Out for the count.

This was yesterday evening I was totally zonked, the after effect of a bad couple of days. I'd had a temperature since the morning with hay fever hitting an all time high. The day before it got so bad my face swelled and my eyes felt like someone had thrown grit in them. Of course all this meant more seizures. Strangely I'd had a good dose of hay fever at my dads last week but nothing really came of it seizure wise. As you can see we were trying to get my temperature down to avoid seizures as a high body temperature is a cause of seizures for many people. Today I still have a headache and look terrible but I'm feeling much better and cooler so I'm up and about thankfully.  

I'm getting used to this being filmed and photographed malarky... only when I don't know about it though!! It's all evidence to show my doctors so they can see what happens instead of trying to explain. Anything from movements to pallor matter as indications to certain things so they need to see it all. 

Here's to getting better! 

When I should be sleeping

Im heading to my mums tomorrow. It's going to be a long day with lots of travelling as I'm going from North Wales over to Derby then leaving my family and catching the train from there to Worcester where my mum is meeting me. Now obviously train journeys on my own are always daunting given that I could go into a seizure at any point and wake up in some hospital in a city I've never been to in my life and never intended on going on that particular journey... But I have to just suck it up and deal with it or I'd be forever stuck in one place and wouldn't be able to visit anyone!!

Of course knowing I will be travelling a fair distance on my own tomorrow I SHOULD be getting as much sleep as possible and a nice calm night before... but... when you know you won't be seeing your crazy family for a while it's always good to have a good giggle. So a while after being told to go to bed my younger sister snuck into my room and, well... photo booth was opened...

Yeah... they pretty much sum us up as sisters... haha crazy. :D

Graduating Publication and Website

I can't believe that amongst all the busy hustle and bustle of recent life I forgot to post a link to my graduating classes new website! 

The website was created alongside a publication to showcase our work as we graduate from the University of Wales, Newport's Photographic Art course this summer. 

Photographic Art 2012 presents - Off the Menu

Feel free to have a good browse there is some pretty amazing work! I'll pop a few photo's of the physical publication up on here when I'm back home in a week or so.

Enjoy :)

Pastures new!

 

I moved all my belongings over to my new home in Cardiff on Saturday. It took forever to pack and I learnt that I really do have an unbelievable amount of stuff!!  Massive thanks to my wonderful friend and her amazingly kind Fiancé for helping me move two car loads worth of things, in appallingly wet weather conditions *love and hugs to them!!*

For now I'm staying with my dad for a week then travelling down to my mums for a further week until I can officially move into my new house when my rent starts at the beginning of July :D Two weeks of visiting family and friends with lots of time to relax :D Just what the doctor ordered. Good bye Newport and hello Cardiff exciting times!!! 

To be video'd

We have been given a task to do... which is to enter the Newport university centenary year of photographic studies celebrations. It's simple to enter really just add a sample of our work and a video of ourselves discussing our work and studies at the uni. I just have one problem... I seem to have developed a phobia when it comes to being filmed. I have been filmed during seizures and well that's fine given that I'm busy being unconscious... (the video's are to show the neuro team so they can get a full understanding of what I do during a seizure). It's VERY hard to watch them back and at first I absolutely would not at all but eventually was persuaded to watch the video's so I myself can get an insight into what I do, but even now I will usually watch them just the once. 

The idea of filming myself for something frightens me half to death!! Just in case I watch it back to check that it's suitable to upload as I am so scared that I may suddenly be faced with watching myself seizing. When I watch a video that has been taken of me during a seizure, as horrible as it is to watch, at least I know it's coming.

The video for the centenary is due in today... I will get it done it's just I feel like there this massive wall that I have to climb over first... It seems so silly really it's just a short film that's it... no big deal.. at least that's what I try telling my brain!! There's is the option of just submitting an image... but I feel like that's just a cop out! We'll see. 

Another EEG

Tuesday morning was spent in my local Neurophysiology department with electrodes glued to my head for an EEG, just a short one, I was in and out in an hour. This was the second one I've ever had, my first being about a year ago. I had the same nurse as last year which was nice and while she hooked me up to the computer we chatted about life, jobs and affects seizures have on everything etc it was quite interesting actually and she was brilliantly honest about future prospects of living with epilepsy. Some good, some not so good.  But I'll dwell on that at a later date it all came up as she asked what I planned on doing now I've finished uni and well... I'm still on a high about finishing uni at all... so I'm just living in the moment for now and not worrying about the future just yet :)   

It's a pretty simple procedure, you go into a room lie on a bed and have many electrodes stuck to various areas of your head and one on each shoulder. The wires from the electrodes then connect up to a computer that relays your brainwaves to the screen. During the test you are asked to open and close your eyes at certain times but most of the time your eyes are closed. At various intervals you are asked to complete tasks such as heavy breathing with more emphasis on the out breath lowering the amount of oxygen you are taking on board, I did this for 3 minutes and ended up with very tingly lips by the end of it!! Another test they perform is flashing a strobe light very close to your eyes at various speeds for different amount of time. It can be very uncomfortable... and seems to go on forever. Oh and you're also videoed so they can review it and match up surface movement to brain stuff... always fun! 

Just have to sit and wait for the results to come through now then see where we go from there.

Degree results are in!!!

Well as much as I REALLY cannot believe it...... I got a 2:1 in my degree!!!!!!!!!! I was bouncing around the house for ages ringing various people to tell them my unbelievable news :D

I checked the results list a good few times before I finally said it out loud :D and no matter how many times I've said it since... 2:1...2:1...2:1... I GOT A TWO-ONE.... it still hasn't quite sank in as I REALLY didn't expect it and to be honest didn't think it would be possible with my grades prior to my final assessment hmmm. We get a break down of the grades for each section of our degree soon which, I'm not going to lie, I am highly intrigued as to what my final assessment and dissertation ones are. 

So there we are I officially have a 2:1 honours degree in Photographic Art :) I literally cannot stop a smile appearing when I think about it either!

Incase I didn't make that clear enough I ONLY WENT AND GOT A 2:1!!!!! 

Grad show medley

I'm currently tucking into a delicious medley of melon which fits pretty well with the last few days as they have included a whole mixture of events making up a medley in themselves! Contemplating everything that has happened brings up a whole range of emotions.. The brilliant week has been stressful, busy and tiring setting up and preparing for the photography graduation exhibition but it really couldn't have been anymore worth it!! 

Friday morning was a very strange one... I happened to meet my tutor when I arrived at the exhibition space and he said he had a job for me to do that day. When I asked what it was he told me that my tutors and some of the students from the college I studied at from 2005 to 2007 were coming down for a visit and he wanted me to present to them, telling them how it was to study photography at Newport. Now given that I graduated from college five years ago it was a huge blast from the past!! I recognised the college tutors straight away and chatted to them for a while before myself and fellow student made our way over to present to the fresh-faced group of students that had gathered amongst the artwork on the walls. It was nerve-wrecking talking in front of my old and current tutors and the students but I think we did ok :)  

Friday night was the opening of our graduation exhibition. I can't quite put into words what this meant to me and I'm sure everyone else that took part. I know that it felt amazing, exciting and sad all at the same time. The show is a culmination of all three photography courses here at Newport and brings together all the effort of our studying towards our degrees and of course signifies the end of our time at university. The space was packed with people looking around all the artwork, chatting away and for some, catching up after a long time apart. It was so lovely to see my friends I had not seen for far too long most of which had graduated last year when I was originally supposed to. Some of my family also came down to visit for the evening which topped off a brilliant and memorable night!

There was an after party following the event and well I have to be honest and say that I had a few drinks... and them some more. The party itself was sooo much fun!! It felt so good to be able to just relax for an evening with a whole bunch of people celebrating an amazing achievement :) it felt just like the good old days! 

Saturday I went for lunch with some friends who had come to visit from far away to see the show, we met up with another friend of ours who also graduated last year. We'd all been at the opening the night before and well lets just put it this way... given that I rarely ever drink any alcohol whilst they all happily ate there nice scrummy pub meals... I had to sit there and watch feeling VERY hungover. I did order a meal but in the end I had to just stare at it the whole time. In a strange way even though I felt incredibly ill, it felt quite good to actually have a hangover.. it felt 'normal' for them to be giggling at me while I sat there trying not to vomit, given that it was totally self induced for once!! 

Sunday was spend invigilating the exhibition for the afternoon. It was nice to chat away sitting all cosy in amongst the work while it poured with rain outside. It wasn't so nice having to wait for a bus in it...

Tomorrow a few of us are meeting with an external examiner... I'm not too sure what we're supposed to do to be honest but I guess I'll have to wait and see :)