I'm Out of Your Life

Well Christmas is upon us and clinicals are well and truly behind me.

Nothing much to report on, except I'm loving my new computer. Well, boys will be boys right?
I don't think I'll be leaving the house unless I have a real good reason to lol. There's still a NYE party with friends, and I might just venture out on Boxing Day. I do need some new books. I could probably get copies of the net, but there something...comforting...about holding a book in your hands. It makes the story seem more real, if that makes any sense.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight

4 DAYS OF CLINICALS REMAINING!

So I took the plunge and ordered a new computer. I was playing around my different builds, trying to squeeze an component here and there. It was made a bit easier when when my dad offered to get me a 22inch LCD monitor for Christmas. Dunno which one to get yet. I'll probably be hitting the net for reviews and maybe a quick visit to MSY to see their pricelist.

Computer specs
CPU: Intel Core2Duo E8400 3.0Ghz
RAM: 2Gb DDR2
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
HDD: 500GB
VID CARD: ATI Radeon HD4850
CASE: Antec 300
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 500W
OS: Vista 32-bit
Total cost: $1284

I probably could have stretched for Vista 64-bit to use the full 4Gb, but my budget was as flexible as a rock. I might chuck another gig of ram in at a later date. The total cost was a bit high, although I could have lowered it if I bought and assembled the parts myself. But I'm a bit lazy to do that, and finding all the cheapest parts on the net and buying them. Meh. Still, I think it's a nice well balanced computer. The salesperson didn't know if they had the mobo in-stock, and said they might replace it for a similar spec'ed mobo. Well as long as it doesn't cost much more, I'm fine with that.

As for clinicals, I'm so happy that its almost over. Time for a real break soon. The Cabramatta place was not bad and I did quite a variety of x-ray projections so my meagre knowledge has increased.

Now to start backing up my files...

The Fear

With the end of clinicals in sight, all I'm trying to do is to survive and get all my stuff signed off. A mere 10 days remain, and then I'll truly get a break.

So I started reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, the first book in the series. I was browsing on the internet, and read a lot of good things about it, even though it was a young adult romance novel. There was a comment somewhere that compared it to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Since I didn't have much to do I decided that reading it would at least numb the boredom of clinicals.

So I started reading it only knowing that it was a romance between a human and a vampire. I've read about just past halfway, and so far my reaction to the book is a meh. The book is like pure chick-lit. I don't think the characters are very well done, and the plot is so far non-existent. The only thing it does well is the whole 'dark, forbidden romance' between the two characters. Well it actually does that very well, but besides that it's pretty meh overall.

One of my acquaintances was somewhat surprised that I was reading it and even more surprised that I thought the romance was done well. I have nothing against romance done well. I do have a problem with romance done shit, because it usually extends to the author's shit writing. For this book, the overall writing is borderline between good and bad. At times, it rises about the material and almost reaches the sunlit levels of fantastic writing. Then it flirts with what reads like a fan fiction story, like the ones where fans pair two characters who don't suit each other and in process almost completely rewriting the character.

I'll finish the book off, since it's a personal rule that once I start reading a book, that I must finish it, not matter how terrible it is.

Other than that, there nothing much going on. I really want a new computer since my current one is getting slower, and occasionally just reboots out of the cold and then carries on like nothing major happened. Of course, with the Aussie dollar gone to the shits, and it highly unlikely to shoot to record highs before Christmas (I'm going out on a limb here, since the finer details of economics escape me) I might just have to settle for the PC and hold off on a new monitor. I've been using a 22" widescreen monitor at the clinical, and I marvel at its ability to have two A4 documents open at the same time. Would be nice for assignments. Or maybe I should just get a 19" non-widescreen. Hmmm...the decisions....

She's So High

Second week down, four more terrible weeks left.

@Nam: Clinical work keeps me from being bored. It just tires me out.

Clinical is falling into a somewhat familiar routine now. Wake up, go clinical, work for free, go home, check email then sleep. Rinse and repeat for another 20 days. I've still got assignments to do this, but it still doesn't change the tediousness of clinical.

6 weeks is a fairly lengthy time for clinicals. The argument for this was that it took students around 6 weeks to become acclimatised to the working environment. Well that may true for your first clinical, but after you have a bit of theory in you and aren't limited to just chests and hand x-rays, you don't need that long. 4 or 5 weeks would be slightly better I think. Still lengthy-ish but not too long.

Actually clinical this week has been a bit frustrating. There are times that I seriously consider enrolling in a Mandarin or Cantonese language course or just screaming (screaming would actually be cheaper). Let me give you an example. Working in Cabra, you mainly get Vietnamese or Chinese speaking patients. Now my Viet is alright, enough that I can get my point across no problem. So there was this guy, Asian person, no Viet, so was either Chinese or some other Asian ethicity. I told him, in English, to take off all his clothes except his underpants and to put on the gown opening to the back. He quietly replied "My English not good." No problem really, I repeat the instructions again, including hand motions and then wait for him to change. So he then walks into the room with the gown put on the wrong way and he's buck naked underneath. So he keeps trying to cover himself up, kinda hard when you have to do a lumber spine x-ray. Now that's one example.

This week I've encountered multiple examples of the above. A good deal of the patients barely understand English, which usually leads to the above stuff happening or me having to manhandle them into position, and them resisting because they can't understand me. Why can't they just learn some basic English? I'm not saying that they should be able to recite Shakespeare or be able to explain the difference between a bare infinitive and a nomical predicative. They just need to be able to understand some basic stuff. Immigrants do a basic English course or something don't they? But fair enough, immigrants have only been here for a short time. So they're going to have trouble with the language. But if you've been living here for upwards of 10 years, then dammit, if I tell you to take all your clothes off except your underpants then you should be able to understand it. I've been lazily studying Viet for maybe 10 years or so and if I was stuck in Vietnam, had an accident and they told me to take off all my clothes except my underpants then I would have no problem understanding that.

Maybe I'm just being impatient or not understanding enough. Maybe it's like an Asian pride thingo, speaking in your own tongue except English, since there's a connection with Vietnamese/Chinese/etc. But since English is the unofficial official language of Australia, with pretty much all your important business conducted in English, isn't it important to be able to communicate on at least a basic level in English?

Seriously I was browsing through some Mandarin language courses during clinical. It might actually better if I get some basic knowledge of another language since it would just save time overall. I've heard this story that some guy basically misunderstood what the radiographer was saying and walked out of the changing cubicle totally naked. Now that is something that you don't want to happen, especially at a private practice with other patients looking on.

At least there's a NYE party being organisied by my uni friends. So there's something to look forward to when clinical ends.

Streetlights

So first week of clinical has finished, and it felt like 6 weeks already.

That's the bad thing about doing your clinical at private practice is that you end up doing more work than learning. After a week or two you know how to fill the paperwork, what projections and where to put stuff, so the last 3 to 4 weeks is just grinding through the work. So for the past 2 days I've pretty much been going through the motions in automatic, like chest x-rays I can do them blindfolded (metaphorically speaking, of course). On Wednesday, it was all me holding down the general x-ray fort for an hour and a half. The general radiographer had to go help in CT, so it wall me by my lonesome. I think that was the hardest I've ever worked on a clinical.

Now I'm procrastinating over making my costume stuff for my friend's 21st tomorrow. It's just a bit of cutting and pasting, which is probably why I'm procrastinating since it's fairly easy to do. I'm planning to dress as a Navy Admiral, like this:
...since it's less work than trying to do this:
...and cheaper over all as well.

Far out I'm tired. Working 8 hours a day for no pay is pretty tiring. At least the full radiographers are getting something for all their hard work. Experience can only go so far. I might just go to sleep early. Here's a little movie trailer. Looks pretty awesome.

“Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky”

- Alan Moore

Advice for the Young at Heart

Finally, my OSCE is over. Basically a practical exam. It was tough in its own way, having to remember quite a bit of stuff.

The areas that I had to know the projections and pathologies were facial bones, including mandible and TMJs, cervical, thoracic, lumber spine and hip and pelvis. I'm pretty fine with everything except the facial bones part. I didn't do many facial bones, simply because it was usually easier to stick the patient in the CT machine. So I was hoping that I wouldn't get facial bones, but unfortunately I scored a mandible. Pub brawl, query fracture mandible. I did that whole thing on theory, and since I've never actually done that view I couldn't really offer any extra information.

The shitty thing was that the examiner asked me what projections I would do. I gave an answer, then he asked me if I would do a lateral, the side on view. I told him that I felt meh about it, since it doesn't offer that much information due to superimposition of all the facial bones. I'd guess I'd do it, but I'd prolly skip it. Then he tells me to do a lateral projection. So I blank out, since technically there is no specific projection for a lateral mandible. So I did a lateral skull, but centered to the jaw instead. I wonder whether he deliberately asked me about the lateral projection, then ask me to actually do it to see whether it threw me off.

I think I did alright. The examiners were also marking the way we introduced ourselves, patient care and all that jazz. So even if I mucked up the projections, I'm pretty sure I did alright for everything else. So now all I have is the two final exams, and to prepare for my clinicals. Actually my clinical ends a day early now, but the tradeoff is that we have to show up to uni the next day to hand stuff in. Not that bad for me, since I live close.

My brother has got me playing World of Warcraft. It's a private server, not the official ones, so I don't have to pay a monthly fee (yes, Asian stinginess strikes). So I'll do a bit of playing in between studying for finals. And I can play a few hours every night during clinicals.

So I was browsing the internet and I found this:
That's actually not a bad form of alternative transport, if you don't mind looking like an idiot. You can use it to get to the shops and carry your grocercies. Space and power might be a problem. They should add an electric motor or something to help out.

Back on the Rocks

I tried to study for my upcoming MCQ exam but it just got too boring. Couldn't bear to read through the bloody notes, so it was back to the old stand-by of procrastination.

Friends have been bugging me about the next road trip, although you could argue that it's not really a road trip since we're never really travel that far, so with the free time I had I decided to some pre-preliminary planning. I still refuse to do any proper planning until after my 3rd block of clinicals, but I started playing around with locations and budgeting. One of my friends was so excited by the prospect that she sent me some accommodation options. They definitely look good, but everytime I look at the prices I feel a sharp pain shooting up my spine.

The current financial crisis have put my PC plans on hold. The prices for everything have decide to shoot up and my planned build was thrown out the window. So I'm back to waiting, although at this point it seems that I will be cursed to forever wait. I don't need the Aussie dollar to achieve parity with the US dollar (now that is a different can of worms) but getting it back to the old times of about 80-85cents would be welcome.
Yeah, that's my reaction to carrots as well.

Shoddy weather

Spring is probably the season I hate the most. Well maybe not hate, that's a bit too harsh. But one moment, it's as hot as summer, then out of the blue rain pours down and the weather goes chilly. However, luckily the weather held up every time I went out.

There was my friend's 21st where the theme was iconic figures from music or film, but generally any fictional character worked. My costume of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail went over pretty well.
I'd finally spray painted it silver. I was going to cut out the black squares as air holes, but that was too difficult; wasn't sure the bucket would stay in one piece. And to cover the eye slot I used a spare sheet of x-ray film. The boar emblem on the tabard was sewn by my aunt, since sh'e pro-sewing. The weather actually stayed pretty warm so it was a bit stuffy in the costume, even worse was that I put my gloves, which was sprayed painted black, in the bucket so everytime I put it on I was inhaling the leftover paint fumes.

Also a quick day trip to Bronte Beach during the semester break. Nothing major just a break from the uni grind and forgetting for a moment about our research projects. The weather was a bit murky in the morning but got a lot better just as we started out. As always there was food left over and that was auctioned off at the end of the day. I just find that hilarious for some reason.

"Sausages...8 of them, never been opened. Who wants it?"
"Me! Me! Me!"
"Damn it I was too slow"

It always happens at my friend's place in Strathfield. Any trips start there as well, since its a really central place for everyone to meet. Also I'm beginning to be amazed at the amount of people who live relatively close to where I live. On that beach trip I drove a friend of mine home to his place in Auburn. He happens to live across from a park, where my dad would take my brother and I to play on the swings and equipment. And all this time I thought he lived in the distant regions of Auburn, not borderline to Granville.

And here's a little pic that I think is seriously funny:

Run before you can walk

So basically I thought I was going to Nepean Hospital. Then I get an email from the coordinator, saying that due to overlap of students from Charles Sturt University (damn you!) there were too many students at Nepean and someone had to pull the short straw and that was me. I raged a bit here, calmed down and read on to find that for now I would be in limbo with no clinical placement until he could fine me another place. Insert more useless raging.

Anyway, the coordinator got back to me and told me that he has found me a place in Cabramatta. I raged a little since parking is impossible to find in Cabramatta and would have to suffer more training, but its a new place with new shiny equipment. Can't say no to a place with new equipment.

Managed to get a bit of shopping done, my list was clear and definite as I needed a plastic bucket or similar, and two cans of black and silver spray paint. This is for prepartion of my friend's 21st where you have to dress up as a character from music or film or anything really. So I chose the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The plastic bucket was going to be my helmet and today I decided to make a start on it. My inital plan was rather...enthusiastic...yes that's the right word. I was going to cut all the holes and everything would be fine. Except I didn't realise plastic would be that hard to cut. Have a few pictures.

Finished cutting the eye slot, note the jagged edges

The plastic split, so I used super glue to hold things together

Black mark outlines for the overall designYou can see the small black squares I wanted to cut outMassive jagged edges

Long story short it was harder than I thought, and now I might not cut out the 18 smaller squares. I would need to start drilling small holes, then work my way up drill sizes until the hole would be big enough for the jigsaw. And the jigsaw causes the plastic to shake badly and split. I still might drill a bunch of holes for air supply, but it will be groups of small holes. The 'helmet' still requires a paint and extra strips of metal and bolts, but I might leave those out if its too difficult. The important thing is I have the iconic image rather than every single detail correct.

With a bit of luck, it'll come out good. I've never used a jigsaw and my experience in cutting plastic is zero. That's the problem. you don't know what to expect so you come up with an enthusiastic design and think everything is going to work out. Now I'm scaling back already.

When I finish my costume, I'll post more pics.

Get Ready to divide by zero

Been back at uni for 2 weeks now, and have nicely settled back into old routine. Being back with friends, there's nothing better that that I reckon.

New clinical placements have been released and this time I'm being shipping off to Nepean Hospital. Not that far away, but still a bit of a train trip. I don't really mind though since I can still commute there every day and not have to worry about living and surviving in a place far from home for six weeks.

Much shorter uni semester for me this time. I've only got 7 weeks to cram information into my brain before exams bludgeon me. The course only has two subjects this year, so its pretty good being at uni for 2.5 days a week. The exams will be tricky, but I've passed before so I'm half certain that I'll pass again. The practical exam has me worried though. There's always luck involved whether you get an easy projection or a harder one or a easy or hard examiner. It's gonna be tough.

Ohh and LHC went live today, although they just did a test run, not the massive proton smashing to find the Higgs boson. So the world ends in October if all the science nutjobs believe so. During my prac class, the lecturer asked if anyone knew about LHC and its objectives and I was the only one who piped up. My friends sitting next to me were like "Woah! You know this physics?". I always had an interest for physics. It just seem to explain the reality I lived in so well. Probably started when my dad bought me A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I miss physics back in high school. Those were some fun times right there.

Man I need a drink.

The Fire Still Burns

So basically I have 5 days of clinicals left, before going back to uni. I like to refer to the whole uni experience as the 'uni grind', but I've never been happier to get back to it. Maybe because this time I was alone for this clinical. There's no one else at my place and I hardly run into the other students at Gosford Hospital. Meh...

Right now I'm typing up a case study. It about one procedure I've done and you have to justify what you did and reflect on it. The limit is 1000 words, but my first draft barely made it past 250. So now I'm making some stuff up, and using longer phrases instead of simpler ones. It's actually a bit of a challenge. I used to write a lot and in detail, but my English tutor noted that I was beating around the bush most of the time and that I'd never be able to write everything I wanted in the HSC. So we spent some time cutting out the bull and focus on making my writing more concise. It worked, but sometimes I wonder if it worked to well. The first draft was very concise, almost dot-pointish in style, if that makes any sense.

I really want a new computer to replace my old one. It's like 4 years old now, and its starting to choke even in normal tasks and I don't have much running in the background. Can't play some of the games I want, and any video that is remotely HD lags really badly. Price is the deciding factor as always. I really want to get some part-time/casual job of some sort, but this year has been ridiculous because of all the clinicals getting in the way. Might see if I can find some short term casual work just for a bit more money.

Blargh...might as well get this case study over and done with.

I listen to my mp3s at 100 kVp

So it was my 20th birthday around a week ago. It didn't really register with me until I was out with dinner with uni friends celebrating someone else's 20th. That's not to say I forgot my own birthday, but it was more in the back of my head rather than hammering about in my mind. Basically, I get myself a cake, take a few shots of a suitably strong alcoholic beverage and celebrate the fact that I've survived another trip around the Sun. I have no idea what to do with my 21st, because I actually have to do something. I don't like the idea of hard partying, but I'm partial to the idea of having some straight drinking. Meh, I'll worry about it next year.

So only 8 days of clinical left. Every day seems to pass so much faster now. It's almost over, it's so close I can taste it. Clinical is fun and informative as always, but the commute to Gosford, being alone at the practice and the fact that it is a private practice does wear me down. I'm pretty confident at doing pelvis, hip, thoracic, lumbar and knee x-rays now, not to mention the usual deluge of chests. But clinical just reminds you that actual work is pretty tiring. I get up before the sun rises and get home after the sun sets. Maybe it'll be more tolerable when I'm actually getting paid something rather than nothing.

Thankfully, the train trips aren't that bad since my trusty iPod keeps me going with music and podcasts. The time flies by especially when you're listening to something funny on a podcast and having to start having a cough fit to cover your laughter, which some people may interpret as you laughing at them. Seriously though, since I started clinicals I've had transit police check my tickets numerous times. In all my years of using Shittyr...I mean Cityrail, I've never had my ticket checked. I even had my ticket checked twice on a single trip. They probably never check the peak times since there is too many people.

I've been adding music on a semi-regular basis. Listening to the same playlist for a week bores you quick. Kate Ryan does some decent tracks, Ludovico Einaudi's composing so awesome that I obtained all his music from 1988 onwards, Regina Spektor's "Us" has me hooked, some awesome piano work from David Sides, an older track with the Foundations and a great anime track from Tokyo Brass Style. Actually, that last band is pretty cool, since they play their music with brass instruments (trumpets, saxophones etc), it's a girl band (which is always a plus) and they do some anime music as well. Clip of them working on and playing 'Sora iro Days' the OP for the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann



That's some awesomeness right there.

International Dateline

Been watching the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, but bloody channel Seven ruins it, by putting ads in the way, so we're not getting an uncut, full version. I doubt other countries are any better off. It's definitely very good looking, I mean China has thousands of years of history to draw on, so plenty of source material so to speak. But I'm skipping the rest of the opening ceremony now. It just doesn't seem to click with me, probably since I'm not Chinese. The Sydney 2000 was the best, but I'm biased since Australia is my home and Australian is who I am. The whole opening ceremony thingo just has me thinking.

Even though I'm Vietnamese in origin, I can say that I have any special affinity for Vietnam in general. It's an alien place, that I've never been too and only heard the stories. I can speak Vietnamese, I can eat the food, I know the culture, but with my parents being refugees, escaping the Communist government and settling in Australia, I don't feel any strong connection to my country of origin. Even if Vietnam was to host an Olympic games I'd probably walk out halfway during the opening ceremony, like the Chinese one, not because it is bad, but simply it doesn't click with me. But I'm glad at least that a whole bunch of people are thrilled and moved by it. China wants to show the world what it can do, and despite the political situations, it's a successful and powerful country. It'll get there.

Three weeks of clinical down and another three to go. I'm so glad that the halfway point has been reached. Clinical is awesome in the sense that it puts theory to practice and you get much needed practice and advice, but it's not all about lounging about . It can be tough going sometimes, especially if you're short on staff. And the assignments don't really help either. They are more of a nuisance rather than a help. It's just too short and restrictive to write anything meaningful about them. At least reflective journals or articles allows me to through some truthful musings in all the bullshit I pull out.


I think someone wanted to see a picture of my room a long while back, and here is most of it. This was a few days ago when I was doing my assignments, so it's pretty messy with all the papers, radiographs and books lying about.

At least there's a birthday dinner happening tomorrow. It'll be funny talking with friends and swapping radiography war stories and whatnot. Makes me wonder what I'll do for my birthday. Probably have a cake and a drink to the fact that I've lived for another year.

Still Marching that Turkish March

To Phu: Yeah, I'm much better now. Thankfully, I got better just before clinicals. Having diarrhoea during clinicals would be pretty tough. Doctor Who season 4 was pretty awesome I enjoyed it heaps. The crappy thing is that next year there's no season 5, just 4 specials, cos Tennant is off doing Hamlet or something Shakespeare. Road trip was awesome fun, but I was pretty much the only heavy drinker. Do you have a Facebook profile? Prolly easier to catch up that, make blogging a little bit redundant sometimes I think.

Two weeks of clinical are over, and that means I only have to endure another month. Endure, I make it sound bad. It's not bad, it's quite enlightening to learn more about radiography, to put theory into practice and in some case ignore what the book says and use amazingly helpful shortcuts.

I have to do a few reports for this clinical, and I managed to work out how to use their archaic computer program. Oh the computers run on Windows but the software that ties everything together is some custom job that while is very stable is a little bit old. You have to select the option you want, then press enter to access it. But it's not that bad. Had to do a couple of interviews with patients asking about their current and past history. Probably something more on the doctory side, since radiographers don't usually take patient histories.

Still, I managed to print copies of the x-rays and the radiologist's reports. The radiologists are basically doctors who have undergone specialised training to better interpret x-rays, CTs, ultrasounds, MRIs and all other sorts of medical imaging. Their reports make it easier for me to type my assignments since I don't have to guess at what I'm seeing, and the technical terms are already there. And future doctors have a look at "encopresis". Had to x-ray a 3yo with that. Wasn't to bad, but it's a pretty shitty condition to have I reckon. And yes, pun intended.

The daily train trips to Gosford and back are still pretty long, but with podcasts, music and other uni radiographers to talk to, it's actually not that bad. Talked to a 3rd year physiotherapist and it was quite interesting to learn about it. They have 15 weeks of clinical, stringed together in three 5-week blocks with a week break in between. Which is kinda sucky.

But TGIF, eh? There's a BBQ on tomorrow with family friends, although I had no idea until an hour ago. Well that will be some fun.

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning

Clinicals has started and I've recovered from my sickness just in time as well. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the flu or cold, probably more likely to be food poisoning. Let's recap.

Last Sunday, ate some KFC and was the only one to touch the coleslaw (I love KFC coleslaw). An hour later, I started feeling really cold, couldn't stop shivering. So I do the sensible thing and put on my thermals and winter clothing. Still felt cold. I decided to take a lie down in bed. Next thing I know, I'm running a fever, I feel like its back in summer with 40+ degrees. Throw in blurry vision, muscles aches in my legs and back and a headache.

For the next couple of days I fight off the chills and fever, taking Panamax for the pain, and basically staying on a diet of warm water, toast with honey or jam plus the one time I had pho. So the chills and fever start backing off, only now I can't stray more than an arm's length from the bathroom. Basically, hardcore diarrhoea every hour on the hour. I miss out on outings with friends, basically dinner in Parra and watching Dark Knight. I feel weak, even walking the hundred metres to the doctor from the carpark had me exhausted.

The last day before the clinicals started on Monday, I was starting to get much better. I wasn't tied to the bathroom, except for the occassional spontaneous visit. By Monday, I was pretty much back to normal, although the train to Gosford did have a toilet that I took advantage off once.

So clinicals at Gosford aren't so bad. Mainly chest and extremties. Using the good old CR system, which is only slightly harder in having to make sure the desired anatomy is captured on the plate. DR is easier and faster and you could be a little more sloppy. Nothing much to do between x-rays which can be quite a while. CT and MRI are more busy, but I know shitall about them imaging methods. Oh I know the basic principles, but I don't know how to run the machines.

So these first few days have been getting used to protocol, the different machines and the paperwork. The 3 hour train trips are a bit of a killer, but as long as my podcast subscription keeps updating them I'm fine.

I'll keep throwing out the odd post if I have the time and energy. I go to sleep at like 9 or 10pm now, bloody early, even by my standards.

Spin the Wheel

Tragedy strikes! I've been struck down with the cold (or flu) for the first time in a several years, and clinical is only a week away. Bugger. Also some of my uni friends are watching Dark Knight followed by some dinner, and I might not be able to attend. Double bugger.

Seriously it's been so long since I had the cold or flu that I don't remember how shitty it can be. I'm tired, aches and pain. With luck, it should be gone in a week or so, so I don't have to go to Gosford everyday with cold symptoms.

Nothing much since the last post. Just mainly spending time with friends before clinical. Had an awesome hotpot a few days ago.

Fuck it, I'm not even thinking straight right now.

Are You With Me?

Got back from Anna Bay yesterday, spending most of today packing stuff away, cleaning out the boot of the car and uploading photos to facebook.

Trying to give a synopsis for the entire trip is pretty much impossible. There were so many moments, so many details and some emotions that words can't describe adequately. Overall though, it was an awesome trip. My friend Mike D bought some much entertainment it was almost ridiculous. I think the entire group would have been happy just to sit inside and watch movies or play Xbox. I'll try posting some memories, because there are some things I don't want to forget.

• Taking early morning showers because we kept running out of hot water (16 people in a house only meant for 8 or less)
• Finding out that Fi's dad has saved up some XO (a very expensive and very good alcohol) for her wedding, and making plenty of jokes about it
• The awesome views of Anna Bay and Nelson Bay
• Fi running into a clear glass door and knocking her head real good
• The awesome food that was served up, props to Andrey for being a hella good chef.
• Intense Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii battles
• Me drinking copious amounts of alcohol (14 shots of vodka on the last night) and still on my feet and moving around. Everyone else either abstained, didn't drink as much, turned blood red or woke the next day hung over on one shot.
• Me, Jen, Mary and Andrey writing our names on the beach in huge letters
• Finding out about Black Label Johnnie Walker whisky from Andrey, excellent taste and extremely good at warding off the cold
• Apparently on the second night I snored loud enough to that the entire top floor could hear. This was after 9 shots of vodka, although on the last night I didn't snore that badly after 14 shots.
• All 15 of my awesome friends for coming along and making it a good time.

There's probably more that have slipped my mind. I guess I'll add them later, but now, a selection of photos.

This isn't the end

Blogging has changed
It's no longer about original content, user interaction, and epic win
It's an endless series of reposts, perpetuated by frauds and failure
Conformity - and its consumption of blogging - has become an unstoppable cancer.
Blogging has changed

This is my final message. This blog must die, to erase the meme.

Gone fishin'...
Forever...



LOL JUST KIDDING

Nah, this blog isn't going to die just yet, though you have to agree that blogging has become mainstream now. I don't think that it used to have the same mystique as before. Anyway, I'm off on a trip with my DR friends to Anna Bay. A few days of relaxation after the exams and before the dreaded clinicals. I'm bringing a camera this time, so expect a few pics here and more on FB.

And now, please ignore the intro I've written. I'm busy with organising and packing for the trip, so I whipped it up with the good old "copy, paste, edit" technique and as a result is pretty shit.

Everything is Everything

OMG! It's the ultimate bear fight. Check it out!

Youtube prevents me from embedding it, but it's basically a fight between two grizzly bears. It was filmed in the wild by this couple who were sadly killed by grizzlies in Alaska in 2003.

My musical tastes float around alot. I don't like any particular genre and if the song sounds good to me, then it's added to my playlist.



Just an example of a song that I really like: "Shine" by Alcorus. A remixed form of it appears in a trailer for Mirror's Edge, an upcoming PC game. But the original is pretty close and its like pure emotion. Everytime I hear this song, I just think of blue skies, with some white clouds and green fields, like pure colours. You might laugh, but it keeps me going during the exam week I have. Just finish a particularly nasty one, not as bad as Jimmy's accounting exam though. I have exam tomorrow at 9AM. 9AM! If it was in the afternoon, then I'd have a few more hours to procras...I mean study.

THE ULTIMATE MARTIAL ART

...well against guys maybe.



Also, a hilarious dialogue about physics. Only on the internets.

omega> i like star trek because it's actually pretty realistic. the technology is fiction, but it follows real physics
kuiper> In Star Trek, whenever there are torpedoes or phaser fire hitting a ship, you can hear the explosions even though they're in space. How is that "real physics?"
omega> in space, explosions are actually louder
omega> because there is no air to get in the way
omega> dumbass

I may not be the most downloaded, but I've downloaded the most.

Exams are soon, soon enough to have me vaguely worried. So probably no posts for most of June. But then again nothing much to say. Its been revision week so far and getting some administrative stuff done in readiness for my next block of clinical.

So instead of 4 weeks holiday, I get 3 weeks and the first 5 weeks of semester 2 are devoted to clinical. So in all for semester 2 I have 7 weeks of uni and 2 units of study. Which is not that bad. And yeah end of year clinical is another 6 weeks as well.

Finished watching this anime series, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan. It's surprisingly good although it does drag a bit in the middle. Definitely a keeper.

Meh...prolly the shortest post ever. So have the greatest anime entrance ever.

Flashing Lights

This will be a quick one, since I have an anatomy exam and the rest of my research journal due on the same day. First off, yeah, I can order books from other campuses, but that takes time and at the time, there was not enough time to get the book from main campus to Cumbo. Usually I just find the book and put it in a totally different section of the library. That way, the system shows it as "on shelf" and no one can recall it. Evil, but very effective.

Anyway, I'm organising a road trip to Anna Bay with my uni friends. It's about a 3 hour drive, and that apparently has caused some problems. When I was asking around for drivers, the most common response was "my parents won't let me", usually because omg it so far, 3 hours? I'm just not sure that you'll be safe, oh and the car is like held together with duct tape cos we're too cheap to check it properly checked...blah blah blah. Seriously, my friend asked his dad if he could take the van (I call it the "party van") but his dad said no because it's old and makes noises at high speed. And the transmission or something is held together by tape. My friend was driving it before on a few short trips before, but that car sounds like a bloody death trap waiting to spring at any second. Just send your damn car out to be checked and make sure everything is working. You can be cheap on whatever you want, but don't skimp on safety. And someone else's car insurance only covers the Sydney metropolitan area. WTF? What if you need to drive outside Sydney metro? Apparently a 3 hours drive is the equivalent to going to Mars, from Pluto. But then again, I've been on long trips before. Every time I go, my dad gives my brother and I semi-lectures on the subject: rest stops, safety, night driving and so on. And when I talk to people ignorant about the subject, they start freaking out about all these myths. And common sense obliterates like 99% of them.

Meh. Well the best to stamp out ignorance is education. Sometimes I would really like to sit down with these parents, and tell them how bloody stupid their myths are. And how 3 hours will get you basically no where, when you look at the larger map of Australia.

On a lighter note, I was watching a trailer for MGS4 and the voice over was the stereotypical deep male voice who'd been smoking since day 1. I like to imagine that its one guy doing that voice for all these movie, tv and game trailers out there. And that he's flat out trying to find time to do the voiceovers. He'd probably talk like that all the time.
"What's your order, sir?"
"I would have one Big Mac..."
"...O..K..""
That would be awesome in my opinion. I can get pretty close to it, but my version lacks sufficient gravelly-ness that makes it effective, since I don't smoke.
But I can still dream...

Pruit Igoe

Urrgh, an asssignment and exam in one day. The assignment wasn't too bad, it was the exam that had me bothered.

The oral viva exam basically has us read a request form for an x-ray, decipher its meaning, deduce the likely patient condition and justify what x-ray series to perform. It meant a lot of worrying about pathology and exposure factors (how penetrating and how much x-rays). Luckily for me I got a pretty cool examiner and a relatively easy question pertaining to the right knee. For the medically inclined (rest of you can skip): 81yo female, hit by a car on R lateral side, querying possible fracture of tibial plateau and lateral femoral condyle. Basically an AP and LAT projection. The hardest one was querying fracture ribs and pneumothorax and the patient was stuck in a wheelchair.

Seriously, I'm having quite a bit of fun in this course. So even if the oral viva was scary, it didn't matter that badly to me. I did my best, and after hearing about some of the other scenarios, I started to research what I would do.

So another three weeks of uni, then a week of stuvac and then exams. Several assignments due in the final three weeks and I'm procrastinating already. The bad thing is that several books that would be very helpful, almost necessary for the assignment due soon have already been taken out by opportunistic students. And I might not be able to get my hands on them in time. That's one thing that sucks about Cumbo. There is only so many books and its first in, first served. Some friends band together and lock the books in an endless cycle of eternal recalling. I'm not sure if that problem exists at the main campus. Probably does.

Man, tired. I'll be putting that assignment off until tomorrow. Or maybe the day after tomorrow.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Explains everything.

And the 6th Doctor Who ep? Pretty awesome.

The truth is...

Man, the assignments kept coming in. I have like 3 assignments and 1 exam due on the same day in a fortnight. But it's not that bad. I'm really enjoying radiography so the burden is that bad.

Watched Iron Man last night in Burwood with some uni friends. That movie is fucking gold. Seriously. You think Robocop's armour was cool, wait til you see Tony Stark's sleek Iron Man armour. There were a few minor weakness (weak, dull characters, not following proper comic continuity) but I'll be nitpicking anyway. Watching on the big screen at cinemas makes a massive difference. Robert Downey Jr fits perfectly as the arrogant and witty Tony Stark who has a change of heart after a brief stint in the hands of terrorists. I don't want to spoil anything, but it has a killer beginning and a killer ending. Apparently there was a little scene thingo after the credits but we 'd left too early and missed it. Well, I'm definitely getting a copy of this when it comes to DVD.

Television wise, everything is ramping again. Doctor Who is starting to go full-speed ahead with the first of an awesome two parter out and the next one is a few days. House is also back in the game after such a long hiatus due to the writers strike. And Avatar: Last Airbender has a few episodes up, although how regularly it will show remains to be seen.

Also my brother downloaded all 276 episodes of Dragonball Z. Watching it brings back a massive wave of nostalgia. It was back when CheezTV was still on, with Jade and Ryan as hosts. DBZ started at 8am and ended at 8:25. At school there would be massive discussions on fights and future events, and we spent quite a bit of time browsing fan sites on the power levels of characters and gush about going Super Saiyan mode. And this was before the time of Wikipedia. Damn, it was awesome.

Such good times.

I miss them.

Waltz into the Moonlight

Another week deeper into the uni grind. Again nothing exciting happening. Geez I'd probably suck the life out at parties.

Anyway, I think I mentioned before that one of units of study is "Research Methods for Health Science". Its basically statistics and how to do proper research like in all those medical journals that we've read. It has been pretty meh so far. It's split into two branches/streams/sections/etc: Data Analysis and Research Design. Data analysis is basically statistics plus more stuff while research design is about doing health research in general. The tutorial component has use developing then writing out a research journal. My group was working on our question of "does a lack of sleep affect short term memory?" and we were worried that it wasn't up to scratch or was crap, but in the end we did quite well. The tutor didn't find anything majorly wrong and just cautioned us on the definitions of some terms. Still it was pretty cool.

My dad's computer has finally died. Blue screens of death, refusing to read and floppies or cds. I think some OS files got corrupted. It was pretty inevitable. My brother used my dad's comp quite a bit (cos at that time my bro had a shit comp) and so the comp was probably crawling with viruses and spyware. Prolly have to get a new comp for my dad, something cheap since all he does is surf the web, send emails and occasionally watches YouTube.

I've been playing around with the idea of getting a new comp as well, but I have a slightly harder justifying the cost. My comp may not be the lastest and greatest and will definitely choke on the lastest games but it works, its stable and I can't fault it for anything else. I'm also wary of Vista, despite SP1 getting released. Plus Microsoft will stop selling XP sometime in June. Well, the idea is floating there in my head. I'll let it stew for a few months.

Starting to play DS again. A new RPG called "The World Ends with You" has been released, from the makers of Kingdom Hearts. It uses the touchscreen quite well, and the plot is developing nicely. But damn, the music is awesome! Haven't gotten to deep into the game, but some far the main character is such a wanker. I don't really like him and I hope he changes eventually cos his personality pisses me off.

A gem I've picked up on on the internet. This is an awesome vid of some guys playing Aqua's Barbie Girl on cellos.





No Naruto manga until next week, so I have to wait to see what the deal with Itachi is.

This Heart Attack

First post in the month of April. Nothing really going on. Just the usual uni grind and what not, so this post will be short but hopefully sweet.

In one of my lectures (Research Methods for Health Science) the lecturer is talking about gathering information and the different techniques that a researcher could use. Along the way she showed a video on the life of uni students in the US, where the researcher set up some blog/wiki/thingo where students could add and edit info and basically survey themselves. Granted it is a bit US-centric.



The music of the vid is quite good in my opinion. I followed the links and download their album and I have to say it's not bad. It's very good.

List of things to do to remind myself

• Burn SPSS (think Excel on steroids) for Phuong via Nam
• Clean up my table, books and papers everywhere
• A bottle of vodka
• Catch up on reading Tales of MU
• New Naruto and Eyeshield 21 manga chapters
• Finish off SPSS assignment now, so I don't have to worry about it later
• A bottle of vodka

Man I've acquired something of a taste for vodka. I think it started back on New Year's Eve where I was playing poker with friends with the loser taking shots (Olivio took 8 shots when he lost). Afterwards I chickened out, and then started drinking the vodka and finished off almost the entire bottle.

Good times, good times.

Ladder to the Sky

Back to the uni grind, although it wasn't that much of a grind. I had a one hour lecture, when it was supposed to be two hours and thus ended up paying $3 for an hour or so of parking. Meh, the parking is cheap compared to other unis and I can always park for free in those side roads.

I actually drove to uni in the Daihatsu Terios today, a big achievement since its a manual car. Driving with the clutch still throws me off a bit, but I only stalled twice...no three times today. So I'm improving! Still not that confident to do reverse parks, but I'll get some practice in the weekends.

I noted two things this morning. The first is that the Australian Navy seriously wants to get an aircraft carrier. Despite my military experience being limited to Tom Clancy books and Wikipedia, my first thought (I thought it was really good) was "we don't need any stinkin' aircraft carriers". They are big, expensive and basically a massive target. Let the US have their 11 aircraft carriers, Australia has no need of one. Later in the day, I started to rethink my position. Considering that Australia does have certain responsibilities in the region and the fact that we do get involved in other Pacific Islands (East Timor and the Soloman Islands spring to mind), maybe having one aircraft carrier would be okay. If some uprising or whatnot was taking place on the Solomon Islands, with Australian lives at risk, the PM could send a naval task force with an aircraft carrier with Hornets ready to drop some bombs. To show that we're serious about whatever the issue is. It will be a couple of billions of dollars, but it may be a few billion dollars well spent.

The second item was talking about how Nick D'Arcy, part of the Aussie swim team, could lose his position in the team and not go to the Olympics because he was involving in a bar brawl. I was watching Sunrise on Channel 7 and the hosts were of the opinion that he should still be allowed to represent Australia, but a large majority of letters wanted him dumped off the squad. The only letter read that even remotely supported him was one noting that everyone was making such a fuss over a bar brawl and not noting China's appalling human-rights record. The letter ended with a firm suggestion of a boycott. Firstly, I think that D'Arcy should be allowed to represent Australia unless he is found guilty of something substantial during the brawl. It's not a major offense and no one was critically injured or killed. He wasn't taking drugs or whatnot, I think a public apology should suffice. Secondly, I disagree about boycotting the Olympics. It is a frankly useless political gesture, in my opinion. China is too big and powerful a nation to ignore. It's on its way to become a, if only economical, superpower. A boycott only works when the target is weak and can't risk losing the backing of other powers, or when everyone does it. Not everyone is going to boycott the Olympics and it'll be heartbreaking to the athletes who train for it. It's much better that China's Olympics should be in the spotlight, to better inform the world of the lack of human rights in China. The Tibet riots and the situation in Darfur, Sudan are just two examples of what activists and athletes could note on television to make it stick in people's minds that not everything about China is all sunshine and lollypops.

That's really the only things that really caught my attention. My TIMES subscription comes in tomorrow, so at least I have something to read about the world. I really want to see how the US election is rolling along.

Long Reef Beach

Just when the long Easter holidays threatened with boredom, a well-timed trip to the beach washed it all away. Well, it wasn't that spontaneous. The beach outing had been planned before quite well by Andy and Michael K, two good uni friends of mine, so when the long weekend came around everything was planned out and we only had to worry about the weather.

I ended driving four people there and probably overpacked and underpacked for the trip. It's a bit of a doublethink yes, but you'll see why. Pretty much everyone except me cut north to Chatswood to avoid going over the Harbour Bridge, maybe in dread of the city streets or seeking safety in numbers. I asked my dad about the route and after some scouting on Good Friday, I felt pretty comfortable driving over the Bridge. You just follow the signs and you'll be right.

Long Reef Beach in near Dee Why and it's a splendid place. The beach is nice and big and isn't very overcrowded. Its got decent parking at reasonable cost, has all the facilities, even has a electric BBQ. On arriving though, we tried the BBQ but it refused to work, no matter no many times we pushed the button. We were in a bit of panic and was about to resort to cooking the meat at a BBQ in another beach 2km away then bringing the food back, when Daniel L got one BBQ working. So we started to cook. The meat was alright, although who bought it probably never bought food for a BBQ. I was expecting steak and sausages, but ended up with frankfurts and thick slices of pork, plus chicken kebabs and chicken wings. You can't really cook frankfurts, usually you dump them into some hot water. The pork was pretty thick and cooking them took a long time. Thankfully, we had all this flavouring and we dumped massive amounts onto the meat to add some taste to its absolute blandness.

Also never ever use raw chicken wings in a BBQ. They are bloody difficult to cook on a BBQ. You usually scorch the outside while the inside is still raw. Cooking them properly takes a very long time on low heat. And I've been to many BBQs where someone decides chicken wings should be on the menu. Oh, you can precook them and then just heat them up on the BBQ, but raw chicken wings just can't be cooked properly on a BBQ. Still, it wasn't that bad. The group quickly split into three groups, the sitters, the cookers and the tasters. Most people would sit and wait for cooked food to come, while the cookers worked the meat, pouring on oil and flavouring, while the tasters would stand near the BBQ and grab all the good stuff. So basically all the people at the BBQ intercepted the good stuff.

But on the whole, it was an excellent day out and I had lots of fun with friends. While I didn't bring a camera, but luckily my friends did and here is a selection.

Me and two friends at Long reef

In the ocean, getting some salt water

Long shot of the ocean

The hard decisions of cooking

People grabbing food

Needed the umbrellas to shield us from the sun

I would heartily recommend Long Reef Beach if you ever want to go to a beach to have some fun, but do take some care with the BBQs.

Never Gonna Give You Up

Spent some time on yesterday and today getting used to driving a manual car. It's not difficult per se, mainly just another layer of interactions. Getting used to driving and using a clutch to change gears is somewhat tiring, since I have to consciously think about changing gears. Meh, I have an entire week off, so I'll probably do some driving to get better. I've gotten better today, only stalled twice, but the car doesn't accelerate smoothly as it should, so just more practice.

Yesterday, my dad also took my brother and I over to Collaroy to scout out the route to Long Reef Beach. My uni friends are organising a beach trip this Wednesday and I wanted to get an idea of the route and the facilities at the beach. It wasn't too hard, although just after we got off the Harbour Bridge there were a few confusions. Thankfully, with the combination power of Google Maps and a street directory we managed to get heading the right way. Its been a long time since I've crossed the Bridge, so it was nice. Also the beach was pretty good. My dad did a bit of exploring; he's probably marking it down as another possible destination.

Haven't really been doing all that much for this little break. Since I'm getting close to being capped and want to preserve what I have left, I haven't been downloading or anything much. So mainly it's reading. Might have to drop into a library or something, I'm running out of books. It always nice to have reading to fall back on. There is just so many books, different styles, different genres, you'd never really get bored. Seriously, if I had the time and money, I'd probably spend most of my days reading.

Funny thing, I was browsing on Wikipedia, until I got to the article on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from Journey to the West. Then I started to remember the Viet dub of Journey to the West (Tay Du Ky) and I suddenly had this craving just to watch it again. I can't find the old VHS tapes, so I ask my mom to ask her friends if they have it. Unfortunately, they only had the older Chinese version from the 80s, while the version I used to have was the HK version from '96. None of the video shops seem to have it either. I've been spying the HK Journey to the West on a US website for US$38 plus shipping. I might that up soon, seeing as the Aussie dollar is still good against the US greenback.

Oh ho, Naruto and Bleach manga are out. Shame Eyeshield 21 isn't yet. Off for some reading.

The Fragrance of Dark Coffee

Second Week of uni over and I've gotten back into the hang of things. Some people bitch about the "uni grind" but to be perfectly honest I'm having a lot of fun. It's nice to be back at uni and meeting good friends.

Got my green Ps on Friday. Wasn't really that difficult, but I played it safe most of the time. The RTA handbook and other info scream that turning right isn't possible because a car is too close, but when in reality, you can still make the turn. Also had to shell out 70 bucks for license renewal and 35 bucks for booking fee. Far out, they make a killing with all these fees.

I've finished Apollo Justice some time ago and I've been bumming around with no really good DS games to take up my time. So I went out to grab a book. There was this book Final Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko that finished the series that I was reading. I couldn't find it before remembering that it doesn't come out until July. Damn. But another book did catch my eye. The New Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois. It's a collection of sci-fi short stories featuring 'lushly romantic plots and the star spanning empires to the light year spurning star ships...stuffed full of faux-exotic colour and bursting with contrived energy'. Sci-fi epics in other words. It's only a collection of short stories but some of the writers intrigue me a lot. I might see if I can grab some of their book later.

Hmmm, now for a bit of rant. Parking at Cumbo is pretty good. Decent cost, and it's quickly likely you'll find a spot if you time is right and if there is no spot there are always back roads you can park at, although it is a bit of a walk to get to uni. Except there is always these people who will do anything for a park even if it creates problems for others. In carpark 3, there is a new pay and display system. You park, buy a ticket and put it on the dashboard. And there is like 500 odd spaces. But some people come in and can't find a spot so they park on corners or road ways. A few days ago, when I was turning to exit I found my route blocked my two cars. See below for a cool, ultra-realistic diagram (not to scale).

The two cars left a tiny gap where I had to squeeze my Falcon stationwagon through with just centimeters of give on either side. It was a little too close for comfort. I was glad to see the next day the parking inspectors were out in force, fining every bastard not parking in the bays. The fine is probably in the region of $50-70, but I reckon they should double it and put up bigs signs in red letters to that effect. Because I still see people not parking in bays. I wonder if next week will be any better.

Anyway, back to some reading.

Apollo Justice Impressions

Just when I thought that I would spend the weekend doing not much and lazing around I remembered that I had Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on my DS. Shame on me for not remembering! I'm about 75% through the game, so here is my impressions so far.

First recap, I've played the last 3 Ace Attorney games and was struck by the wit and charm that it displayed. It was an awesome series and when I first heard that a new main character will be added to Ace Attorney 4(AA4), I was skeptical. Gamers will remember Metal Gear Solid 2 and Halo 2 when you diverged from playing the "main" character to another "main character".

So far I'm having a good time, as some old characters do return. The main character Apollo Justice feels a bit too much like Phoenix Wright. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, he's not as good as Phoenix Wright in terms of characterisation. This is something AA4 suffers from a little bit. The new characters weren't as funky as the old characters. They all seem a bit weak. However, the writing is still excellent, full of charm and jokes and is as good or even better than the old AA games.

The gameplay is similar to old AA games and that is a bit of a shame. In the DS port of the GBA AA1, there was an extra chapter only for the DS which showcased some new techniques, like examining and rotating evidence. The new AA4 was built ground up for the DS and that does show in stuff like character animation and detail, but the new gameplay elements aren't used enough to take advantage to the DS capabilities. It is almost as if the developers were a bit hesitant in changing the old gameplay too much. Of course, the music retains is usual high standard.

All in all, AA4 is good game and a worthy addition to the AA series. However, it doesn't seem to shine as much as it's predecessors and it is a letdown that the developers didn't take more advantage of the DS capabilities. Still, if you've played that last 3 AA games, you'll enjoy Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

Our Velocity

Wanted to post earlier but with the end of clinicals I had to take care of all the paperwork and administrative shit.

So yes, clinicals ended last week and it was a little sad. After working there for six weeks you get so sued to it, so ingrained in its culture and everything and now you suddenly walking away from it all. I really liked it there and I have been thinking about working there after I finished uni.

Also the start of the uni semester also brought two other goodbyes. Two friends Thien and David are off to Pharmacy, at the big main campus. There was a farewell party just after the clinicals. I'll see if I can grab some photos. Good luck to both of them, and I wish success on their chosen paths.

Uni has started and it is still a little shock to realise that a year is over and its now the second year. Lectures haven't really started yet, mainly little intros to the rest of the year. It's not that packed a week though. I still have Fridays off and there would be a lot of breaks if not for the bloody tutorials. Oh well. You can't have everything. The only bad thing is that there these stalls and volunteers all these pamphlets. Cumberland is only so big and there are only so many evasion routes. It could be worse, it could be on the main campus.

Pah. This is a pretty short post. I'll guess some time later in the week I'll have some more stuff to post.

Unforeseen Consequences

And so continues the ongoing saga that is my clinical (hah! I wish...)

This week I'm up in Operating Theatre (or better known as OPSuite). There is a whole bunch of operating rooms where doctors work their magic in cutting up the human body and fixing it with the most advanced techniques known to humanity. Actually, it's a lot more primitive than I thought.

Having read many a sci-fi book and watch many a medical tv show, what actually happens in operating theatres is quite eye opening. I mean sometimes it gets downright brutal. For one operation, the surgeon had to get to the gallbladder (I think; I don't remember clearly), so he uses this soldering iron thingo and basically burns his way to the desired level. "Burns" is the correct wording here. One hand is holding a small clamp and the other holds the soldering iron. He grabs a piece of soft tissue and basically slashes it away, cutting deeper into the body. Scratch that, "burns" is that correct, "slash-and-burn" is a much more accurate wording. You could even see the smoke swirling around inside the human body. Since he's accessing the body through small holes which are plugged up with instruments, I have no idea where the smoke goes. Maybe it just floats around until the body absorbs it through diffusion. Another example is when the surgeon is trying to put a large steel nail into a patient's neck of femur. It had been fractured and the nail holds the bones in the correct position to heal. After several minutes of drilling and screwing fruitlessly, one surgeon suggested hitting the nail with a hammer, since "it will bend to the left" or something. I thought he was joking, until he picked a hammer and started smashing the nail like Thor smashing with Mjolnir (check Norse mythology; its fun). It looked so brutal but apparently the nail was going the right way, so the surgeon continued smashing away.

To be honest, OPSuite is kinda boring, since I can't really do all that much. I have done a bit of screening, doing real time x-rays for the surgeons, but I'm just a student. Other radiographers have to be nearby to make sure I don't kill the patient or muck things up. But it is interesting. I mean, getting to see surgery up close is quite cool and learning all these new things, it makes up for the boring moments.

Also, working there reminded me of the dangers of hearsay. A few of the other students didn't have the best experiences up there, due to conflicts with the senior radiographer up there. However, I never experienced anything as bad as the stories they tell. I know that he can be pedantic, and that's probably a reason why the other students don't get the best experience, but I can't really say anything bad about him. If anything I'm expanding my knowledge of the profession of radiography thanks to him. And as such, this presents the dangers of hearsay. Just because someone else says something about someone doesn't mean that it's necessarily true. Shades of Wild Swans, I know...

Just finished Half Life 2 Episode 2. It is amazing, an excellent example of game design in the swamplands of PC gaming. It also has a commentary track and you can listen to the developers and voice actors talk about the process of creating the game and why they took the directions that they did. It's very enlightening. It is a first person shooter, but it's definitely a series that everyone (at least every serious gamer) should play. There's a line in there that was spoken by one of the characters "Prepare for unforeseen consequences". That line is just in my head and I can't get rid of it. It was so well delivered. Now I have to wait for Episode 3.

Now I'm off to take a nap. Those lead aprons I wear to protect myself from the radiation are so fricken heavy. My shoulders are burning in agony. I might down a few painkillers.

The Lost Coast

I not suggesting that after last week's rant that you have a lack of common sense Land. Maybe you just suffered a brief lapse. When it happened to me, I was like, put my money in, see it rejected, sign says "insufficient change sale canceled", recheck display, see "exact fare only", take money and move to counter. Altogether maybe 20 seconds? Not over a minute of putting money in again and again. But that probably sounds a bit arrogant. I happened to notice the sign and all the other people didn't. The morning after the post I did point out it was exact change only to someone, but they snapped at me that they noticed, like a minute after first putting money in. Maybe they were having a bad day.

Anyway, the end of the week signifies the end of another aspect of clinical.

In this case it was General X-rays and Mobiles. Basically mobiles is taking a mobile x-ray machine and taking x-rays of patients who are too sick to come down to General X-rays (which is termed Work Area 1). 90% of mobile x-rays will be chest x-rays, with occasional other bits of body anatomy thrown in. When it's quiet, it's a nice little bludge. When it's busy, it's hell. And it's usually busy. Every 15 minutes the pager will go off with a request for x-rays, it could in ICU, neonates or halfway across and up the hospital. So while it does involve a lot of walking, it's the never ending request for x-rays and no rest whatsoever during the hours that drags you down. I don't like mobiles. You are constantly pulled in one direction then another, with difficult patients and sometimes difficult doctors.

Here's a little story. There was a call for a chest x-ray on the 5th level. When we got there, it turned out that the patient had just suffered a cardiac arrest and was only beginning to come out of it. One of the doctors turned us away, saying no x-ray was necessary. As we turn to leave, another doctor asks us if we're going to do a chest x-ray and is quite surprised when we told him told that there was going to be no x-ray. In the end, the doctor returns saying they want a x-ray but they will page us again when the patient is more stable. Time passes and finally the request comes down and we go back up there again. However, a doctor in the room (probably a different doctor, I'm not sure) turns us away saying that they don't need an x-ray. And we had to walk down and away again. I'm not blaming any individual doctors, but no one seems in charge and even the doctors didn't not what was going. One says yes, another says no. Make up your damn minds and come to a group consensus, x-ray or not?

And on the weekends, what do I do? Besides reading books and manga? Well, I've been playing through Half Life 2 and its sequel Half Life 2: Episode 1. It's an awesome game and great story as well. It just pulls you in so deeply. I'll probably buy Episode 2 later tonight, over Steam. Here is the intro to the original to take a look see.

Memories from the Wind Scene

Entering the third week of clinicals. Halfway there and it feels as if I've been working for so long. Just a little bit more to go then back to the uni grind.

One of the myriad of groups on Facebook that catch my attention is one whose name is something along the lines of "When I walk behind slow moving people, I want to punch them in the back of the head". Because walking slow is a bad thing apparently. I don't blame slow moving people. They have a reason (either good or bad) as to why they are moving slow. I just find an opportunity to overtake them, same thing applys to cars (with the exception of Lesley's dad, he goes sooooo slow). Apparently slow moving people equates to stupid people. Not necessarily. Moving slow does not mean you are stupid or lacking common sense. No that's different.

Here's something that's stupid or at least lacking common sense. At Granville Station, like most other train station, you can buy tickets from the counter or from the machine. Lately the machine had a bad case of the gremlins and couldn't give change; you had to pay the exact fare. It even says so on the screen just about the main one "Exact fare only". I was waiting in line and I saw the exact fare only sign, so I stepped out of line and moved towards the counter. When I bought the exact fare the next day, I ended up going for the counter because the line was full of people pushing in ten dollar notes and expecting change for their $5.20 fare, ignoring the "insufficient change" and "exact fare only" and keep pushing in money again and again. After a good minute, the person gave a snort of disgust and moved to the counter. And the next person would do exactly the same thing, pushing in money expecting change for a good minute before moving away. Rinse and repeat. Over the past fortnight, I've always noticed a short but determined line of people pushing in money, expecting change and getting none while completely ignoring the signs the machine puts up. I don't fault stupid people. Stupid people are stupid (well, duh) and eventually the laws of evolution weeds them out. Common sense, despite its name, is not very common, or at least, not as common as you like or think it would be.

Well enough ranting, what about clinicals? So good, so far. I did spend a day at the Children's Hospital in Westmead to see how different it is from doing adults. It's a lot different and I don't really like it there. I have nothing against children, and there are some pretty outgoing and funny kids over there, but there are also a large number of kids who scream and kick when just entering the x-ray room. I put it down to fear of the unknown, but I'm not 100% sure what's running through those kids' minds. It does not hurt, your parents are there as well holding you. Might be just me. I asked my mom if I kicked and screamed during x-rays or whatnot when I was younger and she said "no I was very quiet". There like this age where all the kids scream though. They seem to be around 2-3 years old. The slightly older ones don't scream even though they might be feeling a little overwhelmed and the slightly younger ones don't have a grasp of what exactly is going on. It very different, but give me little old ladies to x-ray anyday.

Also this week I'm on General X-rays, x-raying outpatients and in patients as well as doing mobile x-rays for those intensive card wards. It's been pretty cool so far, except they introduced a new system for processing x-ray cassettes. Generally speaking, most systems in Westmead are digital or DR. You place a part of the anatomy on the image receptor, a large flat board connected to a computer. The picture is taken and sent straight to the computer screen, where you can see a preview. It is very fast and produces minuscule amounts of radiation. Computed radiography or CR has a cassette with a photosensitive film inside. The picture is taken on the cassette, then it has to be taken to be id on a internal tag using a computer. A scanner reads the image and the picture is outputted on a computer screen. Longer and slightly more radiation. There is a new system for id-ing the cassettes and the other students and I had to spend some time to learn and familiarise ourselves with a new system. But it is much easier to use, definitely more user-friendly.

10AM shift tomorrow, so a few more extra hours of sleep...

Escape from Westmead

Another week of clinical is done. For the past week I've been working Emergency and while there are days where it was tiring, there were also days where it was downright boring. The weekends have never looked so good.

On Thursday I went out for dinner with some friends mainly to discuss our differing clinical experiences. We went to this awesome restaurant called Sahara at Parramatta near the bus stop. The food was great but no pics because I don't do those and I was starving at that point. I had some dish that had thin strips of lamb with bread and these sauces. Along with a couple beers and the meal went down swimmingly.

Also a few hours ago I had to put together this cabinet-slash-drawer thingy for shoes. It took almost two hours because of the shoddy engineering and near non-existent instructions. Well it did have instructions but it was a few small pictures with some pathetic labeling. I guess it did work my reasoning skills quite hard, but it works well now. My mum both that on a whim, because it looked good in the catalogue. I think it is a complete and utter waste of money and space. She doesn't have enough shoes to justify buying a little cabinet to store them, but what can I say?

That incident reminded of a time that I went to Westfields in Parramatta. I went to buy a book and get some gift cards. One of my uni friends was with her sister in Westfields and say me but she didn't say hi because "I looked very determined...like a man on a mission". I guess that the way that most guys go shopping. Generally speaking, of course, guys only go shopping when we need to buy something. We need to get that console game, that new book that just came out and maybe a new shirt because the old one is ripped. Less window shopping, more mission. Since then I've noticed that whenever I go shopping I have a clear definite list of things I need to buy and I go in, buy the items, then go out and home. Women tend to window shop and buys things on impulse more. Just a few observations.

Also bought Halo 3 for my brother. I've pretty much finished all of Mass Effect and a new game for the Xbox 360 (it still lives!) is just what the doctor ordered. And BSS finally managed to sub the remaining episodes of Moyashimon. And I'm uncapped so cue the downloading spree.

Man I'm tired. Clinicals really take a lot of you.