Blood, Phones, Spiders, New Targets and More!

So, I felt pretty rubbish yesterday when I woke up. I won't lie, I don't think I got out of bed until about 1.30pm. However, after a lot of mental effort I managed to turn my day around and make something of it. I think the exercise I did really helped actually. I meant to go for a run today, but I'm giving blood later and I felt absolutely horrific after I gave blood last time. I was suprised how much it wiped me out! This is where I would normally suggest something out of my control that contributed to my weakness so I'm not to be blamed, but other than having a cold at the time I've got nothing.

On a related note, I've been asked to take part in a massive blood donation trial. The NHS Blood & Transplant are trying to decide if it's safe to reduce the wait time between each blood donation. They've already reduced mens to just 12 weeks, but if it can be reduced further then more blood can be donated safely. You can read more... here!

I have managed to downgrade my phone 'phobia' to just a plain 'dreaded fear' over the last few days because I've been forced to make about a million phone calls. This will probably just be a temporary downgrade, but it's progress nether-the-less (similar to holding a tarantula in Cuba and becoming petrified of spiders again upon return to home).

Yes, that is someone holding me in place. Clearly thought I was going to run away to get out of holding that hideous creature! I don't know why, it only took me about 20 minutes to work up the nerves...

Anyway, moving on to the main topic of todays post. I've had a bit of an obsession with Mt. Everest for a long time now and I can only dream of climbing it. I would give my right arm to be able to say I've managed to climb to the top of the world and back again. However, lots of people die and I'm not sure it's particularly doable in the near future, especially with the huge cost and my lack of climbing experience. HOWEVER, something that is doable, and something which I want to do hell of a lot is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Kilimanjaro has always interested me from a Biological aspect because as you ascend you pass through five different biomes, making it incredibly unique (plus I want to see the hippos). And lets be honest, who doesn't want to stand on the snowy summit and be able to say you're actually in Africa?! The summit stands at 19,341 ft which is pretty close to the height of Everest base camp (the summit of Everest stands at 29,029 ft).

Uhuru Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro

I have a friend who wants to do this with me, and we've been talking about it for years but yesterday we finally decided to actually do it. We've set ourselves the challenge of doing it in Summer 2014 and will be climbing for charity (suggestions for charities are welcome, although I will probably have Cancer Research as my main charity and will receive half of what's raised). We will each be aiming to raise £10,000 which sounds a lot, but it's only a donation of £2 from 5,000 people.

I had the idea (actually, my mother did) of creating a blog for people to follow about the build up and climb itself, but access costs a one time donation of £2. This goes to charity and people get something of interest (hopefully) to follow, and to see what they are getting for their donation. I'm not sure how this will go down, so please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this idea! I would really appreciate it. I would also like to know if you think putting an ad in a national paper is a good idea? I've looked up prices and it's not too expensive for a small advert in the Sunday Times (2.6 million readers per week). Of course I will be training and doing other sponsored... stuff, not just sitting on my fat arse typing in a blog every week and spending the charity money on KFC...

Talking of KFC, I have decided (I think) to try being a vegetarian. Prepare yourself for some preaching about the environment...

The amount of damage to the environment caused by meat production is MASSIVE. The carbon emissions amount to much more than cars produce, and of course we are running out of food and water. Eating meat is also incredibly inneficient (animals eat plants and lets say only 20% of the plant energy is used in animals, then we eat the animals and only 20% of their energy is used in our bodies) so just eating vegetables cuts out the middle man, so to speak. I went on one of them calculator things (from the PETA website) and it told me if I was to become vegan (eugh, don't worry I'm not that crazy) I would save 15120 animals from dying and 178,200 lbs of Carbon Dioxide emissions which amounts to the same as driving an SUV 185,954 miles. I've also heard it's healthy and makes your body feel better.

This will be incredibly challenging for the simple reason that I LOVE MEAT.

And last thing, I promise. I found a blog recently and having read through some of the posts I found it incredibly interesting and thought provoking. I don't know if it's your cup of tea (whoever 'you' are) but you can find it HERE.

Oh, I will get around to updating the layout soon, I err... promise. I get my results sometime in the near future too, so I will keep you posted about that (unless it's bad news). Finally I will get around to doing a Paramedic-y related posted in the near future, and keep you updated on my St John Ambulance interview next Tuesday!

I think that is about it, although I swear I had more to write about (probably a good job for you I can't remember it)! Oh, and if you fancy paying my rent for me this month then feel free to contact me!

Have a good week,

Phil


Kilimanjaro Peak Image: Activus Outdoors