want it to be a serious stomach issue, I just want to know once and for all what's going on and how to feel better, especially if it's something that will only get worse if it goes untreated too long. I think now it's time to go back to the dr. and make them do something else besides telling me to take OTC medications. Obviously even when those help to ease the symptoms, it's not making it go away completely. I just have to see now when I'm not working next week and can make an appt. for. I really hope I'm going to have an answer soon. It would take a lot of worry off of my mind, and I think that in itself would help to make me feel a bit better too.

Not much else going on besides my dodgy pains. Just a quiet day at home today, cleaning a bit, doing laundry and stuff, and then probably just reading for much of the afternoon. I'm currently re-reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, a favorite of mine that I like to revisit sometimes. It's a really great time-travel/historical/adventure/love story, that my mom recommended to me and I was skeptical about it first, but I ended up falling in love with the characters. I absolutely love to read, and any characters that I can get really emotionally tied to will be a story that I'll become quite passionate about. Tonight I'll probably watch more of Heroes Season 1 with Adam. We've just started watching it this week, and so far it's pretty interesting. Tomorrow's my first full shift at work, so hopefully that'll go well. Then I think it'll just be a quiet weekend, but we'll see I guess. Onwards and upwards, one day at a time.

moving on over from LiveJournal

Hello Google Bloggers :) I've been over at LiveJournal since last year, but sadly their technical difficulties are becoming more and more frequent, and I'm losing patience. So I'm giving Google a try.

I don't know that I'll always have anything of much interest to say, but I like to write about what's on my mind, or the things that are going on in my life, which isn't always very much. I suppose I'll start with a few basics about me and my story. I'm an American living in Leeds, England. Just moved out here at Christmastime last year, and got married three months ago. Shortly after which I was granted permission to work in the UK, and as of yesterday I'm now an employee at Costa Coffee. I had worked in a coffee shop for the last five years, before I moved here, so it's sort of what I do. Actually, my last post at LiveJournal was going to be about how I just got this job, and I copied it before I lost it, so I guess I'll go ahead and share it here then...

So, I had my trial yesterday at Costa, and I got the job! It hit me when I first went in yesterday, how scary a first day at a new job can be. It had been so long since I've been new at a job, I'm much more used to be the one training new people, not being the one being trained. And add to that how it's my first day working in a new country and all, and having to be extra-aware of listening harder to people with strong accents or who are soft-spoken, and remembering all the different words and phrases to say instead of the American words for things that I'd normally say just out of habit. And I haven't gotten any strange looks yet, so I suppose I'm communicating alright so far, LOL :) but I was feeling pretty timid and reserved, and afraid to make any disastrous mistakes. It can be pretty intimidating, getting everything thrown at you at once like that, but I just remembered how it was like that when I started at Brew-Haha, and I did pick things up a bit more every day that I was there, until it became second nature, so I'm sure it'll be much the same here too. By the end of the three-hours, I did feel like I was getting a fairly good handle on the basics. My next shift is on Friday, and it'll be my first full-length shift. So for now I have today and tomorrow to relax, and not have to worry about looking for jobs anymore. I'm really glad that I've found something, and don't have to worry anymore about finding a job and how long I could be out of work. Hopefully I'll start to get more and more comfortable there, and I'll be happy enough. I'm sure it'll be ok as long as I go in there and give it my best shot.