A post about things I like.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and will have a happy New Year!

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor (Christmas special) and Frozen, as well as excessive amounts of nerdiness and fangirling.

I have some things that I have been bursting to say. No complete explanations will be provided. :)

1. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor.

I really liked the Christmas special this year. He stayed for Christmas! Because they needed him! It was quite silly at first, which was a bit nice because eleven was the silly one. I was confused about Clara's family, but whatever. Family is confusing. The saddest part of this episode for me wasn't the regeneration or that he stayed for Christmas or his speech (although that and the taking off of the bow tie left me shaking and in tears).
The saddest part was that he got old.
The Doctor aged. He aged visibly, and physically, and emotionally. Obviously he was already old - 1300 or so! - but this time he got OLD. He got frail. He couldn't walk. He forgot people's names, faces. He had a limp, a lisp, grey hair. That scared me. The Doctor, the one who can never be caught, the madman with a box, became vulnerable. And if the Doctor is vulnerable, then no one is safe. And that hurt.

2. Foreign movies.

SO. Recently, I've accidentally watched two very-much-not-English movies. Netflix persuaded me they were good, and by the time I found out they were in a different language I was too involved to stop.
I am so glad I did not stop.
Winter in Wartime (Dutch) was excellent. Not what I expected. So good. I stopped breathing three times.
Mother of Mine (Finnish/Swedish) was also excellent. Just so perfect.
These films were so emotional, so involving, so deep, that I couldn't stop watching. It seemed to me that there was very little dialogue in comparison to English films (there were good subtitles - thanks Netflix), and SO MUCH emotion was conveyed through sighs, or glances, or silent moments.
And I realised how much I do not listen to movies, even English ones.
I had to intently watch these movies in order to catch all the subtitles, and I could hear so much emotion in their voices. I could figure out exactly what was going on by their tone, their volume, just their voices. It was amazing.
Seriously, if you ever have time, go find some foreign movies to watch.

3. Frozen.

Frozen. Frozen, frozen, frozen. At first I wasn't going to go see it (I thought it would be a dumb story about a snowman and a reindeer) but no! Tumblr convinced me to go see it and by god am I glad I did. Started with a musical number (sold). Musical numbers throughout just like the original Disneys (sold). Princess story (sold). It started out so happy and then it got so sad so fast I could actually feel my heart breaking. I hurt so much for Elsa, who loved her sister so much but couldn't be with her, for Anna, who was all alone and didn't know why, and their parents, who had one lonely daughter with a secret that she couldn't control and another lonely daughter who knew nothing and could know nothing. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" (Musical number 2 - I CAN'T STOP SINGING IT BUT IT'S SO SAD AND I CAN STILL FEEL MY HEART BREAKING JUST DURING THAT SONG ACTUALLY EVERY SINGLE WORD IN THAT SONG BREAKS MY HEART). Then it's coronation day! Elsa is so scared and Anna is so excited (I've figured that Anna is my spirit animal) and they're so awkward and it's so sad because it shouldn't have to be like that! It should be happy! BUT! IT! ISN'T! And then Hans comes in (another sweet number) and I'm like hey, love story, okey-dokie cool and then they're going to get married but they can't and everything gets exciting right then because Elsa goes and does her music on the mountain and Hans is left in charge and it seems like he's such a good guy but turns out he isn't! What! When Kristoff came in I was confused cause like there already was one guy what's this guy doing here and he's no Prince Charming he's awesome but he takes Anna and MORE EMOTION which is when I realised it was based off the Snow Queen which I loved when I was little and MORE MUSIC which is never ever ever ever ever ever a bad thing and then back to the castle bam! Anna needs true love to save her (I kinda sighed but okay, princess, cute) but it turns out Hans was evil all along and Olaf says 'Some people are worth melting for' YEAH THANKS FOR MELTING ANY ICE THAT WAS LEFT IN MY HEART THEN STOMPING ON IT and Kristoff loves her (saw that one coming) but hey, that's cute, at least it wasn't completely traditional and Elsa's about to die and Anna saves her! And then dies! And I'm like what! That wasn't supposed to happen! But then! BUT THEN! That was the act of true love Anna needed! It was family love! And! Not! Traditional! Princess! Love! It! Was! True! Love! So Anna saved herself by saving her sister and that broke me because I wasn't expecting that! And I loved it! And then Elsa stopped fighting her powers and they became close again and OH! MY! GOD! I! CAN'T! BELIEVE! HOW! MUCH! I! COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY! ADORED! THIS! MOVIE!!!!!!

This is way too late...but it's almost Christmas!

Well, not really, but it's Christmas month! Woohoo!

Anyway, I bring to you the last twelve days (hey, twelve days of Christmas!) of the diabetes month photo challenge. Sorry, I got behind. And lost motivation.

Day 19: Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia. That shaking, pale feeling that seizes you as soon as your blood sugar drops below 4.0. This is what happens - I'm so shaky, so uncoordinated, that I can't open packages properly. And those pull tabs on Dex bottles? Forget it! These ShotBlok packages get ripped apart, the blocks themselves get nailmarks in them, and sometimes I want to scream because I can't get it out fast enough. Lows suck.

 

Day 20: Needle

Needles. Ah. Fun. I don't use these anymore, because I'm on the pump, but I was on needles for seven months. I still have a lot for emergency purposes and also because we have nowhere for them to go. I never used syringes, because I started right off with the pen. The blue-tab needles where what I used everyday - a while after my diagnosis. As you can imagine, giving yourself a needle is quite a daunting task, and really scary among everything else that was happening. The top picture was our solution. It's a pen needle with a cap that covers the needle - as you press it against the site the needles goes in but you don't have to look at it going it. Pretty awesome. Of course, right after I bought an entire box, I got my pump. But they did help a lot, ESPECIALLY when I was just starting.

 

Day 21: Free Food

Aw, yeah. Bringing this back. It was free. It was sweet. It was great.

 

Day 22: Endocrinologist

 

I don't have a picture here, but I love my endocrinologist. I guess I really have two - my actual endo from the mainland and my local pediatrician. They're both too awesome for words. Clinic next week! Aw yeah! (Also they really like me and my numbers, so that's great.) And they're the ones I'm going to ask about WHY MY SITES HURT SO MUCH RECENTLY. Story on that farther down. See Day 25.

 

Day 23: Weakness

The kids I babysit/volunteer with. Teddy bears. Disney. Candy. (I've been eating way too much of that lately). Cookies. I have a lot of weaknesses. But something that has been a weakness of mine since I was five...

Books. I'm a sucker for stories. This book in particular is a) the perfect size to i) read in bed ii) hug to your chest iii) hold up and read and b) is an amazing book that you should go find and read right away goodness me I don't think I've read such a great book since I was eight. (Also it's nice to see a war story from the germans' POV - that's something I've wanted for a while. And the narration/narrator is awesome. And it's going to be a movie soon. With Geoffrey Rush. YEEHA)

 

Day 24: Hyperglycemia

I don't suffer a lot from hyperglycemia. That is to say, high blood sugars don't usually affect me other than annoy me. Sometimes I get overtired and hungry, but nothing too awful. That being said, I've only had 2 blood sugars since my diagnosis that were higher than my diagnosis number. Which was only 26. So I like to think that I'm just in control.

 

Day 25: Favourite Injection Site

Right thigh. That bump in my leggings is my site, not a malformation. Worry not. XD I love my thigh because it never hurts*, I can do anything with a site there (it's never in the way), and it almost never gets in the way of what I want to wear. (Leggings=exception. I don't care enough. Yeah, I have diabetes. Yeah, I wear a pump. Problem? ;) ) I prefer my right because, for some reason, the first four times I injected into my left, I got a)bruises, b)pain, c) blood, and d) discomfort. It's usually fine now, but I'm right-handed so it's easier when my pump is on my right side.

* My sites have been hurting a LOT lately. My mum thinks it's cause I've been working out and have less fat (although it certainly doesn't feel that way!), but I think it's more. I don't know. It's weird. I really don't like it. Right now it's in my thigh (as I've said), which NEVER EVER EVER hurts - I usually put it there when my sites have been sensitive recently. It didn't hurt going in like the others did - but when I brush past it, I can feel it. When I bolus, I can feel it. Even now, when I'm sitting doing nothing, I can feel it. It's not a good feel. I don't like it.

 

Day 26: Social Media/Blog

Tumblr. Undoubtedly the best place on the internet. Fandom stuff, not-fandom stuff (lots of hilarious diabetic stuff too) - it's just great. And this site counts as social media AND blog! Woohoo!

(Although, if any of you ever look at my tumblr without permission, we are no longer friends. Clear? XD)

 

 

Day 27: Diet

Celery. The green sticks. 1 carb per stick, tasty, goes with any dressing - you just can't lose. It makes up most of my lunches these days. (I'm not dieting, I'm just eating healthier, and I suppose healthy eating could fit under the diet category.) Although, I'm not going to lie, I have been having my fair share of candy and cookies. Ah well, it's almost Christmas. :)

 

Day 28: Thankful

I'm thankful for a lot of things. (Although Thanksgiving was two months ago, AMERICA.)

Family. Friends. Health. Money. Skills. Opportunities. Capabilities. Education.

I have a lot - and I'm grateful for all of it.

Something I'm very grateful for is Bubbles here. I understand that not everyone can afford a pump - and I hope that the government will begin paying for adults' pumps. (Partially because frankly, as a college student to-be, I don't want to pay $7000 for anything.)

Bubbles helps regulate my blood sugars, makes blousing easier, and makes diabetes just a thing that I have to deal with rather than a 'BIG DEAL'.

That's as far as I'm going to go, because Thanksgiving was TWO MONTHS AGO, AMERICA.

 

Day 29: Strength

I am strong.

I can do a weight routine with 2 5lb weights.

I can do Jazzercise twice a week without fail.

I can smile every day, poke my finger, bolus, every. single. day.

I can be a role model.

I can be who I am -

And sometimes that takes all the strength I have.

 

Day 30: Future

I don't know what the future holds, but I am determined that I will take everything into my stride and live the BEST life that anyone's ever had.