11 weeks and 5 days

Well this is now the official dating scan thing. The estimated due date is the 25th of October. Tob and I didn't leave ourselves anywhere near enough time to get across Cambridge not to mention the biggest hospital complex I've ever seen. I was 10 minutes late for my appointment but they were running late so Tob had time to catch me up having parked and we went in together.
Having been jellied the woman pushed the ultrasound so hard into my tummy it felt like I was being elbowed in the stomach. It worked though and she found my little pumkin very quickly. we could see the heart beat flashing. I was very moved to see it there, it was really there! I hadn't made it up and it really was this thing alive inside me, growing like mad.
Tob channelled most of his emotions into complaining about the lack of signage in the hospital and being very protective and wanting everything to be straight forward. Once we'd got across Cambridge, back outside my work he got all happy and emotional, letting it sink in. Our baby pumpkin!

I won again on 6 music today!

Yep I did it again, this time the Box Set 3rd Series of Nip Tuck for guessing the last 3 lines of a song. It was New Order - Regret.

I've got my first scan next tuesday :) fingers crossed we have hands, toes and heart in the right place.

Try putting your date of birth (no year) into http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historical_anniversaries and then post the 3 best events, 2 births and 2 deaths on your blog!

I found it hard to stick to just 2 births and deaths though.

Events

• 1865 - History of slavery in the United States: William Henry Seward proclaims that the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution has been ratified by the legislatures of 27 of the then 36 states.
• 1892 - The first performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
• 1969 - Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to remove the limit on the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act, which suspended the death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland for all crimes, except treason, piracy with violence, and certain crimes under the jurisdiction of the armed forces for a period of five years, is carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
  

Births (well they are good ones)

• 1943 - Keith Richards, British guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
• 1946 - Steven Spielberg, American film director 1946 - Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
• 1948 - Bill Nelson, British musician (Be Bop Deluxe) 1963 - Brad Pitt, American actor
  

Deaths (I thought they were all good too)

• 1737 - Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
• 1787 - Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
• 2000 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (b. 1959)

11 weeks - not as sick, still knakkered.

This is what's happening right now in my tum;
The fetus actually looks like a small baby human now. Eyes and ears are completely formed, inside and out. Extend your little finger. That's about the size of the fetus at this time. The weight is approximately 10 grams, or about a third of an ounce.

I still don't have my appointment for a scan, I have to ring the hospital tomorrow. My midwife's phone hasn't been working for a day and a half now. I'll try tomorrow...
Chantal in Holland told me that all the scans we have to pay for over here are standard and free in Holland and that pregnant women get an extra 30mins break at work every day too. I'd regret moving back but I wouldn't have met Toby (ahhhhh).

I think this is such a cool album cover. It's by Regina Spektor and it's called Soviet kitsch, this album will cost me a fiver from amazon along with a load of baby books about pregancy and childbirth I've been recommended to invest in and 2 other CD's from artists I've been admiring lately like Gogol Bordello (Tob really like them too - Gypsy Punks) and the Polysics (The Vapors meets Shonen Knife). It's not often I buy CD's anymore but these ones I am willing to make an exception. La La la! 

kikujiro - 3 stars - interesting.....

Quite a slow film, a bit of a road movie that ended where it started. A boy living with his grandmother wants to visit his Mum who he's never met and doesn't know anything about where she lives or any thing. He finds a picture of her during the summer holidays while he's bored cos all his friends have gone on holiday with their families. A complete asshole, kikujiro is paid by his wife to take the boy to see his mum. Why the woman trusted him I will never know but I suppose it was better than him going across Japan by himself. On the way they meet people, stuff happens, they sort of get to understand each other. Very Japanese, a bit slow and simple in places. It was interesting seeing normal every day Japan, but then again I don't know if it really is...Not sure I'd recommend seeing this film to anyone. 

Serenity - the best Sci Fi film ever ever off the scale

Fabulous, original, intelligent, entertaining, funny, thought provoking and just great to watch over and over again. I wish more action sci fi films has as much script content and decent characters like this has. 

I heart huckabees 4.5 stars out of 5 (even with Jude Law)

I watched this last night and it's hilarious, especially if you have any interest in philosophy or have done any crazy self improvement courses. Jude law has the worst American accent for a brit I've ever heard but every one else was excellent. There are so many bits that if you've done any thing like Landmark it will really crack you up. It reminded us both of Fight Club, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Magnolia in that it is about the empty and meaningless, the brutality, connectedness and that you are everything you could possibly aspire to right now, I am, you are alright I think it takes alot of creativity and insight to take the mick so well out of existentialism and philosophy, it also makes great entertainment. 

10 weeks - feeling sick most of the time, I can sleep for England.

The weekend was really nice! including the rain as I spent time planting summer bulbs, lettuce and kale. I might be taking a bit of a gamble considering it might freeze again but hey, it was a good weekend for gardening.Having spent Sunday morning in the garden, I spent the afternoon in the bath, followed by a sleep then watched Planet Earth in the evening - all about caves. I've been to some of the caves in Mexico - not the ones you have to absail into - the ones I visited involved canoes and torches. It was nice to re-visit them though - it was an amazing thing to see, once you get inside they open out like cathedrals.
I had a phone call from Erik from Holland end of last week, He'd heard via via that I was up the duff and wanted to congratulate me. We had a long conversation Sunday evening about this and that while I made shepherds pie, just in time for Planet Earth. It was with him, coincidentally I visited those caves in the Yucatan 10 years ago. Seems like a lifetime ago.
The next couple of weeks are pivotal in the baby's future - it's the 'fuel tank' transfer to the placenta that if that doesn't happen properly it's that that causes most of the 'M' words.
According the the BBC guide, this is what's happening this week:
The fetus makes plenty of movements, and can wave arms and legs, but you won't feel anything for several weeks yet. The outlines of tiny fingers and toes are just visible, though there are no fully-formed nails yet, and the digits are still fused together. The external genitals of the fetus are visible – before now, there has been no clear difference between boys and girls. The fetus can now wee, and the urine is discharged into the amniotic fluid surrounding it.
and the crucial one - this should happen by the end of this week:
The umbilical cord is fully formed around now, and doing its job of taking nourishment to the developing fetus, as well as taking waste products away.

Stereotypes and Medievel Obscenites...

Friday eve, we watched Firefly and all the DVD extras again!
Saturday I went to the sounds expo at Olympia. By the time I got to Earls Court to get the train to Olympia, I found myself on a platform with about 1000 Indian people of all ages and at first thought
'I've been in East Anglia for too long' then
'These people can't possibly be going to a sound engineers expo at Olympia 2 - I wonder what's on at Olympia 1...'
I finally asked a white middle aged couple if they knew what was on, it was an overseas property expo. I started laughing - Of course! The middle aged couple (the other stereo type for overseas property) they couldn't quite get it though. Then when we got on the train, there was a teenage Indian girl who looked at me and we both started laughing at the stereotypical nature of our circumstances. I was stood next to a black guy in a cool hat, I said
'I guess you are going to the sounds expo' he said yes and we chatted the rest of the way to the Expo about our plans and our families etc.
The expo was smaller than I expected and I had expected a wider range of products. I saw some amazing demos and picked up some brochures on studio supplies and talked to a few people. I talked to a guy who runs 3 day sound and recording courses in Islington - crash courses for people who are maybe musicians who want to get the basics, the course was designed to give you all the important bits of info if you need to record and produce something. I liked the sound of that as it would be good for me to get a background knowledge plus we talked about holding courses at the Plugin in Ely - I'm sure periodically we could muster enough people to hold one in Ely.
It was bitterly cold in London, met my Dad at Kings Cross about 4pm and we headed up to Ely. I'd got tickets to see the RSC perform the Canterbury Tales in Littleport Leisure Centre! it was Fab!
After eating a delish curry that Toby cooked we got picked up by Tob's parents and driven to Littleport for 3 and a half hours of Royal Shakespeare Company excellence. Sword fights, sex scenes, poo, rude words, and religious peculiarities - Chaucer in other words. It took a bit to tune into but it was so well done and funny that it was very universal - I think it's a semi-translation into 16th century English so it sounds more like Shakespeare.
Sunday Rowing, Sunday night I did an ostrich roast for the parents which went down well, we watched the best of the Muppets taped from Saturday night which was sadly disappointing in that it didn't actually show anything for more than 10 seconds and so to bed, another week awaits...

Super Pram with chrome...

Just came back from Tob's parents who really came to the rescue and cooked a delish meat pie with lots of yummy veg. I've been feeling sick all day and couldn't face food and yet was very hungry. I'm not sure what I'd have done if it was up to me to cook. It went down really well and I felt 1000 times better.
It was actually a very cosy visit and we both remarked on the way home what a nice evening we'd had.
Tob's mum has managed to find a proper old fashioned pram with chrome and dark brown leather look trim. I think it's fab, better than the ankle biters you get. I look forward to us wheelying into town!
Ellen's also found a 3 wheeler with pneumatic tyres that's very light and nippy in a charity shop! so we they have a nippy and a super pram which we will no doubt share plus we will probably get a car seat that clips on to a wheel frame so we will have an complete travel system!
These are some of the things that the bbc website say I will be experiencing:

• The fetus' heart is beginning to develop, along with the first blood vessels of the circulation system.
• You might find you need to wee more often – even at night. This is one of the effects of pregnancy hormones.
• Are you tearful or irritable with people you're close to? Mood swings can be a pain in pregnancy. It could be hormones, or a touch of anxiety at the idea of all the coming responsibility.
• You may have been feeling sick, and it may be getting a bit worse. Nausea and vomiting are symptoms of early pregnancy – and though it's a real nuisance, it's usually temporary, and harmless.

Well yes, feeling sick but not being sick. I tell you what, at work, I'm usually a bit outspoken but my response to an email last week informing me that one of the guys was too busy to cover customer support was 'Am I bovered?' I even cc'd the department manager! No repercussions so far though. I think they are scared...

My next favorite punky person, Kerrang have moved on to Green day now. Still happy. 

Watercolour flowers

Ellen made this lovely painting, she did it firstly in oils and this one is a water colour version. We have the original oil painting in our room - the flowers were the enormous bouquet that we had on the table at our wedding. Beautiful. 

Dave Grohl yum.

Got home from IT course just before 10pm, made rice cakes with butter, a cup of tea and a bit of yoghurt. Put telly on, 10pm -10.30pm Dave Grohl special on Kerrang. Made me very a happy.
Boobies very itchy very strange tingling... back to yoghurt and Dave Grohl, Oh yeah and I have Serenity the film on DVD from Amazon rental Yeeppeeee! Guess what I'm doing Friday night... 

6 weeks Pregnant

This is what it says on the bbc personalised calendar for today:
Depressions in the outline of the fetus start to form – they will become the chest and abdominal cavity, ready to develop internal organs. The digestive system starts forming, beginning with the first cells of the stomach and the intestine.

I've found some Fudges Marmite biscuits that are fabulous for munching at work with a pleasing picture of a jar or marmite on the cardboard box. Yum.
I just changed the water bottle on the cooler, I don't think I'll be doing that again for a long while. I'm used to being strong and able to do stuff like that. I going to plead girly stuff next time.
Had a very good girly chat with Sarah who is 12 weeks gone on her second last night, got some good book recommendations as well as lots of good insights into the new world of the P word I'm entering rapidly, hopefully with no turning back.I've discovered that Ovaltine contains Folic acid as well as other good things, it was advertised in one of my mum mags as good for this type of thing and this morning, instead of a good strong coffee, I had ovaltine in my tin mug for the car journey. It was fabulous. I've just realised there might be some sort of connection marketing wise as when you put ovaltine through the spell check, it picks ovulation...
Not as tired today, I definitely have a worse sugar drop from potatoes than from bread, which is wired really, plus potatoes now turn me in to a whoopie cushion.

Monday again, not quite prepared for that.
I'm tired and hungry alot but that's biology...Friday, down the pub met Nevla and his very entertaining friends, that was rather good.
Saturday morning to the shops, saturday afternoon to Little Downham to meet a recording studio and rehearsal studio genius, has made 55 studios so far and is really interested on working on mine. We are off to the warehouse this week to have a good look.
Saturday night with Tobs parents to a quizz at a local school, we came 2nd from bottom but we did get to make our announcement...Sunday, finished the Half Blood Prince, Fabulous and very moving. Tob's parents came round with a big beautiful bunch of flowers (re announcement previous day) All I could think about was will I finish Harry Potter in time for rowing. Then an hour and a half in an VIII on the Cam up and down the reach. Then hours in the bath reading magazines, then watched Ladies in Lavender and got all teary, then to bed at 11. A really lazy Sunday (apart from the rowing).

Ladies in Lavender 4 stars

A wonderfully gentle film about two sisters living in Cornwall in the 1930s who rescue a ship wrecked Polish young man. It was made by the acting, just beautiful. I got quite emotional and teary at the end.

 

 

Yay

 

Winter League 2

We (Simoco Womens Novice VIII) had our 2nd race of the season. We were 1 whole second faster than our first race, apparently there was more wind so the conditions were worse. I think we did really well, we were really stable and I stayed looking ahead and didn't stress what my blade was doing, just rowed for dear life! 

Fabulous day. Went to the Docks Business Park to

look at a warehouse for the Plug in. It's perfect! It's brand new and empty, the Landlord would fit loos etc out of his pocket but has offered to quote me to fit out the inside with partitioning and a ceiling - I would want every room ventilated as they wouldn't have windows. I've got to draw up a plan this weekend so he can quote me. This place has beams in place to put in a Mezzanine so I'm thinking we leave the 1st floor for a year or so to see how we do and then build the 1st floor to say, put a cafe up stairs and make a studio downstairs for example. The place is ideally situated behind the station and Tescos and is gated with 10 parking spaces and a loading bay so it's absoultley beautiful.

On the business idears follow up course, I met a musician who is very interested and has a bit of money to invest so I'm really chuffed that I've generated possible investment without really even trying yet.

No more news on Chantal's blog yet, I hope she got my flowers. As far as I know she's recovering and enjoying lots of visitors right now.

I'm letting my home made mexican food go down with a bottle of Grolsch then I'm going to watch my new Black Books series 2 and probably a Firefly episode for the perfect end to a perfect day.

The operation was a success!

Having spent the morning worrying and praying, I got an email from Sandra, one of Chantal's friends to say the operation was a success. Shortly after, Marcel posted on her blog to say she'd regained conciousness and the doctor says the entire tumour was successfully removed. I am one happy bunny.

Chantal - a beautiful friend

Chantal's just about to undertake something that not many of us have to go through. An operation on her brain to remove a tumor, they go in through her nose and perform microsurgery to remove a tumour somewhere behind her eyes in her brain. I'm terrified so you can imagine what her and Marcel, her hubby are going through.
When I see this beautiful picture I feel like crying, I hope this operation works and she comes out of it with all the stuff they can possibly put right and do to make it work. She is too amazing to get any less than that.
I love her like a sister and for the first time I've really let myself feel how much she means to me - in other words, I'm crying my heart out.
Chantal, I look forward to hearing all about the operatoin afterwards, is all I can say. I can't think of any other outcomes I want to contemplate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primrose Hill

We went up to London to see Ali, Si, Sophie and Martin and their new house. We had fun, stayed over in their magnificent house, had a continental breakfast and then went down to Camden for a wonder around followed by a walk up primrose hill. We did lots of research on boots for Tob's warehouse - what trade boots look like, the cheapo ones and that we are better off with better quality ones.
It was good fun to wonder round Camden, the only thing we found worth buying was a large leather coat for Tob at £180 which of course we don't have right now. It was a good day of looking and not spending any money! 

this was another image I found, i doubt I'll use it but I do like it. I got an email responding to my Valentines day top 3 from bbc6 music. The producer of one of the shows emailed me and has booked me in to the BBC radio thing in cambridge to record me talking about my three tracks. As I now have to go to London for Landmark on Monday, I'm going to ring her and ask if it would be possible to do the recording in London. Then again, thinking about it from a business point of view, I might pick up something useful in Cambridge for when I need to be getting publicity for the plug in. Decisions, decisions... I've always wanted to go the bbc in London, what do I choose?
My records were:
the get it on track: Gay Bar - Electric Six - Well, we are a funny couple... When this was on the radio and telly all the time, we would jump up and start posing and gesticulating whilst singing along. By rights this should have been the first dance at our wedding, we plumped for frank sinatra in the end...
The our song track: Small - Lamb It's about going up a hill and looking out over the city and realising that you are entirely small and insignificant, utimatley leaving me with a sense of how free and lucky I am. For me it illustrates how to have it all, you need to give it all away. Tob and I when we first met took a good half year before we were officially a couple despite the intensity of feelings from both sides. I was scared of loosing my independance and survival skills, Tob was scared of letting me down and not being good enough. In order to love each other we both had to let go of our fears and put our humanity into perspective.
The breaking up/heart break track: The Saxophone Song - Kate Bush. The kick inside has seen me through my parents splitting up, adolescence and countless break ups. The thing that takes me through it all is music, music is my first love and the Sax was how I chose to express that. Whether alone or in love, music will be there to love. 

ely plug in

good eh? This is the image I've bought for $5 from an official site where you can buy images for marketing so long as you dont sell it on a t-shirt etc. It's going on my business cards which I've ordered. Very nice.
I've sent umteen letters to organisations, companies and, yes DB's in Utrecht as part of my reaching out and talking to anyone and everyone who might have anything to contribute.
I went rowing thismorning, knakered we were. This week was ovulation week so you can guess why :) Rowing was good, I was grumpy and kack handed but learnt quite a bit.
This afternoon I went in a car wash (in a car) for the first time in my life, me and tobe (who has done this a fair few times) were like a couple of kids! giggling and screaming as the brushes swallowed the car like a giant sea monster. It's the little things eh..
We then did a little tour of the industrial estates in and around ely and got some phone numbers from the to let signs. I'd like it to be on the industrial estate down behind Tescos ideally cos that's not to far from town or the train station.
I had a good look on DB's site, they have moved out of town now and have a veritable world of 17 studios, venues, studios etc. I don't think this is appropriate in Ely but the fact that they went from 10 on to that. I think 10 in Ely will work well and then I branch out to other towns. Tomorrow I visit my first warehouse... 

fat spiders

While I was looking for marketing material for the rehearsal studio, I came across this. I was, incase you are wondering, considering calling it Phatt Spiders, but after our whistle stop marketing course on Tuesday and Thursday of this week have gone for Ely Plug In. I like plug in, it's nice and simple. I might still use phatt spiders for our overall name, a sort of business entity. We shall see. 

Shaun of the dead 3 stars

About what I expected, a few laugh out loud moments, mostly to do with how sad but funny we english are. A bit of a laugh but not brilliant, not particularly a classic what ever they might say. I don't think I could be bothered to watch it again should the opportunity arise.