No, I’m not changing my religion which is non-existent anyway! My VCR has packed in and since I still have a few TV shows on video that are still unavailable on DVD, I’m thinking about converting them to DVD. The problem is VCRs are practically extinct in the UK these days and it is nearly impossible to buy a new one in this digital age. My parents have one they are going to let me use but what happens when that packs in? The stuff I have on videotape isn’t great quality and it seems like a waste to convert them but I love those shows and it’s my only option until they are released - if ever.

I know a few ways of doing it (in theory) but I’m hoping to try it by just connecting my DVDR to the VCR, thereby avoiding the computer altogether. It means I can’t do any fancy editing but in this case, it’s not really necessary. I’m not sure if it will work but I can try with my DVD Ram discs which are rewritable and that means I won’t be wasting any discs in the process.

I found out today that my cousin Margaret has passed away. Margaret was a cousin on my dad’s side of the family and not one I had seen for a good number of years. I was never close to my dad’s side of the family at all so when I think of my cousins, I tend to only think about the cousins I have on my mum’s side.

I can’t even remember the last time I saw Margaret and probably would’ve walked past her in the street unaware of her identity. Believe me, I’ve done that with other cousins on my dad’s side and been really embarrassed about it. Anyway, I remember Margaret more from when we used to visit my Nana and Papa when I was a girl and I always remembered her smiling and laughing a lot. I’ve no idea what she was like as an adult though but I can’t help feeling angry at her.

Margaret had a kidney transplant when she was in her late teens but she didn’t look after herself properly and didn’t take the medication she was supposed to take on a daily basis. As a result, her body rejected the kidney and she had to have it done again a few years later. She stopped taking her medication again, causing both kidneys to fail, but it was actually the pneumonia that killed her.

The reason I’m so angry is she was a single parent to an eleven year old girl and she should have been doing all she could to ensure she stayed healthy for her daughter’s sake. It may sound like I’m being harsh here but she was given TWO chances to get her health back and she wasted them both. How many other people get the chance to have one transplant, never mind two? Now, she’s dead at forty and her daughter is an orphan.

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a lovely day with your families or however you spend the day!

I feel like I’ve been spending most of December down a dark hole! My shoulder and hand still hurt like hell and I was pretty much in a world of pain at work, especially using my computer. My manager was really great about it all though and she kept telling me to take breaks when the pain got too bad. I persevered by moving everything really close to me so I wasn’t at least straining my shoulder. I’m really tired of the aches and pains though and I’m getting impatient for it all to go away. Thankfully, things were really quiet at work and I suspect it’s going to get even quieter over the next couple of weeks as things start to wind down. I don’t finish up for the holidays until midday on Christmas Eve but I’m not really planning on doing a whole lot of work!

We’ve got a couple of lunches coming this week which will take us away from the work. One is with my team and the other is for the whole office as a thank you for all our hard work and there are rumours going around about a Wii competition afterwards so there won’t be much work getting done. It reminds me of when we used to take games in with us on the last day of school!

In a way, I’m really not expecting much from Christmas Day this year as it is only going to be me and my parents. My dad is such a killjoy at this time of the year and never wants to do anything - it really takes the joy out of the day because my mum ends up trying to pick a fight. It’s going to be so strange not having Grandma at our table this year.

I can at least type now as long as I don’t move my shoulder too much. I’m not great at reaching for things though and have to pull everything towards me instead. Great fun! I’m so never doing that again! I’m going back to work on Wed so goodness knows how I’ll manage there but I’ll just take everything at my own pace.

I’m so behind with Christmas stuff too. I still need to write my cards and wrap the presents I’ve actually bought. I got my dad a small mp3 player today because I had no idea what to get him this year. There’s no way he was getting an expensive one though because he has a habit of never using any gifts he gets and it really annoys me. I had a real hard time figuring out how to get the music on to it though because I’ve been so spoiled with my iPod. There I was, waiting on something like iTunes to load to transfer over the Pavarotti CD I was using as a test but nothing happened! I finally figured out I had to rip the CD first and let WMP synch everything. Grrr! Why is everything on Windows so damn awkward? The more I use my Mac, the more I hate my old laptop and I’m starting to rethink that Vista idea…. Let’s hope the after Christmas sales are good!

Apart from trying to kill myself on the stairs, nothing much has been happening during my recuperation. I’ve been watching Supernatural on DVD to pass the time and my brother bought me the new Bon Jovi concert DVD for my birthday today so I’m gonna watch that later when this stupid mp3 player stops charging.

Oh, and I managed to get tickets for the 2008 Edinburgh Military Tattoo which I’m really excited about! No sign of the Mounties coming though… *pouts*

I’ve been really silly and managed to fall down the stairs. I’ve hurt my shoulder and can’t really use the computer so I’m not going to be around for a while. Will catch up with you all later.