h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nigh on two years later. That prediction was pretty much bang on!

Hello to those who may read this. I hope you're all well and haven't given the BBC too much grief. Things can't be too bad, as I gather h2g2's getting ready for an update of some sort. It takes a little while to get one's bearings here after a long absence; DNA is so very different to everything else on the Web!

Let's see, what have I been up to? Everything's really come together in the last year or so. My PhD plans have been put on hold, I can't say for how long. I'm just enjoying the process of earning money! My job (still at the same company) has moved away from testing and into more development, which gives me the chance to be creative that I often crave. I'm developing the management software for our frontline hardware product. Single-handedly, I might add, but as we all know the company will get the credit.

Web development has halted almost entirely. As ever I have a long list of projects I should tackle, but sadly can't find the motivation any more (that and my computer's been broken for months. The company laptop I use at home at the moment isn't exactly ideal for graphical work and it doesn't have my resources). If I ever glance in the direction of Web development it's related to The Matrix Online, which sadly closed a few months ago. I had planned to create a site to follow the community post-MxO, kind of a hybrid forum/fan-fiction archive, but I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it.

I finally learnt to drive a few months ago, so I'm tackling my first winter on the roads! Last night was certainly an experience, spending two hours on a slip road trying to get off the M27 on a trip which usually takes twenty minutes but yesterday took a total of four hours! I also have a nice new flat now in Southampton (renting; heavens, I won't be able to buy anything for years yet) in which I've been enjoying my freedom for the past nine months.

Best of all, my arthritis is getting better. Infinitely better! They put me on a drug called adalimumab as soon as I moved back to Hampshire. I was at the front of the waiting list when I left Hampshire for Wiltshire when my parents moved house a while back, and as it turns out Wiltshire are useless when it comes to paying for medication so nothing happened while I was there. Now that I'm on it though, it's working wonders. I don't ache in the mornings (it used to be quite debilitating on occasion), all my movements have improved and I've been told my walking looks much better. I'm always going to have some swollen joints, but they won't restrict my movement much any longer.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll see if I can stick around for a while. I have far fewer online commitments now, so it's seems likely!

Welcome back!

And this time, make sure you *stay* back, or else...

Arthritis? At your age? Oh my, I always thought it was an old-people-thingie but you must still be quite young? Compared with me at least..

I'll do my best to stay. I might occasionally take a while to reply 'cos I tend to get distracted. But I don't have nearly as many things to do online as I used to, so I'll probably gravitate towards h2g2 by default now.

I'm 24. There aren't many young people with arthritis, but it definitely happens. I'm just annoyed it took so long to figure out it was arthritis. Actually, no, I tell a lie. My first diagnosis was done in Switzerland when I was 12 and they figured it was juvenile arthritis. After coming back to England, however, they spent years throwing around terms like metachromatosis and metachondromatosis (subtly different!), until I finally saw some who /knew/ something who diagnosed me properly.