What I've Learned

Since coming home six months ago I’ve been living a very different life. These are a few things I’ve leaned.

Persistence is everything. Age is a number. There is a place in Wales as beautiful as the Med. I am a geek. I probably believe in karma. XKCD rules. It’s easier than you think to lose your humanity. I can work 75 hour weeks. University is its own isolated, self obsessed bloody amazing little world. Dan Brown is a truly terrible writer. You can never help who you fall for. Or when. This is a good thing. I can’t open a bottle with my mobile phone. I am a feminist. Disney still makes good films. The recession is real. Its never too late to make new friends. The public are often idiots. They are abused because of this. Family is essential. Friends almost equally so. Coming home can make you feel like a stranger. TV is the thief of time. Procrastination can change your world. I am so, so lucky.

Blood

I'm going to go give blood just after Christmas for the last time for at least a year. It got me thinking about what anyone getting my blood would actually receive! In the last five years I have been vaccinated against:

Yellow fever
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Polio
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B x5
Typhoid
Measles, mumps and rubella
Rabies x3
Flu

They should have some kind of special bed just for such rare blood or do some kind of experiment to see if it might be the cure to all ills! The only vaccine I haven't had is one for cholera.....damn. I'm going to get cholera.

Fears.

With just over a month to go i'm getting so excited and jumpy i'm beginning to resemble some kind of electrified meerkat. Gathering bits and pieces which will be invaluable, head light, travel towel, wet wipes, thin books, solar charger... everything small I can think of which will help me live for the next year. At the same time though, at night mostly, or at breaks between listening to people cry and depleting my Karma bank at work, little things have started to worry me.

I'm scared of becoming disheartened, of believing there's no hope. I'm scared of massive spiders. I'm scared of people dying. I'm scared of getting malaria or a tape worm. I'm scared of being alone. I'm scared of getting ill, waking up in hospital with needles in my arm and not knowing where they came from.

I don't want to put a downer on anything, but its cathartic to share these things and get them out in the open. They don't languish in my brain but exist independently here. And, to be honest, if I wasn't a little scared, I think I would be rather stupid.