Welcome to BlergMe -about the creator of the nonsensical gibberish!

Quite an understandable question. My name is Nikki Brien, I am 22 years old and am living with my husband in a small town in Oxfordshire. We got married on the 15th October 2005, so we are officially newlyweds - not that it feels any different to being engaged, but its novel to have a ring on your finger.

I suffer from Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and I am a member of the ME Association to help me cope with my illness, and I have also started a website called This Is Real to help those with invisible illnesses to cope with aspects of their illnesses and to have some interraction with others who are ill. I am also writing a book for those with ME/CFS who are newly diagnosed or who are awaiting diagnosis.

The blog on this site is very out of date - I don't often remember to update it... but I do have one on Livejournal. Check out www.livejournal.com/users/eggotchi if you want to see what I've been up to.

I am a member of my local Linux User Group, and also of the one in Aberdeen where I lived while I was at university - and that is where I met my husband!! - the link to their page is below. My IRC nick is Xiaoqi, and i usually live in #Aberlug and #flute (#flute being my channel) on Freenode. I am also on ICQ -my number is 4045750 and MSN - my contact is nikkismall at hotmail.com (written like that to avoid spambots!).

I grew up in Letchworth in Hertfordshire. Letchworth is a nice place and I have lots of friends there -hi to any of them who are reading this! I went to The Highfield School and have lots of interesting memories from there -chemical leaks resulting in entire buildings being evacuated; music trips to Holland and Belgium with concerts to the coach driver and a janitor; and sixth form cultural visits that i can only assume were to experience the culture of alcohol in other countries! The teachers were always really supportive and friendly - and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

I have also been involved in a charity called Butterfly Conservation (again -link below) They do some really good stuff. My dad was vice chairman for 8 years, so i kinda grew up with the whole nature thing -weekends spent roaming round Porton Down range having picnics and listening to woodpeckers and trying to see deer through the long grass -not to mention picking wild strawberries! I am waiting for the day when i can do that sort of thing again. My CFS prevents me for going for even a short walk nowadays, but one of these days I hope to be able to walk all weekend again. I currently do the newsletter for the East Scotland branch... and also help with some of the other bits - such as spreadsheets for recording butterflies. It is something that keeps me going quite well. I enjoy having something to do.

Anyway -not quite sure what else to write at the moment so I will leave it at that.

*hugs*