Let's take it slow...

I'm capped. Stop. Will post more later. Stop. Still here. Stop. Painful. Stop. Please let the pain. Stop.

Impossible Dream

Here's a little quote off Serena's blog

drummer of the doors, john densmore said this (in regards to rejecting an offer by cadillac for 15 million dollars to use a doors song in their commercial): "People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music. I've had people say kids died in Vietnam istening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music…. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's not for rent."

The point being that music is something quite wonderful. Now there's plenty of music, that while are really good and all, just seem rather poppy. The music is nice for entertainment and that's about it. But in the ocean of sugary pop songs and repetitive beats, there are these songs that are fucking amazing. That these songs are mysterious, magical and powerful. Honestly I've never been into the whole "powerful, life-changing music" thing.

But.

This Honda advert pops up with what I feel as the most inspirational song ever. Holy crap. I'm going all sappy over a song that was written for a music back in 1965. Check out the ad below. This is one hell of a melding between video and music. Damn inspirational.



The song is The Impossible Dream, sung by Andy Williams.

All Power to the Imagination!

I beat Sophia in Brain Age. Granted the challenge was 30 simple calculations. Still, they can be tough stuff if you let your skills erode. I've being clocking in the 30-40 second range and the first time Sophia did the challenge she was in the minutes range. Unfortunately, Sophia can still claim the crown for Mario Kart DS, however, I'm not losing that badly. I think I have the mechanics worked out better and finished the game in the 50cc stage. Now up to 100cc and beyond.

That said, Brain Age is quite an interesting game. It's rival, Big Brain Academy, is a bit more colorful, but Brain Age has this cultish feel, as Sophia pointed out. To call it a game would be a tad incorrect. It's something you can give to a non-gamer and they would have a nice time playing. Mario Kart is relatively simplistic, but the mechanics of drifting, powersliding and getting the speed boost out of it is quite challenging. You really have to play the tracks several times to get a handle on when and where to drift. Next time, Sophia, I'm going to win.

Presentation is going well. My group has finished our slides and speeches and the final version has been tentatively named the HD version. No, not a High Definition Powerpoint presentation. A High Distinction Powerpoint presentation. A bit ambitious? A bit early? Perhaps, but we're not going to fail with this.

Playing Phoenix Wright Justice For All and Advance Wars Dual Strike. Dual Strike, for all its cartoony graphics, is starting to prove quite a challenge. Strategy fans should try and get a copy.

No uni tomorrow. Hell yeah. How about I make this post up to ya, eh?

Whatever Will Be, Will Be

I picked up my M3 Simply from the post office at 9am. I rushed home to test it out and it is some mad shit. Playing roms perfectly with no hitch, man, now that's $39 well spent. I just tested some video clip on it as well. It runs fine, although the sound is a bit scratched, probably to the smallish speakers. But it's pretty cool.

In a quick dicussion with a friend of mine, he stated that the Nintendo DS is crap because it has shit graphics, as compared to the Sony PSP. While I'll refrain from bagging out the PSP and putting the DS on a pedestal, I can't help but feel that he is misinformed. Games are not about graphics. The most important thing that makes or breaks a game is the gameplay. Yes, the graphics, story, etc of the game are important, but if you are not having fun playing a game with crap gameplay even with the latest graphics and whatnot. Tetris was a major game. It was addictive. Even now you can find freeware versions of Tetris floating around with people still playing them. Compared to today, it has shit graphics, but does that automatically make it a shit game? No.

Actually, that rant was supposed to be way longer, but it soon became a "DS is the best! PSP is crap!" kinda thing. Both handhelds have their pros and cons, and well, I'm naturally biased towards the DS.

And did you hear? Some teenage girl in the US is sueing her school, because they showed "Brokeback Mountain" and it has caused her grave psychological damage. WTF? Psychological damage? She's a teenager, so she knows about homosexuality, and I fail to see what could cause grave psychological damage in the film. It's not some hardcore gay porn film that involves death and blood. Kinda pisses me off that some people make a huge deal about something trivial. Only in the US, eh?

Anatomy exam results came back and I'm a bit down. I didn't fail. I passed. But I didn't get a great mark. Still that balances out the good feelings of my previous exam of 96.3%. Well, it was only a half-yearly, so I'm determined to do better for the yearly exam.

Like, zomg, the end scene for the dubbed english Naruto series. So it'll be really popular.

I have been the dullest of stars.

Just loving my DS at the moment. So it's a bit tough trying to maintain an even balance of uni work and gaming, but I've been leaning towards work more than gaming. I can save at any time, so it doesn't really matter. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney is finished and I have to say that it is an amazing game. 4.5 out 5. It can be fiendishly difficult though, especially the last two cases and you will either do a lot of reloading your save game or checking out a walkthrough for hints. But it's a cool game, nice graphics, great music and awesome gameplay. As soon as my M3 DS Simply arrives, I'm getting the sequel, Justice For All.

Uni has been good. With most of the basics out of the way, some of the work is getting interesting. We're doing theory work for doing chest and wrist x-rays and it changes some preconceptions. I used to think that D.R was a simple job with lots of button pushing, but that's only true for the regular cases. There will be cases that conventional techiques can't accomodate, so we have to compromise. Like people with arthritis in the hands can place their hands flat on the cassette, so they have to hold their hands upwards in a "ballcatchers" position. Not a perfect diagnostic image, but decent enough so the doctors can diagnose.

Oh yeah, CPR certification today. It only went for aboout 3 hours. It's hella easy. It used to be a whole lot detailed and harder but because there were different procedures for adults, kids and infants and a lot of exceptions to when to perform CPR, the CPR procedure has been trimmed down, so it's really easy. DangerResponseAirwayBreathingCompression. 2 breaths for every 30 compressions. 100 compressions in a minute. Keep going until you're physically unable to continue, the ambos take over, or a doctor or similar says the victim is dead. The test was a bit of a joke. Anyone with a bit of common sense would have aced it. So now I wait for my certificate to come in.

My exam results for homeostatsis, cell and basic chem came back at 96.3% which is pretty good. 12 people hit 100%. So still good overall.

And I'm continuing to blog. At least twice a week. Until next time.

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt

Breath by breath, Death by death

My copy of Advance Wars: Dual Strike arrived today! It only took 5 days, but it was kinda my fault since I transferred the money before they gave me an ID number to put on the direct deposit. My M3 Simply, which will allow we to play downloaded games, music and whatnot, is currently on the move and will land in my lap in 2 days or so I hope.

I had my radiation protection test today. I say test, but it was only 10 MCQ with 40 minutes to do it. I finished in around 10 and left soon afterwards, only to realise I answered one of the question wrong. That's because initially you couldn't leave so I had to wait for 10 minutes before the dude changed his mind. So during that time I started to question myself. Damn. Oh well, 9/10 is still good.

Saw Land today at around noon. She was about to have her first anatomy lab session. Said hello and asked a bit about how the med course was going. I tried to see if I could find Jessica Nghiem as well, but couldn't find her.

Had my D.R prac on how to take an x-ray of a hand. It all seems pretty simply, but the lecturer had a whole bunch of tips that made the whole process even simpler, with less chance of mistakes. The key was to start off doing the right thing and everything else flowed from that. Then we got into groups and started doing it for real. It did seem scary at first, because there were all these settings, but for hands there is pretty narrow range of settings, so it went cool. The best number to get was 2.1 for the exposure index, in other words a perfect shot. Our first attempt was 2.5, but the second one was probably better since we had more accurate settings. Didn't get a chance to check out our second attempt though. Bummer.

Now to finish off Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney!

Too looney for uni

So after my anatomy exam, to build up some cheer (because I reckon I did crap), I dashed over to Parramatta and bought myself a Nintendo DS Lite and Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney. The console is much better than I ever anticipated, the touch screen, the dual screen...It's pretty awesome. And Ace Attorney is a fun game. You gather clues and defend your client in court. It's so fun when you find a contradiction and yell out "OBJECTION!".

As you can see it's a white DS, because all they had at the time was white and pink. I would have prefered black but it's not really important.

The new DS Lite is balanced out but the fact that my chair has decided to put out its spine. I've been using this chair for nigh on 4 years, swivelling back and forth, rolling from desk to computer in many a late night assignment or whatnot. The screw has busted it self to pieces so this is what you get.
DS time baby!

The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice.

The decision has been made.

I will be buying a Nintendo DS Lite.

Thanks, but no thanks Jimmy, I'll handle this transaction.

And 17 Seftoners on Facebook? You reckon it's worth joining?

When the dagger digs too deep

Funniest thing happened today during our anatomy lecture. The topic is respiratory physiology and we're talking about lung cancer. Our lecturer is saying that when smokers have a bad cough and it goes on for several months, it's a possible sign of lung cancer, someone in the room blurts out "Oh shit..." quietly but distinctly. Everyone starts laughing and even the lecturer is grinning. I mean, that's some perfect timing and emotion right there.

The other smokers in the room might be getting uncomfortable, but I doubt they'll quit. I have nothing against smokers really. If they know the risks and they keep smoking, well, it's their body. We can tell them all the risks but it's to them to quit. Though I do wonder why people do smoke, regardless of the risks? Social reasons? Peer pressure? Looking cool?

Anatomy exam is going to be tough. I'm studying as best I can, but I'm not that confident. I'll probably pass but definitely not a distinction or anything.

I would really like a DS. I'm deciding whether to actually buy one or not. One part of me says go for it, the other parts starts weighing up the pros, cons, expenses and alternatives. I might get it. Or maybe not.

We were supposed to have a radiation protection lecture today, but our lecturer totally forgot about it. He was so into helping some third-year student that he lost track of time. And he didn't realise that he had a lecture tomorrow either! At least our protection test will be scaled down since there's no way now to get all the lectures done on time.

Until next time.