Well I am now bilateral that is I now have a BAHA for each side of my head. I just have a demo unit for now but am hoping to get my own in the near future. I have definitely noticed an improvement in sound quality and I no longer have to worry about which side I have to sit or walk on in order to hear people. I have had a bit of issue with a metallic like feedback that just comes from the demo BAHA but I assume that the volume is just a bit too high on it.
In terms of other stuff it's been a bit up and down in terms of the job situation, there seem to be quiet periods were there are very few relevant jobs being advertised and other periods when I am spending lots of time preparing for interviews. Unfortunately I've still had no solid offers for jobs. It is very frustrating given that I am getting interviews, I feel the interviews go well (and I certainly have learnt a lot and am much more prepared than I was when I first started having interviews) and I am getting great feedback. Unfortunately in many cases the competition is so high and the feedback is that someone else had more direct experience.
I had applied for a job before Christmas and I was invited in for a chat about it, unfortunately I was later informed that I hadn't got it but that competition had been high with a total of 76 people applying for the single position, many of them with PhDs like me. During a quiet period when there were few jobs appearing and nothing much happening I decided to go back to the person and ask if there would be an opportunity to get some experience in the laboratory. The person very generously agreed and allowed me to come and spend two days in the lab. This was great as it allows me to show employers that I have been productive, it has given me recent lab experience and it has also given me experience of a commercial lab i.e. one outside of a university setting. The company are currently very busy but the person running it has generously offered for me to come in for a longer period at a later date and gain more experience. It shows that people are not all bad and it's certainly not a case of me working for free given that the person I was working with had to take time out of their own work schedule to show me how to carry out the complex process that they do on a daily basis.
I am currently waiting for feedback from two big interviews I did unfortunately it seems they are very quick to reject you but not so quick to provide feedback. It is very quiet in terms of jobs becoming available at the moment but I'm hoping that will change soon or I will hear back about some of the many jobs I've applied for in the past months (and am definitely qualified for!).
Thanks for reading,
James
Friday, 3 May 2019
Monday, 25 March 2019
Tiring
This is a bit of a follow on to my last post and I'm going to talk about how tiring it can be sometimes when you have a medical condition with hospital appointments and other things to think about. I am wary of making this blog too self-pitying but at the same time I want to be honest and share the difficulties that I and others like me face.
It is fair to say that trialing the BAHA and then switching to it full time has been tiring. It is tiring to go to an audiology appointment and get your hearing tested. You sit there with this headset on your head and have to press a button that you hold if you hear a beep. The problem is that when you are in that situation it is difficult to figure out if you are actually hearing a quiet beep or imagining it. It is also difficult when you think that there is a pattern to it so you think oh there must be a beep but you aren't 100% sure. It is also tiring to get information basically thrown at you and be asked questions about how the hearing aid is when you haven't had time to actually test it in your normal routines. You have to be prepared and have questions ready to go for appointments and you also have to make decisions in a short amount of time. It can also be tiring when you are dealing with multiple people (say an audiologist and a representative of the hearing aid company) in the same appointment. Having people go on at you about getting a BAHA implant and about how much better it is than the softband is especially tiring especially when they don't have any personal experience and it's not them that will be going through it.
Following on from this it can be tiring thinking about surgeries in general. I always have thoughts at the back of my mind about the possibility of surgeries and whether or not I would want to undergo any procedures. In the past I have doctors basically give me lists of things I could get done:
It is fair to say that trialing the BAHA and then switching to it full time has been tiring. It is tiring to go to an audiology appointment and get your hearing tested. You sit there with this headset on your head and have to press a button that you hold if you hear a beep. The problem is that when you are in that situation it is difficult to figure out if you are actually hearing a quiet beep or imagining it. It is also difficult when you think that there is a pattern to it so you think oh there must be a beep but you aren't 100% sure. It is also tiring to get information basically thrown at you and be asked questions about how the hearing aid is when you haven't had time to actually test it in your normal routines. You have to be prepared and have questions ready to go for appointments and you also have to make decisions in a short amount of time. It can also be tiring when you are dealing with multiple people (say an audiologist and a representative of the hearing aid company) in the same appointment. Having people go on at you about getting a BAHA implant and about how much better it is than the softband is especially tiring especially when they don't have any personal experience and it's not them that will be going through it.
Following on from this it can be tiring thinking about surgeries in general. I always have thoughts at the back of my mind about the possibility of surgeries and whether or not I would want to undergo any procedures. In the past I have doctors basically give me lists of things I could get done:
- Jaw surgery to bring my lower jaw forward
- Chin implants
- Cheekbone implants
- Surgery to give me normal looking ears
- Surgery to improve my airway
- Surgery to straighten my nose
There are probably others that I have forgotten. As an adult any decision I make will be my own responsibility, I can get advice from doctors and other people but in the end it will be me who has to live with the aftermath and that includes if things don't work out or something happens like nerve damage or something worse. I might expand on this in future posts but at the moment I'll just say that I'm happy with how things are but it's something I will always have at the back of my mind.
There is also the issue of having to keep on top of things such as taking care of your hearing aid, making sure you have enough batteries and making sure you have a backup aid especially when you go away on holiday. When I needed the Fortisip it became a case of having to bring the bottles in a coolbag and having a letter from a doctor explaining to the airport staff why I needed to bring all this liquid with me. As I mentioned previously I also had to make the effort to get an In Case of Emergency card made up and laminated as well as sending messages to friends to let them know about it for any worst case scenario where it might be needed.
All in all having these things to remember or having to go through hospital appointments where lots of information thrown at you can be quite tiring. That said I'm aware that other people likely have it worse and it is fortunate that now I'm older I don't have as many hospital appointments.
Thanks for reading,
James.
There is also the issue of having to keep on top of things such as taking care of your hearing aid, making sure you have enough batteries and making sure you have a backup aid especially when you go away on holiday. When I needed the Fortisip it became a case of having to bring the bottles in a coolbag and having a letter from a doctor explaining to the airport staff why I needed to bring all this liquid with me. As I mentioned previously I also had to make the effort to get an In Case of Emergency card made up and laminated as well as sending messages to friends to let them know about it for any worst case scenario where it might be needed.
All in all having these things to remember or having to go through hospital appointments where lots of information thrown at you can be quite tiring. That said I'm aware that other people likely have it worse and it is fortunate that now I'm older I don't have as many hospital appointments.
Thanks for reading,
James.
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
BAHA or nothing!
*I wrote this post before my audiology appointment but didn't publish it in time as such I've added comments in blue to show what I learnt from the appointment*
In a previous post I mentioned that I was trialing a Cochlear BAHA 5 after being told that Phonak would not be repairing the bone conductor hearing aid I had been wearing after 2020, unfortunately that wasn't the whole story. The whole story is that they would have only repaired it if they still had any of the required parts. I know this because my Phonak hearing aid broke and when the audiology department sent it away to be repaired Phonak just came back and said they weren't going to repair it as they didn't have the parts anymore. Fortunately I have adapted well to the BAHA on a soft band but I feel very sorry for people who are not able to this forced change especially older people who may struggle to adapt to an entirely new system with different controls and advanced functionality like only being able to change the volume on a phone app.
Thankfully it has become clear that I can definitely live with the BAHA 5 and it is not a downgrade in sound quality. That said there are some issues I'm still having though I may be able to tweak or fix some of these at my next appointment:
The BAHA 5 does have some definite plus points over my old hearing aid:
Plenty to think about!
In a previous post I mentioned that I was trialing a Cochlear BAHA 5 after being told that Phonak would not be repairing the bone conductor hearing aid I had been wearing after 2020, unfortunately that wasn't the whole story. The whole story is that they would have only repaired it if they still had any of the required parts. I know this because my Phonak hearing aid broke and when the audiology department sent it away to be repaired Phonak just came back and said they weren't going to repair it as they didn't have the parts anymore. Fortunately I have adapted well to the BAHA on a soft band but I feel very sorry for people who are not able to this forced change especially older people who may struggle to adapt to an entirely new system with different controls and advanced functionality like only being able to change the volume on a phone app.
Thankfully it has become clear that I can definitely live with the BAHA 5 and it is not a downgrade in sound quality. That said there are some issues I'm still having though I may be able to tweak or fix some of these at my next appointment:
- Feedback, for some reason the BAHA 5 can't handle certain noises or frequencies that my much older hearing aids had no issue with. It mainly seems to be high pitches and I get feedback during certain moments when watching TV shows or hearing background music. I also have to turn the BAHA down when playing guitar but that doesn't fix the problem completely which is very frustrating.
I brought this up in the appointment and the audiologist has added a music program onto the BAHA. It seems to take a few seconds to adjust but it seems to have fixed the issue in terms of playing guitar. I can now play both my acoustic and electric guitars without constant feedback or having to turn the BAHA itself way down. - Wind, the microphone on the BAHA seems either to be more exposed or much more sensitive to wind than my old hearing aids. I need to see about getting the "wind" program put on it again but it didn't seem to make a massive difference when I had my first trial.
The wind program has been added and seems to make a bit of a difference but I think it is unfortunately a downside that the BAHA is just going to be more sensitive to wind than my old aid. - Battery life, this isn't a major issue and nothing you can do about it but it's definitely nowhere near as good as my old hearing aids and hopefully something that can be improved in future models especially for people like me to listen to music a lot through the mini mic accessory.
- Poor sound quality on the other side. With my old hearing aid the microphone was on the left side so I normally tried to walk on the right of people or sit on the right at dinner with my family. That said it seems like it is even more of an issue with the BAHA. I really struggle to hear people on my left side especially in a noisier environment. Obviously I can try and stay on the left of people now (the BAHA is all one bit and it's on my right side of my head now). There is also the option of getting bilateral BAHAs (one for each side of my head).
After talking with the audiologist we are going to see about me getting a second BAHA so I can have one for either side of my head and also it would mean if one broke I wouldn't be without a backup. My audiologist did say that the BAHA is more directional than my old aid so it makes sense that there is more of a difference. Given that unlike many people who have BAHAs I'm don't just have Single Sided Deafness so it makes sense for me to have bilateral BAHAs.
The BAHA 5 does have some definite plus points over my old hearing aid:
- It is all contained in one unit, no longer have a unit either side of my head connected by a wire. So this means you can have bilateral BAHAs. The lack of a wire is also good because I always seemed to have an issue with either sweat or moisture (despite drying my hair very thoroughly) which resulted in the wire turning a lovely green colour due to a discharge from the hearing aid (presumably harmless, never had any issues and the audiologist and Phonak never made any comments about it when they looked at it).
- I got the Mini Mic 2+ accessory with it and it has the advantage of being a lot smaller than the FM system I used with my digital Phonak hearing aid. It connects to the BAHA via bluetooth and the sound quality seems very good, you can also change the volume on the mini mic itself. I don't need to use it as a microphone but I connect audio devices (Ipod, laptop etc.) to it using a standard audio cable and it works very well. My one criticism of it is that for whatever reason they designed it so that it has a flashing power light which is very irritating if it is in your eye line.
- If you have an IPhone you can stream audio directly to the BAHA without any accessories including phone calls. I really hope that we get this functionality with Android phones at some point. Obviously you can use speaker phone but the BAHA doesn't like things being held close to it and it results in feedback.
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| My BAHA, showing the underside and the part that attaches |
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| The elasticated headband, the round bit is where the BAHA attaches, the cream coloured clip comes apart to prevent it choking a child |
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| The BAHA attached to the headband |
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This shows my four programs in the phone app:
|
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| Here you can see the settings for the streaming program so I can mute the BAHA microphone and only have the audio from my Ipod etc. come through |
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| Another menu page in the app |
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| The mini mic with the standard audio cable I use with it |
Plenty to think about!
Monday, 21 January 2019
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review
I've realised that I haven't done a proper movie review in a while so I've decided to do a review of the recent Spider-Man animated movie.
It's fair to say that I was skeptical when this movie was announced, it was difficult not to feel that this was yet another poor decision by Sony motivated by greed and likely to take away from the live action Spider-Man movies. Despite Spider-Man: Homecoming setting up the potential appearance of Miles Morales this animated movie would now be the big screen debut of the Miles Morales Spider-Man. Whilst I do think Sony have a lot to answer for such as pushing forward with their Spider-Man spin-off universe (Venom being one) which although not connected to the MCU they keep teasing that it is and keep teasing the appearance of Spider-Man which very unlikely. There is also the problem of Spider-Man: Far From Home which releases in July, it's hard not to suspect that if were soley up to Marvel that it wouldn't be being released so soon after Avengers: Endgame, in fact it is already causing problems with the trailer having been released before Avengers: Endgame is actually out (it doesn't give away any major spoilers for that film but it is a problem).
Putting all of that aside I'm glad to say that I was wrong to be skeptical about this movie, it is both a very good movie and one of the best Spider-Man movies we have had. It is set in a world where Peter Parker's Spider-Man has been around for quite a while and is very well known. However the movie doesn't follow him, instead it follows a young Miles Morales, a teenager who is dealing with the challenge of moving to a new school and trying to fit in only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. He has to try and learn to use his abilities and become a hero whilst teaming up with other Spider heroes from across the multiverse to stop a major threat.
It's a great looking film and the fact that it is animated means they can do stuff that wouldn't work in live action. It is very comic booky (if that makes sense) at times and each of the Spider heroes has a unique style befitting their universe. Some of the characters look a bit over the top but it doesn't detract from them too much. The action looks great and there are some fantastic fight scenes as well as awesome little touches if you are paying attention. There is one weird thing in terms of the look of the movie with some of the background having the appearance of a 3D movie if you aren't wearing 3D glasses, I only really noticed it early on in movie though.
The voice acting is definitely well-done, Nicholas Cage somewhat steals the show as Spider-Man Noir, a vigilante Spider-Man who comes from an old fashioned black and white universe. I wasn't overly fussed on Spider-Ham when I saw the trailer but thankfully he isn't too irritating. Shameik Moore is great as Miles and has a lot of great back and forth with Jake Johnson's world weary Peter Parker. The sound is also well done and helps to make The Prowler a seriously intimidating villain.
It is a genuinely funny movie at times, there is plenty of slap-stick humour to keep the kids happy as well as lots of moments to entertain adults as well including one sequence which had two of my favourite comedy moments in the movie. The use of multiple Spider heroes provides a lot of potential for comedy and given the post-credits sequence there is potential for a lot more in any sequels.
Overall I'm very glad I decided to go and see this movie in the cinema, I ended up seeing it in early January in the early afternoon and it was only me and another man and his young son in the screen. It is a great looking, action-packed, funny and heart-felt movie. It's clear that a lot of effort and love went into this movie and I would definitely be interested in going and seeing a sequel.
Thanks for reading.
It's fair to say that I was skeptical when this movie was announced, it was difficult not to feel that this was yet another poor decision by Sony motivated by greed and likely to take away from the live action Spider-Man movies. Despite Spider-Man: Homecoming setting up the potential appearance of Miles Morales this animated movie would now be the big screen debut of the Miles Morales Spider-Man. Whilst I do think Sony have a lot to answer for such as pushing forward with their Spider-Man spin-off universe (Venom being one) which although not connected to the MCU they keep teasing that it is and keep teasing the appearance of Spider-Man which very unlikely. There is also the problem of Spider-Man: Far From Home which releases in July, it's hard not to suspect that if were soley up to Marvel that it wouldn't be being released so soon after Avengers: Endgame, in fact it is already causing problems with the trailer having been released before Avengers: Endgame is actually out (it doesn't give away any major spoilers for that film but it is a problem).
Putting all of that aside I'm glad to say that I was wrong to be skeptical about this movie, it is both a very good movie and one of the best Spider-Man movies we have had. It is set in a world where Peter Parker's Spider-Man has been around for quite a while and is very well known. However the movie doesn't follow him, instead it follows a young Miles Morales, a teenager who is dealing with the challenge of moving to a new school and trying to fit in only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. He has to try and learn to use his abilities and become a hero whilst teaming up with other Spider heroes from across the multiverse to stop a major threat.
 |
| Miles Morales |
It's a great looking film and the fact that it is animated means they can do stuff that wouldn't work in live action. It is very comic booky (if that makes sense) at times and each of the Spider heroes has a unique style befitting their universe. Some of the characters look a bit over the top but it doesn't detract from them too much. The action looks great and there are some fantastic fight scenes as well as awesome little touches if you are paying attention. There is one weird thing in terms of the look of the movie with some of the background having the appearance of a 3D movie if you aren't wearing 3D glasses, I only really noticed it early on in movie though.
The voice acting is definitely well-done, Nicholas Cage somewhat steals the show as Spider-Man Noir, a vigilante Spider-Man who comes from an old fashioned black and white universe. I wasn't overly fussed on Spider-Ham when I saw the trailer but thankfully he isn't too irritating. Shameik Moore is great as Miles and has a lot of great back and forth with Jake Johnson's world weary Peter Parker. The sound is also well done and helps to make The Prowler a seriously intimidating villain.
 |
| Spider-Man Noir |
It is a genuinely funny movie at times, there is plenty of slap-stick humour to keep the kids happy as well as lots of moments to entertain adults as well including one sequence which had two of my favourite comedy moments in the movie. The use of multiple Spider heroes provides a lot of potential for comedy and given the post-credits sequence there is potential for a lot more in any sequels.
Overall I'm very glad I decided to go and see this movie in the cinema, I ended up seeing it in early January in the early afternoon and it was only me and another man and his young son in the screen. It is a great looking, action-packed, funny and heart-felt movie. It's clear that a lot of effort and love went into this movie and I would definitely be interested in going and seeing a sequel.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, 16 January 2019
A New Year
Well Christmas and the New Year celebrations are now over and we are back in normal routines. For me that means I'm back on the job hunt again though I had to keep on top of my automatic job alert emails during Christmas so they didn't pile up. It is a quiet period on the job front but that is expected after the holidays. It was nice to not have to think about jobs and other things over the holidays too much. We had a nice mixture of relaxation, spending time with family and various excursions including my first trip up Cave Hill which overlooks Belfast as well as the area around where I live despite me having lived fairly close to it all my life. Christmas Day was very nice, as always I was spoilt by my parents and my brother but I think everyone was happy with what they received. We visited family members on the day and were very entertained by my cousins very hyper puppy. We had a lovely Christmas dinner just the four of us before having a relaxing night to ourselves. For New Year we never really do anything exciting, my brother was away so I just had a quiet night in with my parents.
For Christmas I got various different presents including a nice leather guitar strap which has been great for me as it a bit more padded and more comfortable than the seat belt style strap that I had been using as well as a multiple photo frame for my bedroom wall. I had also treated myself to a Nintendo Switch having gotten a great deal on Black Friday. I had resisted opening it until Christmas helped by the fact I was playing through God of War on the PS4 (great game!). I had gotten Mario Kart with it and I also received Mario Odyssey for Christmas. I'm really enjoying it especially the hybrid nature of it being able to play it on the TV or take the console out and play it as a handheld.
With the beginning of a new year it's hard not to think that time is flying by but at the same time it seems like a long time since the major events. 2018 was a bit of a strange year for me, after spending most of December 2017 waiting for my suggested revisions for my PhD thesis to be sent to me I finally got them at the start of January. Having submitted the thesis the first time, then having to defend it, going back to make changes to it including changes to the appearance, reference list etc. is frustrating. I spent the period from January to the middle of March working on it and it was difficult due to the examiner asking for things that weren't necessary or in some cases weren't even possible and he was very poor at responding to emails. It was also very frustrating working on such a large document in Microsoft Word when formatting what should be simple things becomes very difficult like having two images of the same size with captions on a number of pages like I had. I was finally happy with it and I submitted to my examiner only to have to wait until the middle of April to get it signed off. By this time I had started properly applying for jobs and learnt some harsh lessons about not even being invited to interview despite being qualified for a job.
With my thesis finally signed off I made my final checks before getting it printed and hardbound and submitting it to the university as well as the organisation who funded my PhD. My job search became my main focus although I've tried to also enjoy my free time while I can. I started meeting up with an employment advisor from a hearing loss charity and ended up working to improve my interview technique. I ended up having quite a few interviews in some cases I had two interviews on the one day but unfortunately didn't receive any offers despite thinking that certain interviews had gone rather well.
It wasn't all about the job hunt though, we had the excitement of our trip to London, having our original flight cancelled, then having to fly to Southampton and get a taxi to London with the surreal experience of arriving in a snow covered London late at night. 2018 was the year of my first music festival which I really enjoyed. We also had our holiday to Majorca which was lovely and two trips to the north coast although as my last post mentioned it was a rather mixed trip due to the loss of our cat Milo. There was also the disappointment of Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign but at least they showed that they can play well they just need to put the ball in the net!
One minor achievement I had this year was finally switching to a solid breakfast, no longer relying on the Fortisip drink, in fact the last time I actually had a Fortisip was when I took one with me to the music festival in August. I no longer get Fortisip on prescription and hopefully I won't ever feel the need to get it again. I try to go out for a walk every day as well as playing five a side football once a week (if we can get the numbers) as well as being a volunteer dog walker for two hours a week all of which means I feel pretty good physically though things may slip once I'm in full time employment.
My main hope for 2019 is for me to get a good job, I think once I get a job then that will open up other opportunities but that is not always the case. I imagine I will continue to deal with the BAHA issue and explore my options in terms of model and whether or not I would consider the surgery. One of my closest friends is getting married this year so i am looking forward to that and of course I am looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame which is meant to be the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thanks for reading!
Views from Cave Hill
For Christmas I got various different presents including a nice leather guitar strap which has been great for me as it a bit more padded and more comfortable than the seat belt style strap that I had been using as well as a multiple photo frame for my bedroom wall. I had also treated myself to a Nintendo Switch having gotten a great deal on Black Friday. I had resisted opening it until Christmas helped by the fact I was playing through God of War on the PS4 (great game!). I had gotten Mario Kart with it and I also received Mario Odyssey for Christmas. I'm really enjoying it especially the hybrid nature of it being able to play it on the TV or take the console out and play it as a handheld.
With the beginning of a new year it's hard not to think that time is flying by but at the same time it seems like a long time since the major events. 2018 was a bit of a strange year for me, after spending most of December 2017 waiting for my suggested revisions for my PhD thesis to be sent to me I finally got them at the start of January. Having submitted the thesis the first time, then having to defend it, going back to make changes to it including changes to the appearance, reference list etc. is frustrating. I spent the period from January to the middle of March working on it and it was difficult due to the examiner asking for things that weren't necessary or in some cases weren't even possible and he was very poor at responding to emails. It was also very frustrating working on such a large document in Microsoft Word when formatting what should be simple things becomes very difficult like having two images of the same size with captions on a number of pages like I had. I was finally happy with it and I submitted to my examiner only to have to wait until the middle of April to get it signed off. By this time I had started properly applying for jobs and learnt some harsh lessons about not even being invited to interview despite being qualified for a job.
With my thesis finally signed off I made my final checks before getting it printed and hardbound and submitting it to the university as well as the organisation who funded my PhD. My job search became my main focus although I've tried to also enjoy my free time while I can. I started meeting up with an employment advisor from a hearing loss charity and ended up working to improve my interview technique. I ended up having quite a few interviews in some cases I had two interviews on the one day but unfortunately didn't receive any offers despite thinking that certain interviews had gone rather well.
It wasn't all about the job hunt though, we had the excitement of our trip to London, having our original flight cancelled, then having to fly to Southampton and get a taxi to London with the surreal experience of arriving in a snow covered London late at night. 2018 was the year of my first music festival which I really enjoyed. We also had our holiday to Majorca which was lovely and two trips to the north coast although as my last post mentioned it was a rather mixed trip due to the loss of our cat Milo. There was also the disappointment of Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign but at least they showed that they can play well they just need to put the ball in the net!
One minor achievement I had this year was finally switching to a solid breakfast, no longer relying on the Fortisip drink, in fact the last time I actually had a Fortisip was when I took one with me to the music festival in August. I no longer get Fortisip on prescription and hopefully I won't ever feel the need to get it again. I try to go out for a walk every day as well as playing five a side football once a week (if we can get the numbers) as well as being a volunteer dog walker for two hours a week all of which means I feel pretty good physically though things may slip once I'm in full time employment.
My main hope for 2019 is for me to get a good job, I think once I get a job then that will open up other opportunities but that is not always the case. I imagine I will continue to deal with the BAHA issue and explore my options in terms of model and whether or not I would consider the surgery. One of my closest friends is getting married this year so i am looking forward to that and of course I am looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame which is meant to be the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
2018 movies (plus The Last Jedi and Justice League)
I have realised that it's been a while since I've really talked about movies or TV shows. I saw something on twitter today about how it's been a year since Star Wars The Last Jedi came out so I'll talk about it as well as the various superhero movies that have come out this year.
*I will be vague and try not to spoil anything.
I'm not sure if there has been a movie with so much hyperbole of opinion around it as The Last Jedi. There seems to be this idea that either you think it is awful or you think it is the best Star Wars movie ever but I imagine there are many people like myself who thought it was a mixed bag. It doesn't help that it starts off in a confusing way when you think about how The Force Awakens ended. To that some might say well the books explain what happened between that and The Last Jedi to which I would say well you shouldn't have to read the books to understand why things are the way they are. There is also the issue of how Luke Skywalker is handled with Mark Hamill himself coming out and saying he didn't agree with his characterization in this movie (that said he didn't let that affect his performance so fair play to him). That and how new characters who were great in The Force Awakens are not handled that well in this movie don't help things. It does have some exceptional moments and I do understand that Rian Johnson wanted to subvert expectations and breathe new life into Star Wars that said I think I enjoyed The Force Awakens more.
I now realise as I'm writing this that I haven't commented on Justice League yet. Going to see it was actually my first trip out after getting my wisdom tooth out last year. Whilst Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice made me angry and frustrated and Suicide Squad was disappointing despite low expectations Justice League was just medicore. I'll say that again, Justice League the first live action Justice League movie where we see heroes such as Superman, Batman, The Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman and Wonder Woman team up was mediocre (at best). Zach Snyder stepped away from the movie due to a personal tragedy and the director of Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron was brought in to finish the movie. It is fair to say that the movie is a bit of a mess with lame comedy bits added, this weird focus on a Russian family that the movie keeps cutting to and an unfinished, poor quality CGI finale. It once again shows the very poor decision making that goes on at Warner Bros in terms of their DC Extended Universe. There has been much campaigning by fans of Zach Snyder for a "Snyder-cut" of the movie and as much as I think Batman V Superman was a bad movie at least it was ambitious and it was clearly setting stuff up for Justice League which was then not included. It's hard not to wonder if the original vision would've been better.
Before I talk about Marvel movies I'll talk about some other superhero movies that were released this year. The first Deadpool was a great movie and it showed that Fox could differentiate themselves from Marvel Studios by making more mature (aka violent) superhero movies. It was funny and had great action and it deservedly got a lot of praise. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy Deadpool 2 anywhere near as much. I don't think it was as funny, there were too many jokes relating to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I thought it really dragged in places. It's not awful but definitely could've been better. I wasn't overly fussed on Josh Brolin as Cable or his backstory in the movie but I would be interested in seeing an X-Force movie with him and Deadpool having a smaller role.
The first Incredibles movie was released in 2004 and I think it's fair to say that it remains one of the best superhero movies. The sequel was finally released in 2018 and it was hard to know if it would meet expectations. I must confess I saw it late in its run at the cinema, I went in the afternoon expecting there not to be many people at it only to find lots of parents and their kids so I maybe didn't enjoy it as much I might've if there weren't kids stomping up and down. It definitely looks great, the voice acting is spot-on and it has some great set-pieces. That said I don't think it reaches the quality of the first movie and I don't think the villain is anywhere near as good as the villain in the first one.
2018 was a big year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first movie being Black Panther, a big budget blockbuster movie that is culturally important for having a primarily black cast. T'Challa/Black Panther had been introduced in Captain America: Civil War and despite his small screen time he came across as a very interesting and badass character. I enjoyed this movie, it's yet another polished, entertaining Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, it doesn't just feel like another generic superhero movie. That said I don't think it is perfect and I think it is overhyped a bit especially given the finale which I thought could've been better especially with the poor CGI (possibly due to priority being given to Avengers: Infinity War).
Avengers; Infinity War had a lot of pressure to live up to. This is due to it not only being an Avengers movie, being directed by the Russo brothers who directed Captain America: The Winter Solider and Civil War, being a movie featuring not just the Avengers but also other characters such as Black Panther, Spider-man, Doctor Strange and also the Guardians of the Galaxy but also finally having Thanos, a villain who had been teased since the post-credit scene of the first Avengers movie finally take center stage. Whilst not spoiling anything I think it is fair to say that it managed to both meet and exceed expectation. It is action packed, it is funny, it has twist and turns and covers a lot of different emotions. It is a great looking and sounding film as well. Josh Brolin is fantastic as Thanos and he comes across as a real character with real weight to him despite all the CGI and motion capture used to bring him to life. Seeing it in the cinema for the first time is an experience that I will remember for a long time.
Ant-man and The Wasp was the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in a way acted as a bit of a palette cleanser before Captain Marvel next March. Like the first one it is a self-contained story and is better for it. Again it is a very polished entertaining Marvel movie. It has an interesting antagonist and lots of great choreography and action. It's not going to top many people's favourite MCU movies but that is fine. Paul Rudd is proof of the brilliance of the casting of the MCU and Evangeline Lilly gets to step up and does very well. I think if there is anything to complain about is that it does juggle different baddies and plot-lines. It might have been better if one element of the plot had been given a bit more focus and time but it may be that it is revisited in future movies.
I cannot review Solo: A Star Wars Story, as I haven't seen it, nor have I seen Venom (partly out of protest due to Sony being so short-sighted and going ahead with their Spider-man spin-off universe that isn't connected to the MCU). There are a number of big movies out now that I haven't seen yet, hopefully I will be able to see at least one of them before Christmas now things are winding down a bit in terms of my job hunt.
If I don't write anything before then well please have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
*I will be vague and try not to spoil anything.
I'm not sure if there has been a movie with so much hyperbole of opinion around it as The Last Jedi. There seems to be this idea that either you think it is awful or you think it is the best Star Wars movie ever but I imagine there are many people like myself who thought it was a mixed bag. It doesn't help that it starts off in a confusing way when you think about how The Force Awakens ended. To that some might say well the books explain what happened between that and The Last Jedi to which I would say well you shouldn't have to read the books to understand why things are the way they are. There is also the issue of how Luke Skywalker is handled with Mark Hamill himself coming out and saying he didn't agree with his characterization in this movie (that said he didn't let that affect his performance so fair play to him). That and how new characters who were great in The Force Awakens are not handled that well in this movie don't help things. It does have some exceptional moments and I do understand that Rian Johnson wanted to subvert expectations and breathe new life into Star Wars that said I think I enjoyed The Force Awakens more.
I now realise as I'm writing this that I haven't commented on Justice League yet. Going to see it was actually my first trip out after getting my wisdom tooth out last year. Whilst Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice made me angry and frustrated and Suicide Squad was disappointing despite low expectations Justice League was just medicore. I'll say that again, Justice League the first live action Justice League movie where we see heroes such as Superman, Batman, The Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman and Wonder Woman team up was mediocre (at best). Zach Snyder stepped away from the movie due to a personal tragedy and the director of Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron was brought in to finish the movie. It is fair to say that the movie is a bit of a mess with lame comedy bits added, this weird focus on a Russian family that the movie keeps cutting to and an unfinished, poor quality CGI finale. It once again shows the very poor decision making that goes on at Warner Bros in terms of their DC Extended Universe. There has been much campaigning by fans of Zach Snyder for a "Snyder-cut" of the movie and as much as I think Batman V Superman was a bad movie at least it was ambitious and it was clearly setting stuff up for Justice League which was then not included. It's hard not to wonder if the original vision would've been better.
 |
| The movie was't helped by moustache-gate |
Before I talk about Marvel movies I'll talk about some other superhero movies that were released this year. The first Deadpool was a great movie and it showed that Fox could differentiate themselves from Marvel Studios by making more mature (aka violent) superhero movies. It was funny and had great action and it deservedly got a lot of praise. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy Deadpool 2 anywhere near as much. I don't think it was as funny, there were too many jokes relating to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I thought it really dragged in places. It's not awful but definitely could've been better. I wasn't overly fussed on Josh Brolin as Cable or his backstory in the movie but I would be interested in seeing an X-Force movie with him and Deadpool having a smaller role.
The first Incredibles movie was released in 2004 and I think it's fair to say that it remains one of the best superhero movies. The sequel was finally released in 2018 and it was hard to know if it would meet expectations. I must confess I saw it late in its run at the cinema, I went in the afternoon expecting there not to be many people at it only to find lots of parents and their kids so I maybe didn't enjoy it as much I might've if there weren't kids stomping up and down. It definitely looks great, the voice acting is spot-on and it has some great set-pieces. That said I don't think it reaches the quality of the first movie and I don't think the villain is anywhere near as good as the villain in the first one.
2018 was a big year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first movie being Black Panther, a big budget blockbuster movie that is culturally important for having a primarily black cast. T'Challa/Black Panther had been introduced in Captain America: Civil War and despite his small screen time he came across as a very interesting and badass character. I enjoyed this movie, it's yet another polished, entertaining Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, it doesn't just feel like another generic superhero movie. That said I don't think it is perfect and I think it is overhyped a bit especially given the finale which I thought could've been better especially with the poor CGI (possibly due to priority being given to Avengers: Infinity War).
Avengers; Infinity War had a lot of pressure to live up to. This is due to it not only being an Avengers movie, being directed by the Russo brothers who directed Captain America: The Winter Solider and Civil War, being a movie featuring not just the Avengers but also other characters such as Black Panther, Spider-man, Doctor Strange and also the Guardians of the Galaxy but also finally having Thanos, a villain who had been teased since the post-credit scene of the first Avengers movie finally take center stage. Whilst not spoiling anything I think it is fair to say that it managed to both meet and exceed expectation. It is action packed, it is funny, it has twist and turns and covers a lot of different emotions. It is a great looking and sounding film as well. Josh Brolin is fantastic as Thanos and he comes across as a real character with real weight to him despite all the CGI and motion capture used to bring him to life. Seeing it in the cinema for the first time is an experience that I will remember for a long time.
 |
| How you do a CGI villain cough*Stepphenwolf*cough |
Ant-man and The Wasp was the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in a way acted as a bit of a palette cleanser before Captain Marvel next March. Like the first one it is a self-contained story and is better for it. Again it is a very polished entertaining Marvel movie. It has an interesting antagonist and lots of great choreography and action. It's not going to top many people's favourite MCU movies but that is fine. Paul Rudd is proof of the brilliance of the casting of the MCU and Evangeline Lilly gets to step up and does very well. I think if there is anything to complain about is that it does juggle different baddies and plot-lines. It might have been better if one element of the plot had been given a bit more focus and time but it may be that it is revisited in future movies.
I cannot review Solo: A Star Wars Story, as I haven't seen it, nor have I seen Venom (partly out of protest due to Sony being so short-sighted and going ahead with their Spider-man spin-off universe that isn't connected to the MCU). There are a number of big movies out now that I haven't seen yet, hopefully I will be able to see at least one of them before Christmas now things are winding down a bit in terms of my job hunt.
If I don't write anything before then well please have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
Monday, 26 November 2018
I'm starting to really dislike November
Well it has been another large gap between updates, I'm not even sure how many people actually regularly check my blog, it would help if blogger would remember not to track my own page views. I've been rather busy on the job search front. Applying for lots of different jobs and having a number of different interviews. Unfortunately I'm still looking which is frustrating because I definitely think my interview's have improved and I am actually giving longer answers now instead of just answering the question and stopping. I've had some great feedback but it's hard not to wonder if it is a numbers game with a lot of people all applying for the same position. It has also been frustrating when companies recruitment processes aren't the best. You can apply for a job, get an interview, get a rejection and get told someone else gave a better interview only to see the same job advertised again weeks later. In a recent case I haven't even heard back after my interview but the company are seemingly advertising the job again, this when I felt I definitely met the criteria and gave a solid interview. All of that said I know I am very lucky that I'm able to live with my parents and don't have to worry about money for food etc.
All in all it had been a rather busy few weeks with interviews etc. but we had planned a short break away up the north coast again coinciding with the Atlantic Sessions which is what we did last year. I was hopeful that this year would be a lot more enjoyable due to me being in a much better place ( see my post from that time) and that we were staying in the lovely apartment we had stayed in on our last break up the north coast. We planned that me and my parents would go up on the Thursday and my brother would join us on the Friday. We had tickets for gigs on the Friday night as well as a gig on the Saturday night and we planned to come back on the Sunday before heading to the Northern Ireland V Austria match on Sunday evening.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a rather mixed weekend. Our cat Milo who hadn't really been eating well for a while which was rather unusual for him (we had taken him to the vet who couldn't find anything obvious) but who we thought had been improving disappeared on Wednesday night. He hadn't quite been himself for a while but we thought he had maybe had a bug and was taking a bit of time to get over it. This led to a stressful night worrying that if he didn't come back we would have to cancel the trip as we couldn't leave him to come back to an empty house. Thankfully he did come back at 6am and seemed rather perky on it. We took him to the cattery and let the owner who is a lovely woman know about Milo's situation. She promised to keep an eye on him and said she would check his teeth in case that was the issue. Thursday was nice and Friday was a lovely day. Unfortunately on Friday evening we got a phone call from the owner of the cattery saying she was concerned about Milo (also that she couldn't see any issue with his teeth) and asked if it would be ok if she took him to the vet in the morning, we said yes and went out to the gigs. When we got back we had missed calls from her to say she really wasn't happy and she had taken him to our vet (who she trusted and who we have known for a long time) that night. We got a message from the vet saying that he had put Milo on a drip and would ring us in the morning. This led to another very restless night and in the morning we got the call from the vet saying he would rather speak to us in person. At this point we pretty much knew that things were really not good.
On Saturday morning we drove the long journey home and went to the vet's. He explained that Milo's rapid weight loss along with lumps he had found meant that he most likely had lymphoma which is common in cats. He explained that whilst we could prolong things with chemotherapy and steroid pills it would only be for a matter of months. We all agreed that we didn't want to put Milo through that and the best thing would be to do would be to ease his suffering. I am extremely grateful that we were able to see Milo and say goodbye to him. He clearly recognised us and was happy to see us. The whole thing was very calm and peaceful and Milo wasn't stressed at all. It's hard not to think that it would be kinder in some instances if we could do the same for humans.
It's fair to say that it was a very sad day for our family, Milo had turned up on our door as a stray kitten and adopted us as his family (we put found posters up but nobody responded). He was with us for over fourteen years and acted as a constant source of comfort and entertainment. He saw me through almost all of high school and all of university and my PhD and the time after, It is fair to say he became the fifth member of our family. Despite how upset we were unfortunately life is always moving on. Given that we were paying for the apartment and had tickets for the gig that night as well as the Northern Ireland match the next day we felt that it was better to continue as planned rather than go home and sit about being miserable. We weren't really in the mood however we had a nice meal on Saturday night and the music was good even if the venue/the many people not interested in the music were not. The Northern Ireland match ended up being very disappointing, despite how well they have played in the Nations League they had failed to get any points. We hoped that we could rescue some pride against Austria. They managed to come back from 1-0 down only to lose by conceding a goal at the very end of the match.
Last week was tough, Milo was such a big presence in our home and the most regular topic of conversation would be him. It has been difficult not to look for him in his regular spots both outside and inside the house. We miss him terribly but are trying to remember all the great times we had with him. Our neighbours who knew him have been sympathetic but not everyone is. I pity people who don't know the joy of having a pet or those who dismiss cats due to silly stereotypes. We were very fortunate that we had fourteen wonderful years with Milo. Before him we had two beagles who lived to fourteen and around fifteen and a half. We are an animal loving family and it is likely that in the future we will get another pet however it will not be for a while yet. I believe you need to take the proper time to grieve and to process things, I don't understand the people who lose a pet only to immediately get another one.
Sorry for not writing the most uplifting post but thanks for reading, I'm meant to be getting my BAHA on a soft band this week so I will probably write about that at some point.
All in all it had been a rather busy few weeks with interviews etc. but we had planned a short break away up the north coast again coinciding with the Atlantic Sessions which is what we did last year. I was hopeful that this year would be a lot more enjoyable due to me being in a much better place ( see my post from that time) and that we were staying in the lovely apartment we had stayed in on our last break up the north coast. We planned that me and my parents would go up on the Thursday and my brother would join us on the Friday. We had tickets for gigs on the Friday night as well as a gig on the Saturday night and we planned to come back on the Sunday before heading to the Northern Ireland V Austria match on Sunday evening.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a rather mixed weekend. Our cat Milo who hadn't really been eating well for a while which was rather unusual for him (we had taken him to the vet who couldn't find anything obvious) but who we thought had been improving disappeared on Wednesday night. He hadn't quite been himself for a while but we thought he had maybe had a bug and was taking a bit of time to get over it. This led to a stressful night worrying that if he didn't come back we would have to cancel the trip as we couldn't leave him to come back to an empty house. Thankfully he did come back at 6am and seemed rather perky on it. We took him to the cattery and let the owner who is a lovely woman know about Milo's situation. She promised to keep an eye on him and said she would check his teeth in case that was the issue. Thursday was nice and Friday was a lovely day. Unfortunately on Friday evening we got a phone call from the owner of the cattery saying she was concerned about Milo (also that she couldn't see any issue with his teeth) and asked if it would be ok if she took him to the vet in the morning, we said yes and went out to the gigs. When we got back we had missed calls from her to say she really wasn't happy and she had taken him to our vet (who she trusted and who we have known for a long time) that night. We got a message from the vet saying that he had put Milo on a drip and would ring us in the morning. This led to another very restless night and in the morning we got the call from the vet saying he would rather speak to us in person. At this point we pretty much knew that things were really not good.
On Saturday morning we drove the long journey home and went to the vet's. He explained that Milo's rapid weight loss along with lumps he had found meant that he most likely had lymphoma which is common in cats. He explained that whilst we could prolong things with chemotherapy and steroid pills it would only be for a matter of months. We all agreed that we didn't want to put Milo through that and the best thing would be to do would be to ease his suffering. I am extremely grateful that we were able to see Milo and say goodbye to him. He clearly recognised us and was happy to see us. The whole thing was very calm and peaceful and Milo wasn't stressed at all. It's hard not to think that it would be kinder in some instances if we could do the same for humans.
It's fair to say that it was a very sad day for our family, Milo had turned up on our door as a stray kitten and adopted us as his family (we put found posters up but nobody responded). He was with us for over fourteen years and acted as a constant source of comfort and entertainment. He saw me through almost all of high school and all of university and my PhD and the time after, It is fair to say he became the fifth member of our family. Despite how upset we were unfortunately life is always moving on. Given that we were paying for the apartment and had tickets for the gig that night as well as the Northern Ireland match the next day we felt that it was better to continue as planned rather than go home and sit about being miserable. We weren't really in the mood however we had a nice meal on Saturday night and the music was good even if the venue/the many people not interested in the music were not. The Northern Ireland match ended up being very disappointing, despite how well they have played in the Nations League they had failed to get any points. We hoped that we could rescue some pride against Austria. They managed to come back from 1-0 down only to lose by conceding a goal at the very end of the match.
Last week was tough, Milo was such a big presence in our home and the most regular topic of conversation would be him. It has been difficult not to look for him in his regular spots both outside and inside the house. We miss him terribly but are trying to remember all the great times we had with him. Our neighbours who knew him have been sympathetic but not everyone is. I pity people who don't know the joy of having a pet or those who dismiss cats due to silly stereotypes. We were very fortunate that we had fourteen wonderful years with Milo. Before him we had two beagles who lived to fourteen and around fifteen and a half. We are an animal loving family and it is likely that in the future we will get another pet however it will not be for a while yet. I believe you need to take the proper time to grieve and to process things, I don't understand the people who lose a pet only to immediately get another one.
 |
| Me and Milo on the day of my PhD graduation |
Sorry for not writing the most uplifting post but thanks for reading, I'm meant to be getting my BAHA on a soft band this week so I will probably write about that at some point.
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