Teeth

I've always had a bit of a tough relationship with my teeth despite taking good care of them usually having fizzy drinks only at the weekend and not really eating sugary sweets, I still seemed to have to get quite a lot (well it seemed like it) of fillings and teeth removed. I also had a problem with a tooth sinking back into the gum which had to be removed under general anaesthetic. I also had to have a lovely big healthy tooth removed before having my lower braces on, thankfully it healed up nicely.

These various treatments were not helped by the fact I used to be terrified of going to the dentist to the point that my mum wouldn't tell me about the next appointment until the day before so I wouldn't sit worrying. Having four teeth removed (I think they were milk teeth) at one appointment alone definitely did not help and the next time I was told I needed teeth taken out I was almost hysterical (whilst this was years and years ago I wasn't exactly a child any more).

Candy teeth, yum...

Thankfully over time I've grown much calmer and used to going to the dentist, although I still detest the drill with a passion. The three years or so I spent with braces and the regular orthodontic appointments probably helped me get more used to being in the chair. Whilst this seems like quite a long time it was probably due to how crooked my teeth actually were and also because I only started with upper braces and had them for a good while before getting the lower braces as well. I had them removed earlier this year and have been using the plastic retainers since them as much as possible and whilst they were annoying at first I've definitely got used to them. The braces/retainers were not only to straighten my teeth but also preparing me for the future in case I decide I do want to have jaw surgery although I've been told that I will need further work if I do decide to go down that route.

Thanks for reading.

Everlong

In my last post I was excited about covering this song at my music school's (ICM) summer concert, the concert was last night and went pretty well, once again I was surprised how good some of the younger students were though I guess my excuse was that I didn't start until I was 12 (I think).

 I am pretty happy with my performance though the sound could be a bit better but it's hard to get it right when you have so many acts and each one consisting of different instruments and line-ups and backing tracks etc. The drums were pretty loud for me and I was glad I could turn my hearing aid off though I'm not sure what happened with the bass, I thought I couldn't hear it because of where I was standing but you can't really hear it on the video either. I also know that it sounds a bit "empty" at times, the original has a second guitar and originally my guitar teacher was meant to be playing that part but he was drafted into playing bass and wasn't replaced.

Well anyway enough of my excuses and rambling, here it is:

Summer!

Well it seems like I've had a far busier summer than usual so far, usually after the exams I don't know what to do with myself but this year it seems like I've not been bored yet apart from when looking through my choices (all 145 of them) for my honours project for my final year. And of course typically the weather has been rubbish despite there being glorious blazing sunshine the last week of revision I had for exams.

On Saturday I went paintballing for the first time and I had a brilliant time although my muscles are still a bit sore from the exertion. I highly recommend it to anyone (within reason) as it makes a great day out never mind being a great work out. We are already planning our return visit before the start of university again in September. I also went to not one but two concerts last week the first being Blink-182 which were supported by The All American Rejects and the second was Ash's 20th anniversary concert. Both were brilliant and I plan on doing a feature in the future talking about all the bands I've seen live.

As for the rest of the summer my music school is having its summer concert on the 30th and I'm playing with some of the teachers in a band covering Foo Fighters-Everlong, so pretty excited for that. Later in the summer I'm actually going to see the Foo Fighters live as they are headlining day one of Tennants Vital and the main support is another of my favourite bands, The Black Keys, I can't wait. Another concert I'm going to is Two Door Cinema Club who are being supported by Noah And The Whale. I'm also hopefully doing at least a couple of weeks in the lab at my university working on a project to gain some extra experience and give me a slight advantage in terms of knowing what to expect in terms of the honours project. It's a bit strange this year because we are going away even later than usual, this time we are returning to Malta which we've been to once before, many years ago.

Well that's all for now, thanks for reading.

Dependence

Today I once again remembered how dependent I am on my hearing aid, woke up and put it on as I always do but it didn't seem to be working properly, changed the battery in case the one in it was dead or a dud but no difference either. Thankfully we keep several spare hearing aids (although only one of them is the same as the one I usually wear with the other two being old models) but the fact is if this had happened when I wasn't at home then I would've been up the creek without a paddle. Thankfully my hearing aids have usually worked well considering that they are pretty old and if a problem has occurred it hasn't been whilst on holiday or anything *touch wood*.

A more "frequent" problem is when the battery goes, this is an unusual thing to happen because I usually change the battery twice a week so if it dies it usually means it is a dud. It is a rather surreal experience when the battery dies it is almost as if someone is slowly turning down the volume of everything around you. The problem is that I usually don't carry batteries with me as it almost never happens and if I was in town or somewhere I could probably just go to Boots and buy a pack if I needed to. I would be more worried if I was ever some place where I couldn't get a replacement when I need it, whilst I can hear some things without it I definitely could not go through a normal day properly without it.

It also makes me thankful that I live in this modern age where hearing aids are available and allow people like me to hear relatively normally, I would hate to think how it was for people in the old days when there were no such things or if there were they were not readily accessible. And never mind the old days even in this day and age I am sure there are many people who don't have access to basic medical care never mind hearing aids and that thought saddens me.

Freedom!

Well my second year of university is finally over and I am finally free from the cycle of revision and exams hopefully until January. I now have potentially four months of freedom, that said I would like to do something productive for example do a summer studentship (i.e. a project in the lab/field with my university) but of course like all things with my uni it cannot be that simple or even well organised.

It seems really weird that I have completed two years of my degree already with only one more to go but I have to say although it has had its ups and downs I have enjoyed it so far. It has helped to have a great group of friends and it has been nice having the longer breaks on busy days just to chill and chat. Of course I'm sure next year will be even tougher with the added pressure of an honours project to complete which will bring new challenges and I'm a bit nervous about the final presentation.

That's all for now, will have more updates soon.

My looks do not define me-Part 4

I realise that it has been a while since I've posted one of these so I'd thought I move away from controversial things and talk about superheroes.

I think I've always been a bit obsessed with superheroes but it has only been recently that I've actually obtained some actual proper comic books/graphic novels. I've always been a fan of Spider-man from watching the cartoon as a kid and also the Spider-man movie trilogy. I chose to get the first volume of Ultimate Spider-man which is a modern take on the Spider-man story without having all the continuity issues from the original comic to confuse new readers. As a first comic book I definitely recommend it and despite it being strange being able to whizz through it in a far shorter time than a book it is definitely enjoyable and rereadable. I enjoyed it and volume 2 which I received for my birthday so much that I plan to get the other volumes as well.

The other graphic novel/comic book that I got for my birthday is Batman Year One, which is also a "modern" take on the Batman story. This is a very different tone from Ultimate Spider-man, the colours are dark and dreary and the text is in the style of handwriting rather than just typed. In terms of its story it doesn't actually focus on Batman's origin in terms of how Bruce Wayne got to this point and instead shows his first year fighting crime in Gotham and despite the title saying Batman Year One, it actually focuses on James Gordan (the good cop) as much as or even more than Batman/Bruce Wayne. This is a fantastic read in my opinion and well worth a look and it is clear to see why Chris Nolan used it as inspiration for his Batman movies.

In terms of movies my top 3 favourites are:

• Spider-man 2-probably the first superhero movie I watched properly was the first Spider-man and I've watched it many times since, strangely though it is the second which is far better in my (and many other people's) opinion. Spider-man 2 managed to improve on first in so many ways, it was less camp, it had a better villain and better set pieces. It showed why Spider-man is so much more interesting a hero than say Superman as he's not invincible and he's essentially just a teenager who has these great powers and the desire to use them for good but despite now being a great hero he has to perform a balancing act to keep the rest of his life from falling apart. Unfortunately Spider-man 3 whilst not being as bad as some people would make out, undid a lot of the good work of its predecessor. Its problems listed trying to shove too many villains and plot lines into the one movie, not doing Venom justice as a villain and just the whole cringe worthy Peter swagger and singing/dancing scenes. 
• The Dark Knight-as much as Batman Begins did a fantastic job of  showing us the origin of Batman, The Dark Knight managed to be even bigger and better. It is hard to find anything wrong with this movie, even scenes that were just two people standing around talking had instantly quotable lines and great acting. In fact this is one of the most quoted modern films I think and this is mostly due to Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. He definitely stole the show and it is a real shame that he died before being properly recognised for his performance.
• The Avengers (or Avengers Assembled which it has been called in some countries for some reason)-I know this is only recently out so I will not spoil anything as I would rather you appreciated it for yourselves but this definitely makes my top 3 list. Marvel had obviously been planning this for a while with 2008's Iron Man having an after credits scene that the first (I think it was the first) teaser of an Avengers movie was shown but it wasn't until this year that it finally happened albeit with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk (I'm sure he is kicking himself now). This is a fantastic superhero movie and its hard to praise it without spoiling anything but I will say that Joss Wheldon managed to do a fantastic job not only is this film full of awesome action scenes and effects but it also has a lot of laugh out loud moments and some great acting especially from Mark Ruffalo.

I don't really go for the whole Marvel vs DC thing, both companies have great unique characters and both companies are probably guilty of "borrowing" ideas from the other though from what I've seen it would tend to be Marvel more so than DC. I think in terms of movies Marvel is definitely winning in any competition especially now with the Avengers movie and the linking of the individual movies. DC only really have Batman (and I guess Green Lantern, though I've heard its pretty bad) and the trilogy is ending with the Dark Knight Rises, Nolan's Batman would be too realistic to fit into the wider DC universe anyway. There is a new Superman movie coming out next year but so far no trailers have been released.

DC are probably a long way from a Justice League movie and the after credits scene in the Avengers will annoy them (won't spoil it but do some research after you see it and you will get what I mean) but when they do eventually do a Justice League movie I hope it will look something like this:

Too many surgeries?

I am going to continue this cynical l trend from my last post and talk today about surgeries or more rather parents choosing for their children to undergo unnecessary  surgeries.

This is a fine line to tread and I understand that it must be hard for parents to not only have to decide which paths to take medically wise in terms of their children  who aren't old enough to decide for themselves but also to have to deal with their child's suffering which is made worse by the fact that they can't properly understand why it is happening to them. The question I would like to put forward today is, do certain parents push too many surgeries onto their children?

My answer from what I've read/seen/heard would be yes that CERTAIN parents do essentially force or put pressure on their children with TCS or I guess other similar conditions to go through surgeries which are not necessary and which should be left until the person is old enough to make a well informed decision. Now my view is probably very one sided because I haven't had any surgeries which were anything other to improve my health and or function. In fact I don't think I have had any surgeries (apart from having 3 teeth removed under general anaesthetic ) in the time since I was very young.

Of course as with everything it depends on the circumstances but in my OPINION, purely cosmetic surgeries should be left until the person is old enough to decide if they really want it or not, it may be in some cases that a parent/guardian has good intentions but for example just because a child is born with deformed/not fully developed ears doesn't mean that they have to have an operation to give them normal looking ears unless the child really really wants them and understands the decision fully.

I understand that I will probably strike a nerve with some parents who might feel the need to defend their decisions, but the fact is that I don't know what it is like to be parent and have to make these decisions and only they can know if they've made the right decision but operations are a big commitment, even minor ones pose some risk and I think SOME parents might  inadvertently make these decisions without actually thinking about whether or not its the best thing for the child at that time and whether or not they should leave it for the child to grow up and decide for themselves.