life

Ovarian Cyst Mark 2

January 20, 2013

After my ovarian cystectomy last August, everything seemed to be going very well indeed. I healed quite quickly, stopped aching all the time, started sleeping properly again, and soon felt incredibly energised. It made me realise how much waking several times in the night was wearing me out. I was supposed to get another ultrasound […]

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In memoriam: Michael O’Connor Clarke

October 14, 2012

“Brace yerself,” said Michael in a 2004 email, as he sent me a photo of himself and his three children, Charlie, Lily & Ruairi. “A tad more up to date,” he said of this snap. “Gone, the floppy fringe of my Martin Fry period. Back to the wash-it-and-leave-it version.” Back then, Michael was in PR and I was […]

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The story of an annoying sac of liquid

August 15, 2012

I’m back at my desk today for the first time since I had my grapefruit-sized ovarian cyst removed last Thursday. Although I’m not feeling particularly intelligent today, I am free from pain for the first time in months and I’m very happy with the speed of my recovery. I thought it might be worth just […]

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Out of Office

August 9, 2012

I’m off to hospital this morning to get my ovarian cyst removed. The last couple of months especially have been a bit miserable, and I’ll be glad once today is over. It’s a general anaesthetic, which I’ve never had before, but I should be in and out today and back home by tonight. And i […]

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Cyst news

June 26, 2012

As mentioned in passing in an earlier post, about a month ago I was diagnosed with a 10cm ovarian cyst. Symptoms started right at the beginning of the year and since then have progressively worsened. Initially it was diagnosed as a mild urinary infection, confirmed by tests, but when antibiotics didn’t actually clear things up […]

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Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey

May 17, 2012

It’s been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I’d just update you on what’s been going on. The first thing is that after I realised that the Queen of the May Kickstarter project wasn’t going to work out, I did a bit of thinking about what it was I was trying to […]

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For 2012

December 31, 2011

Last year, I laid out my goals for the year. If was a relatively modest list which I had no doubt I’d be able to plough through in no time at all. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. *pauses for breath* Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. At least I managed to […]

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O2 suck: Problem now resolved.

November 30, 2011

UPDATE 5 DEC 11: Having been rather robust with my criticism it’s only fair now to be as forthright about the follow up from O2. The web team at O2 got in touch after my rather angry rant last Wednesday and asked me to email them with details, which I did on Thursday. I was […]

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Unexpected rough seas

September 14, 2011

Hello, all the new people who’ve come here from BoingBoing or Kickstarter or Twitter. It’s nice to see you! You’ll have to excuse me for a moment, though, because this blog post contains 100% unadulterated and somewhat self-pitying me, and not much about Argleton (though I have plans… I do have plans.) I’m writing this partly […]

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Phew

August 19, 2011

I’m almost too tired to write this, in fact, I am too tired to write this, but I’m going to write it anyway, even if I don’t quite know where it’s going. The last couple of months have been particularly intense and I feel like I am very much out of brain. Firstly, I finally […]

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For 2011

December 20, 2010

My friend Terence Eden wrote a blog post at the end of November about his goals for 2011. I’ve never really been one for resolutions, knowing how easy they are to break, but goals I can get behind. My goal for 2011 is really very simple: Finish your open projects before you start any new ones. […]

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Unpacking my first Graze box

January 20, 2010

I’ve just joined Graze, a service that mails you a box of fruit, nuts and other goodies for the princely sum of £2.99 per box (P&P included). A friend of mine suggested it the other day and I was so curious I signed up there and then. My first box came yesterday, and this is […]

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Pay as you go

October 25, 2009

I have been on a lengthy crusade against the evil that is sugar, but must confess to mainly being on the losing side. The summer has been quite stressful and where once I lost my appetite when stressed now I seem to feel constant hunger. Part of that hunger is down to the amount of […]

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RSI update: Success!

August 2, 2009

I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for a while, but I’ve been a bit busy lately and have barely had time to pause for breath. Several months ago I started working on strengthening my shoulders at the gym – lots of machine work to try and improve the strength of my whole upper […]

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Still alive!

July 12, 2009

Dear me, it’s been ages since I last wrote a blog post here. How things have changed since I first started Chocolate and Vodka seven years ago! Mainly, the problem has been one of time and energy. The last few years seem to have been an almost constant sequence of events and projects that have […]

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