I had an MRI scan for the first time today. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I did know that it would take a while, so I was a bit worried that I might start to get bored. Now that it’s over, I’m pretty happy because it was a very pleasant experience overall.

So, first of all, I had to wear a hospital gown. I was a bit unsure of this, since I imagined them being very airy and too revealing. As it turns out, the hospital gown was very comfortable – more comfortable, in fact, than my own pyjamas. It makes me wish I had my own hospital gown for personal use. Nice and snug and not too revealing either.

So, anyway, onto the scan itself. I was actually strapped onto the bed which was put into the machine, which was unexpected, but surprisingly comfortable. I was then slowly moved into a mechanical tube. It was so nice and cosy. To be quite honest, it was more comfortable than my own bed and I could have slept there very happily.

I suppose, the one thing I didn’t like, was the fact that the bed suddenly moved without warning a few times, but other than that, it was totally fine. It was warm (just the right temerpature) and though there were loud noises (like sirens and alarms), they gave me headphones which blocked out the noise.

So, for me, it was a pleasant experience. If you’re ever going to have an MRI scan and feel anxious about it, remember this blog post and relieve your anxiety. You’re in for a treat. I wish houses were built with their own sleeping tubes.

Sleep paralysis is what it’s called when your mind wakes up, but your body remains asleep. You’re conscious, but you can’t move. It’s something which has always fascinated me, so I felt very fortunate when I experienced it for the first time recently.

Apparently, it’s an experience which can be quite distressing for a lot of people, but I was quite excited the entire time – perhaps because I was completely aware of what was happening. I guess it’s yet another case where knowledge is power.

I’m sure I opened my eyes and I was looking down at my body stretched out down the bed. I tried to move, but soon realised that I couldn’t. I tried sitting up, but it was as if I had a great weight pushing me down. I tried to resist it a few times, but I really couldn’t move at all.

What was most interesting for me, was how it felt when I tried to move my arms and legs. It felt just like I was moving them, but I could see that I was not. I suppose the easiest way to describe that would be to say that it felt like my soul was moving while my body remained still. Curiously, the further I moved these phantom limbs from their actual locations, the colder they felt – and I was feeling properly ice cold sensations when I really tried moving my hands.

Were I not familiar with sleep paralysis and the strange tricks that the human brain can play, this could have been quite a spiritual and life-changing experience for me. I can easily see how somebody might go through that and then be completely convinced about the existence of a soul and some spiritual level of existence.

Having said that, I’d hate to imply that the experience was cheapened for me at all by it not being at all spiritual. It was interesting and exciting! It opened my eyes to new things that a person can experience. I hope that I’ll have it happen again one day.

I’ve had a handful of job interviews recently – one of which was successful. What surprised me, was that while I thought that a few of them had gone well, many didn’t even respond to tell me I’d done badly. I thought that, at very least, a stock rejection email would have been appropriate. I was disappointed that so many of them had just left it up in the air and not given me a response, even after they’d told me that they would.

But today I was given what I would call the golden standard of interview responses. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t get the job (which is a shame) but I was very pleased with how they let me know. I was left a voicemail, where they told me that I’d been unsuccessful, but that I’d come across very well in the interview and they said that they didn’t think that I should be disheartened. They said that I could call or email if I wanted some more detailed feedback on the interview and sent me an email just in case I didn’t get the voicemail.

I feel like once an employee has been interviewed, the employer should really do them the courtesy of giving a proper response. This was the best response I’ve ever had to an unsuccessful interview and it left me with a very positive impression of the business. It’s good to know there are businesses like that out there.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

The other day I was riding along on the train. I had spent quite a number of hours riding on buses and trains in order to have a quick ten minute meeting (which felt really pointless.) I was standing up on a particularly busy train, when all of a sudden there was a big bump and the train came to a rather an abrupt stop.

I thought for a second, that the train might have ran over an animal. Then I thought that would be quite sad and hoped it wouldn’t be the case. The conductor gave an announcement and said he was going to ask the driver why they had suddenly stopped. I heard a few people tutting and sighing. A few seconds later, the conductor gave another announcement and revealed that somebody had been run over.

I was pretty shocked, because I never could have imagined that that would be what had happened. The idea that the train I had been riding on had caused the death of somebody was very sad. The thought that somebody had died a few feet away from me and that I knew more about it than the actual people who cared about them was even more distressing.

Over the next hour or so the train stood still as the emergency services arrived and did their best to get the person out from under the train. This was something that was very unpleasant to experience – but what I found even worse, was the response of the other people on the train.

People were complaining and moaning about how it would personally cause them some minor inconveniences – mostly along the lines of being late home and feeling tired. Others were taking photos of the emergency service people to post on their social media accounts. Some of them were even making extremely tasteless jokes about it. None of them were talking seriously about the tragedy that is the loss of human life.

While riding on a train that ran somebody over alone would have been a saddening experience, all of the people on the train made it much, much worse.  Their total lack of compassion was something I found very disturbing. Is that how self-absorbed the average person really is? No, is the answer I need myself to believe. A good friend of mine told me that the other people were probably putting on a front because they were very upset and I hope that they were right.

After the emergency services had left, the conductor announced that the person had survived and was taken to hospital. This, at least, got a mild cheer from the crowd. I didn’t really think it was very good news though, because I wondered how long somebody would really survive after that. I remember thinking in the evening, how awful they must feel – both physically and emotionally. When I checked the news, I found they had indeed died shortly after. I hope that the rest of the passengers checked. I hope that they cared.