Work Area One

New day, new place within Westmead. Work Area 1 does mainly Fracture Clinic (people with broken bones, duh) and a combination of inpatients and outpatients. Unlike Accident and Emergency, also known as Casualty, there isn't that much sense of urgency. The pace is slower, more managable and can be downright boring at times.

Yesterday was my last day at A&E, and it was probably the best day yet. I mostly helped with this PDY (a radiographer who has just left school and must do an "internship" so to speak) who was really helpful. Again I mainly observed but helped out where I could. Some people think that being a radiographer is a pretty cushy job and I guess it can be depending on where you work. But in A&E, it can be pretty taxing. On one occassion, we needed to do a chest and knee x-ray on this 80-year old woman wiht Alzheimer's. It was difficult because we couldn't use the DR system (she was too fragile to move around) and had to slide a cassette behind her back to do the chest x-ray. However, due to the Alzheimer's, she was very distracted and was never in the right position. In the end, we winged it a bit. The PDY set her into the correct position while I held down the prep button. As soon as he ran out, I pressed the button down fully to take the shot. It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

The A&E office happened to be right next to two rooms, 28 and 29. That's where the dead or dying go and the family can grieve. Well, that's where they usually go. Sometimes when we are short on beds, some patients go in there. But I'm walking back from an x-ray only to have this Asian family sobbing their hearts out just outside the office. It was pretty gut-wrenching.

Work Area 1 was different. For the first few hours, there wasn't much to do, expect the odd x-ray. But it was cool because I managed to go down to the mortuary on two occasions. One was a suicide victim, and the second was a jumper. The first guy had shot himself in the head, but the body had been cleaned up slightly, so there was only a bit of blood behind his ears. The second guy had jumped off somewhere high. The police were present during his death, so whether they were trying to talk him down, or whether he was on the run was unclear. X-raying cadavers is a lot different. And a bit difficult. By the time we got to them, rigor mortis had set in and it was difficult to move the body. But very interesting. Very, very interesting.

I managed to do another bunch of chest x-rays, and the PDY person assisting me was very frank, but that helped in my learning. He didn't bullshit, so to say. But I picked up a few tips that helped immensely.

I think Jimmy commented last time that this was I was learning something practical and directly related to my course. That's pretty much true. This sort of training is invaluable, especially in a public hospital where you get plenty of cases. Private clinics are alright, but you don't have that many cases.

Tomorrow is the last day!

A & E

Clinical placement has been pretty cool. It's quite different to learning in class. I made a mistake of going to Westmead Children's Hospital rather than Westmead, but luckily I turned up early so by the time I realised my mistake, I was still on time.

Let me say this first though. The digital radiography system is fucking sexy. Two systems operate at Westmead, the CR (Computed Radiography) and DR. The CR system works like this. You slide in a cassette, set your exposure factors, ping then take out the cassette and slot into a reader, so you can see whether you've done a correct diagnostic image. And if you get it wrong, you have to do it all over again. This is not counting the multiple cassettes. The DR system has an image receptor, so the X-rays are stored digitally and displayed instantly on the screen, you if you do get something wrong, you can quickly do another shot. Everything is automated so you don't have to punch in the factors. Sexy, very sexy.

The people at the hospital are nice, but are always in a rush. My current supervisor is definitely a pro, I mean, she knows her shit, so to speak. She is a bit pedantic on technique, but it's the right technique. I managed to do a handful of chest x-rays today. Besides assisting in procedures or observing them, I also do some reading and take care to the request forms. When a request is entered, the printer in the room churns out the form (what to x-ray, patient details etc) and some stickers. I take the form, label the location of the patient, stick the stickers on and place in queue, with the newest ones at the back. We seem to always have a backlog of requests to do. I only ever see about two radiographers, including my supervisor on duty, at most three. Today, there was more reading and organising request forms than taking x-rays, because my supervisor was running around doing mobile chest x-rays (when the patient is too sick to come to us, we go to them), and the other person on duty was a PDY that didn't really like me observing. But I learnt stuff and that's what important.

I'd probably do more x-rays tomorrow, since I start at 8am and the mornings are usually slow, so I can take my time, and my supervisor can point out some details better.

The weather has been horrible. It's stopped raining, so far, but the wind is blowing pretty strong and it's cold as well. I timed my purchase of a trenchcoat perfectly. It's so warm.

Sophia's planning her 18th birthday and the theme is Heroes and Villains. I have know idea what to go as, but preliminary ideas are mad scientist (I already have a labcoat) or 1940s gangster ( i just need a hat, and maybe a mustache and maybe a gun?). Meh. I still have time to plan.

Off I go, to revise radiographic postionings.

Sharada

Yesterday was spent away from the computer and book. I met up with some old friends to go out and have some fun.

Went to Burwood to watch Transformers. I was a little unsure about the movie. I've heard both good and bad things from it, and with Transformers being a rather dear childhood cartoon, I had worries that the director might butcher the film. My fears were completely unfounded. Relative to other action films, Transformers is a delightful romp with explosions, fight scenes and plenty of eye candy. The robots were very well animated. The movie is definitely something worth watching, and would probably be worth it to own a DVD.

The main criticisms from other people were the overall lack of plot, characterisation, bad directing/editing/cutting. But I think that such a criticism is very harsh. This is an action film! Not an Oscar-contending film! Compared to the "good" films, of course, it sucks. But that's like comparing apples and oranges. An action film is not meant or known for a deep plot or ecellent characterisation. It's supposed to be a fun film, where the audience turns off their brains and go more more base motives. On those factors, Transformers is an excellent action film that holds its own against other action films. Now. Die Hard 4, anyone?

With my overall lack of interest in anime, namely Naruto and Bleach, I search the net for some new anime. One of the newer anime series that is highly recommended is the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It's about a girl called Haruhi Suzumiya who is bored with the ordinary and wants to find the extraordinary, like aliens, time travellers or espers. The story is told from the point-of-view of Kyon, a normal guy who is dragged into Haruhi's world. It's a fun anime and the story is quite good. The two main characters are also well-fleshed out and the animation is smooth and looks very good. Throw in a hint of mystery and a tiny dash of Evangelion-ness, and it's a hit anime series, clocking in a 14 episodes. Note that the episodes were broadcast in a non-linear fashion, so the storyline can become incoherent or confusing at times. Some people prefered to watch it in its actual chronological order rather than its broadcast order. But it's good. Highly recommended.

Oh and did you hear? There is a new children's book in town.
The man in the picture is supposed to be House.

Take it Down to the Wire

Nothing much to report on. I have clinical placement next week, which apparently is the same time this camping trip is happenning. Can't do much about it.

Called up Westmead Hospital this morning to get detail on my clinical. I think I spent about 10 minutes on hold before actually being transferred to the Chief Radiographer. I'm kind of pissed that it took that longer, but I have had worse and the hospital has (presumably) more important things to do. I was tranferred 4 times. I remember. Because I said "Hello, I'm a student from USyd and I'm on clinical placement next week. Can I please speak to the Chief Radiographer?" four times. Ah well. That's done and now I play the waiting game.

Exam results aren't out yet. The grades on the website are like 'not yet received'. I've got fingers crossed. Pretty sure I got at least Credits.

The last episode of Doctor Who. The season finale for the third season. What can I say? It was an awesome ride. There are a few things I disagree on, like one death and the ways the physics was whacked off a bit, but that's television for you. It's not about the science, it's about the emotional ride. And let me tell you, it was one hell of a ride, especially the end.

Heh. I so want a sonic screwdriver of the Doctor. There's one on Ebay. It's a replica with a pen and UV lights and stuff. I might get it. Let me go find some money. There must be some under my bed. There must be!

The series has peaked a bit of interest in the theory of time travel. And it's a bit more complicated than I originally thought. Take the grandfather paradox. You go back in time to kill your grandfather before you were born, thus creating the paradox. Since you killed you grandfather and since you never existed, you never actually travelled back in time to kill you grandfather. This implies that you never actually killed your grandfather, and so then you were actually conceived anyway to go kill your grandfather. Yeah. A bit of a mouthful, but there you go. Wikipedia helps a lot.

Been playing F.E.A.R. It's one of those titles where the developers chose the title first then decided to make an acronym out of it later. So FEAR stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. It's a pretty scary game. Not scary like in-your-face-monsters-and-shit scary, but more like freaky-little-girl-Japanese-horror scary. I literally can't play it alone. Well I can, during daylight hours. But as the sun sets, I have to have my brother watching over my shoulder or vice versa. So yeah. Pretty scary shit.

And here's a little something-something
You would you choose? Limit of two, three, say? I'd put my money on Ms Korea and Russia.

Looking at Distant Things

Exams are over. Well, it was over back on Wednesday, and I've been spending the days catching up on some reading that I had to give up.

Seriously, if I had the time and the money and the means, I'd probably do nothing but buy and read books. But I don't. Still, it's my way way of relaxing. Sitting down and reading a good books or two. Right now, I'm reading this book called Life in Vietnam: through a looking-glass darkly by Nguyen Ngoc Phach. It's about, well, life in Vietnam obviously, but after the war when the Communists took over government. It's written in English but it also has these short poems called vè. I use the term poems loosely as the vè were mainly written by average people criticising the government. Some of them make a surprisingly lot of sense and some at applicable to the modern day, despite being written some hundreds of years ago. It has English translations and explanations so it's understandable. If you're Viet, you should read this.

I spent most of the morning, cleaning up my room. It was pretty messy, since I practice the First Available Surface filing method, so my table was covered in stacks of papers and folders, and a good portion of the floor as well. I even broke open my computer case and spent some time to get rid of all the dust inside. Unfortunately, one of the fans has developed this annoying whirr. I can't do much about it. Maybe a can of compressed air to get at the dust in those hard to reach places.

Tomorrow I am uncapped so let the bandwidth flow! Also the season finale of Doctor Who season 3 hits the air. I can't wait for it. The last episode ended on a massive cliffhanger, so I'm stoked.

Besides that, nothing else is happening. I have clinical placement, but that's like a week away. Lesley has been thinking about grabbing a group of people to go watch the live action Transformers, and if it happens then I'm in. Oh Transformers...now that was a pretty good show. The newer shows nowadays kinda suck. Like the Pokemon on Channel Ten. The basic premise of the group showing up, then Team Rocket trying to mess things up, is still the same since the very first episode of Pokemon. I reckon they should drop Ash and co and make a totally new series with new characters. A massive reboot, so to say.

Back to reading.

The Sound of Drums

Close. So close to the end of exams. Then twelve days of holidays, then a week of clinical practice, then another week of holidays, then back to uni.

Last exam is medical radiation physics. It won't go too bad. I had Radiobiology exam yesterday and sucked big time. I only knew a handful of answers and the rest were more on instinct and luck. MC questions are both a blessing and a curse in my opinion. When you know the answers, it's easy, but when you don't it comes down to probability and instinct. You look at the answers and you get the feeling that C must be right. That's probably the most useful tip that one can get for doing MCQ. Your first instinct is usually right. Remember all those MCQ we had to do since the beginning. It was a lot. I remember around the late days of primary school and the early days to high school, there were all these little tips and rules to MCQ. Some useful, most...not really. The correct answer is always B. Take a guess, there's a 25% chance you'll get it right. Three identical answers (B,B,B etc) is usually the limit and the if the next answer is thought to be the same, then something has gone wrong...unless the answers are deliberately the same for four in a row to psych you out...those were the days.

Despite the cappage, I've managed to downloading ep 12 of Doctor Who. I won't spoil it, but it an amazing episode and is filled with all this info about the Time Lords, their home planet, some of their customs. And the season finale looks dam amazing. Then gone. With exception of the Christmas Special, there won't be any Doctor Who eps until season 4 next year, starting sometimes in April/May.

I have obtained Simcity DS, but have yet to play it. Simcity 2000 was probably the first real game that I actually bought. And it was so interesting. Acting as mayor, trying to build a prosperous city while keeping the people happy and avoiding disasters. It started to get more complex from then on. Simcity 3000 was pretty good and I haven't tried Simicty 4. Simcity 2000 was designed by Will Wright, the same dude behind The Sims. Now that was quite addictive. And while both games were great, the publication of so many expansion packs seem to be more of a money grab by EA than anything else. But there's no denying it was one hell of a game.

No news on the job front. I've sent my resume almost 3 weeks back to a potential employer and they haven't replied. Their website is still "Coming Soon", so I'll wait it out. If it goes online and there is still no word, then I'm off to find another potential job. I wish I had a stable income of cash.

*sigh*

If wishes were fishes, then we'd all cast nets.

I put the Laughter in Slaughter

Three exams down, and three left to go. I have Human Biology, Radiobiology and Medical Radiation Physics. Radiobiology is going to be the tough one. I hated all lectures, cos the lecturer was so-so. I swear the book is a better alternative.

I told myself that I would start studying a month before the actual exams. Well that fucking worked. I find myself studying like a crazy man a week before the actual exams. Arrgh, so much for trying to improve myself. But I think I'll pass. Probably Credit, may even Distinction. Anyway the weather has been acting up lately so staying indoors and warm, nose deep in books and notes is still a preferable idea.

Still sitting around, studying while chomping on some chocolate and slamming down shots of Coke is not going to make my body healthy. If there is one thing I truly believe in, it's that as you go through the University of Life, you must have a PhD in Getting the Fuck Away when Shit Happens. And you're gonna have trouble getting the fuck away on chocolate and Coke. Motivation. I need some of that. As soon as the 300 DVD comes out, I'm on it like stink on cheese. It's probably the most manly, testosterone laden piece of work since...since a whole lot of other manly things. I'd probably won't be Spartan, I would be able to run like the wind whenever trouble hits.

After the aforementioned exams, of course.

Ahem.

How do you guys dream? I occasionally get these weird, surreal dreams that make me wonder whether I should write them down and make a book or something. Like how a giant octopus is ravaging the beaches, how sentient spotches of colour ink are disrupting the world's electricity supply, or how there's a group of teenagers caught in a world of time travel, big explosions and sexual tension. I don't know about other people, but when I dream, it's deadly real except for the fact that there is actually no sound, but I can understand what people are saying as if there was sound. Makes sense? No? Don't worry.

Doctor Who season 3 is beginning to come to an end. Two more episodes before the season ends. The 11th episode is an absolute blast. With the revelation of another Time Lord. But I won't say who. I know a few people eagerly awaiting the ABC to start showing some Who action, but dammit, get cable and download the episodes.

Read Tales of MU. It's worth it and addictive as crack.

More cramming. Onwards.

I didn't start this fire

Why am I posting this blog at 6am-ish in the morning? Because I was a moron. I fell asleep after lunch for a 2-hour sleep because I was hella tired from studying. Then I went to sleep earlier than usual at just past 10pm. Then my body kicked my awake at 4am. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. No matter how much I tossed and turned, I couldn't get any shut eye. So much for sleeping in on the weekends.

I'd probably study some more and maybe get started on those anatomy sample exams. First exam is my Preparation for Practice (DR) on the 19th. I'm pretty sure I can handle the MCQ but it's the short-response that has me somewhat worried. I should try to find some sample exams or something.

That's one thing I'd wish was more prevalent. Past papers like from the past five years or something, but since there are like a gazillion courses at a tertiary level, I don't see it happening. That's one thing I liked (if you could use the word) about the HSC. You could buy a book with all the past papers since like 1988 or something. I think that these past papers helped me get a decent mark for the HSC or at least the confidence to walk in and tackle the damn papers.

Despite some procrastination on my part, studying is going fairly well. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to get distinctions for all of them but I won't fail. Of course, there is a little thing that has been distracting me: Tales of MU. It's a story-in-progress about a student in her first year at a magical university (hence the MU) where the students include nymphs, centaurs, elves and other fantasy creatures, as well as humans. It's updating daily and it is addictive as crack. This author can write, and write really well. Seriously I would kill to write as well as that. Plus the bite-sized pieces are enough to fire you up and getting all excited about the next piece. So yeah, check it out.

Clinical is getting me all worked up. Its exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Sure this will be the first time I get to go to real work setting, but then performing the procedures on a real person is different to doing it on a human analog. I shiver from anticipation and a little fear. Well, it will be fun I'm sure.

Weather is pissing me off. It rains hardcore then freezes over at night. Usually, right now the sun is beginning to rise so there is a hint of light, but looking out my window, it's almost pitch black.

Damn it all.

The War on War

Updates will become sporadic as I study up for my end of semester exams, but I'll post the occasional post maybe with a picture or Youtube video.

Joined Facebook at the behest of Jimmy. His claim of 25% of Seftoners are facebooked was strong, although I'm not sure everyone is active. Well, it does seem to be more of a way to keep a thread of contact between old friends.

Managed to get Halo 2 to work and I'm a bit disappointed. It was a lazy port from the Xbox straight to Vista with very little changes. The fact that you have to pay a monthly fee to play online multiplayer does hurt, but I hear good things about it. Maybe a month as a trial or something.

Weather has been swinging about lately and now it's getting colder. To be honest, I actually prefer the rain. Because the clouds ensures that the heat (or what little of it) doesn't escape into the sky and so it's a tiny bit warmer. Now with the few days of clear skys, it's nice in the mornings but colder at night.

Oh, and here's a little something for gamers out there.

Sometimes even lawyers need lawyers.

Well, no more lectures because the first semester of university is over. Not really. There are still exams to be held. I was freaking out a minute or fifteen when I realised that I knew what day and times my exams were on, but not the exact place. Yes, I know it is held in the campus, duh, just not the exact rooms. But a quick trip to MyUni cleared it up and I can now focus even more on studying.

I've been invited to a BBQ this Sunday along with the whole family, but unless the rain decides to stop, I don't have much hope. Unless the location has a veranda, then maybe. Still, whenever I'm invited to a BBQ, I momentarily cringe. Without exception, all the BBQs I have attended, with the exception of my own, seem to stuff up the food. Not all the food is bad per se, but some people don't know who to do a BBQ properly. At best, you get slightly raw meat. The worst? I went to a BBQ where the host had trouble with the wind, because the gas BBQ couldn't get hot enough. So the food was massively undercooked. So he cranked it up to the redline and everything was massively overcooked. Maybe it's just the Asian families I've been to that can't do a BBQ properly. You go to an Aussie's place, and you can almost guarantee that they'll do a decent BBQ.

On another train of thought, I remember one of the lecturers encouraging us to make friends or maintain friendships with people who are studying different courses. To have a big picture of what other professions and courses are going to be like or something. That said I keeping forgetting to ask for neuroscience notes, because everyone I talk to about neuroscience says it's a bitch, while the few scraps of info I have on it sounds interesting. Maybe it sounds interesting because I don't have to actually study for a test on it. Anyway, Jack sent me an essay on this family law case and it was an interesting read. In a nutshell, the husband sues the wife because two of their children aren't his and she deceived him by not telling him and as a result he suffered mental and psychiatric trauma as a result. He lost because the judges decided that he really had no reason to suspect anything before the paternity test and that the wife keeping quiet didn't count as deceit. So the tort failed. Despite the 10000 words and 8 pages, it was an interesting read. Still I don't know why Jack asked me to edit it. I'm going to be a radiographer, not a lawyer. Still, interesting and thought provoking stuff.

And finally, Nam has jumping onto the blogging bandwagon. A bit late maybe, but it seems regularly updated for now. Go read it. Because reading blogs actually helps to complete your work faster. Seriously.

Marching On

Now entering the final week of the semester, the days have become more focused on study. No one wants to fail their end of semesters.

Clinical briefing today for MRS. It was basically checking that you have all the required items like CPR cert, PRM, vaccination etc. It took up the better part of 2 hours almost. It really depended on what line you decided to join and when you joined it. I joined a line where the checking was quick and very brief. The guy was like, "yep, yep, you got everything." I'm not sure if he actually saw some of the certs that people were trying to show him. There was also a quick test on the clinical practice. But it was a bit hard, and didn't focus on the ethic and legal side of things, which everyone studied like hell because it's like the largest part of the unit.

Some good news now. My group mark for our presentation on infection control was scored 19/22. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Despite the slowly increasing workload, I'm still managing to keep up with House and Doctor Who. Did you know that Torchwood, a Doctor Who spinoff, is going to appear on Channel Ten? The sole reason I believe is that one of the main characters is Captain Jack Harkness. Because if you call him Captain Jack it almost like Captain Jack Sparrow. I want to watch the third Pirates of the Carribean, but it's been getting rather poor reviews. I'm a pretty shallow movie viewer. I really liked all three movies, and didn't really get why everyone seems to dislike it. Bah.

Back to study.

Ever pulled teeth out of a chicken?

Sorru about the lack of updates. I've been capped for the past two weeks and you can't imagine how painfully slow it was. Plus catching up on work and revision required me to log onto USyd's WebCT which was downright slow. Moving on...

I now know where I'm going for clinical practice. From the 9th to the 13th July, I'll be at Westmead Hospital, which is suprisingly close to Parramatta. While it's nice to know where I'll be going I am a little bit apprehensive about the whole thing. Still, I'm sure it'll be fun and I'll learn a whole bunch of stuff.

Lectures, as all university students know, can be quite boring depending on the lecturer and/or the subject matter. My lectures on radiation protection can be said to be quite boring, mainly because the subject is a bit dry. So the lecture is kinda boring, unless the lecturer goes of on a tangent. On one lecture we were talking about non-ionising radiation, specifically lasers and their class. The higher the class, the more powerful it is. Australia supposedly bans class 3 lasers for personal use, but one can easily buy one off Ebay. The funny thing was the lecturer joked that he bought such a laser to aim at the naval base nearby and see how long it takes for them to respond. Hopefully, not that quickly.

I'm also one of those people joining the ranks of "I want money, but don't have a job". I haven't been searching jobs all that zealously though, but having some extra money seems like a good thing, right about now.

So everyone, keep it up and try not to fail. I know several who came into hair's width of failing. I came damn close to failing. Too close.

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.

MCCCXXXVII

The mid-semester exams are making everyone serious. People now spend their time studying or discussing the subject. Even I have been spending some extra study time in the library. Woah!

Human Biology test today, encompassing the cell homeostatis and basic chem. It's probably the easiest test, we'll ever have. Only 40 minutes and all multiple choice questions. I'm a bit worried about the anatomy test, since there is a shitload of muscles and ligaments to remember. It's a week from now, so that gives me some time to study.

What I am going to do these weekends is to clean up my computer. I have all this stuff accumulated on my hard drive over the years. My Documents is so messy I have trouble finding stuff and don't even talk about my downloads folder. Some cleaning and a little defrag.


No updates for a while eh? Between the studying and being on the razor's edge of being capped, the internet has been ignored for quite some time. It slightly safer to use the net, only since my limits reset next month, which is like 3 sleeps away. So until then, no Naruto, no Bleach, no House and no Doctor Who. I've only missed a week or so, I'll probably be fine.

Study, study study....

I've divided by zero! Oh shi-

Haven't blogged recently, so sorry about that. Mid-semester exams are ninja-ing towards me, and I have to start taking some action before I get ninja-ed.

Since yesterday, most of the lectures have finished early, mainly due to the lecturers tying up odds and ends in preparation of exams. Coming back from the break was such a slog. Once you get used to lounging around at home, having to wake up and get to Uni on time so that you don't miss that essential lecture becomes hard. But there are some lectures that I don't want to miss and there are some that I can, so eventually things will balance out.

Work on our group presentation is progressing well, if slowly. Apparently other groups haven't even started. Things will get complicated nearer to the due date, so that's why our group is (attempting) to start now, to lay down the framework, so after exams, we can get this thing done.

Back to study now. Unfortunately, cramming is much less effective now, and I have a lot of shit to revise. So here's a little something for the short post:

Prepare for Glory

The mini-reunion was...well...mini. I guess sloppy organisational work, and private work prevented more people from attending. But just because it was small, didn't mean that the entire day was wasted.

So only eight people showed up, including me:

• Jack
• Lesley
• Alex
• Charles
• Kathy
• Land

On the way to the movies, we shared tales and stories from uni, and there was quite a nice representation of the unis Seftoners went to, USyd, UNSW, UWS and MacU. We had 3 Com/Laws, 1 Engo, 1 Pharm and 1 Med. But enough of that. What happened?

300 happened, that's what. This is not really a film that you would analyse about the plot, characters or symbolism. This is a movie to be enjoyed with your brain switched off and taking the delights of the raw, visceral action onscreen. I found 300 to match the hype. It is an excellent action movie with some witty dialogue. And it looks and sounds fucking gorgeous! Best line of the movie? There's plenty, but for me personally, is when Leonidas starts to walk off to talk to Xerxes and he says There's no reason we can't be civil, is there? and one of the Spartans replies Not at all, my lord while plunging his spear into the chest of a wounded Persian.

After we finished watching the movie, we walked down to Market City, and stopped by the food court. A whole bunch of food on offer, but I bought a kebab and chips. You can't go wrong with kebabs unless you OD on the garlic sauce. More talking this time, everyone was sharing their experiences about driving, with everyone present either has the Ls or Ps. Apparently, Lesley's tutor class thinks he's gay, because of the whole skirt dancing thing at the concert.

Galaxyworld was next but not a lot of money was spent. We did the rounds and the girls managed to racked up like 100-something tickets. I went to one of the games and on my second try managed to score 500 tickets. Phuong, if you're reading this, it was that Wheel of Fortune game. Added with some other tickets I think the final reading was like 600-something tickets. My tokens were gone by then though. Well another day.

From there, we walked to Central and headed off, getting off at our respective stations. Seriously, I would mind another day like this (with more people maybe) but that's maybe later down the track. It's just interesting to hear other people's uni experiences and catch up with some old friends. Maybe near the end of the year or something. We can organise something bigger.

When 300 comes out on DVD, I'm buying it. Seriously, it's a keeper.

200 posts on this blog. Quite a long time, considering the length of other Seftoner blogs. Hopefully, this will keep going for a while longer.

Beware of the Bug

Ah Monday. Easter Monday. Supposed day of rest for the just. But I should know better. There's no rest for the weary.

Tomorrow is a little day out for Seftoners, but already it has hit a snag. Phuong, the other organiser, has managed to fall sick today. So she's out and that catches me flat-footed, since I don't know the city as well as her. So now I have to break out the street directory and Google Maps. Now shit happens, on a daily basis, but apparently Phuong has frequently cancelled at the last minute before. It's like some bug takes out Phuong right before events that she organises or whatnot. I heard that she cancelled on Land and didn't even tell her, so Land stood waiting at the cinema for ages.

But again shit happens. Phuong is hit with nausea like a sledgehammer pounding her stomach. So if she can't go out at all tomorrow, then there's nothing much anyone can do. So, Phuong, stay home and get better. I was about to say "Don't do this sort of shit again" but there's enough anecdotal evidence that it will.

The mini-reunion thingo is still on, but I might have to take it slow otherwise we'll get lost, or maybe call the day short. Just rock up anyway. At least we get to find out how uni life has been treating you.

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

Note to self. It is possible to make your own poster on the cheap. That said it took a little bit of effort to finely align the separate papers together to from the overall poster. That said I think it looks quite nice.

All in all it took nine pieces of glossy photo paper to print out. I was about to do a 5x5 piece but the picture was a bit stretched and the pixellated. I still have a bunch of glossy papers left. So maybe another one another time. But I'm running out of useable wall space.

So I had to do a few errands today which involved a little bit of driving. Driving's cool until you run into a bunch of idiots that just make you swear. On one stretch of road, this sports car stopped and the driver had a conversation with some dude outside. Stopped right in the middle of the road. Just having a chat. Oblivious to the fact that a 20m line of cars were waiting. I was about to toot the horn, but the Toyota car just ahead to me probably had a pissed driver. The Toyato gunned the engine, and overtook the sports car but, deliberately I think, rammed the tailgate of teh sports car and took off. The drivers of the sports car chucked a fit and took off to hunt down the Hilux that rammed him. The sports car only went for about a 100m before smoke poured out. Serves the bastard right. I hope he cries tonight.

Happy long weekend people.

Those Who Learn Must Suffer

I've finished my radiation shielding assignment and submitted it today. It's like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. Now I can focus on my other assignment. So far I have only 2 assignments and consider myself lucky since other courses have much more.

Next week is the recess week. So an entire week off to take stock on how Uni is going. And it's going quite well. Also tomorrow I only have 2 hours worth of lectures before finishing at 2pm. I might have to take public transport home since my brother doesn't finish his exams till 3pm. Then Good Friday.

Which is good, since I have to go over to my aunt's house to check her computer. The net access is fuzzy and apparently keeps dropping. It might be TPG's fault but I'll probably do that ant-virus and spyware thing before making any conclusions. And I have to go on Friday, because on Saturday it's my other aunt's birthday, so a whole bunch of people will be getting together, and that gives me a reason to clean up my room. Papers and books everywhere man. A little bit of mess has been proven to increase productivity and efficiency, but I way beyond the threshold. So some cleaning to do.

The worst nightmare for a Uni student? No, scratch that. One of the worst nightmares for Uni students? To find out that you somehow forgot totally about an assignment and find out it's due tomorrow. Now that's some pressure. This was basically decided when I was chatting with Nam over MSN.

Me: that's like 4 assignments
Me: they'll sneak up on ya and ambush you for sure
Nam: gee steven, i'll sleep soundly tonight.
Nam: T__T!
Me: you're minding you're own business one night
Me: then one assignment pops out "sneak attack!"
Me: and it'll be due like tomorrow or something
Nam: omfg
Nam: worst nightmare
Nam: EVER.

Anyway, besides a mini-reunion day for Seftoners during the break, I'm planning to do a little test. I'm a big fan of Evangelion, and you may remember me mentioning that I had a poster of a Dalek from the new series of Doctor Who. Well, I've been keeping an eye out for some Evangelion posters, but none seem to be around that suited me. But here's a pic that I like:
Apparently that's a Nissan Skyline in the background. So I'm planning on splitting the bigger version of the image in smaller A4 sized sheets of paper, so I can make my own poster of it. Of course, this means some glossy or photo paper and a bit of ink. So I have to buy a new colour ink cartridge and some paper. Probably do a stop at Officeworks after I finish fixing my aunt's comp. I'll report later on how that goes.

Until next time.

From Death comes Life

What a day! I don't like Mondays, simply because it means the start of a new week that I have to slog through. At least, the week long easter break is holding promise. It's like a brief respite before diving once more into the storm.

Anatomy practical today, as always. It was pretty good. We had to identify the bones and joints of the lower limb, so the lab people gave us like an entire leg to examine. But we could tell that the leg once belonged to a guy. Because it was still attached and cut in half. Our group refused to flip it over, but apparently all the plumbing and glands are still intact and in relatively good condition.

Then came the dreaded 3 hour break. I don't know why they put such massive breaks in. I don't need 3 hours for a break. Give me a hour or a hour and a half at the most. My group meeting for our presentation was cut short, because we all honestly agreed that any work done would be minimal and possibly non-constructive. So I dashed off to lunch and had a chat with Sophia before her next lecture. It's fun to find out what other courses are like and how things are going with old schoolmates.

But the highlight of the day...well...one of the highlights of the day was when I went to the iPoint counter to book a CPR course before my clinical. iPoint is the frontdesk of the student guild of Cumbo. Anyway, during my short walk there, I noticed two guys with two paper plates full of whipped cream. I was like 'wtf?' because I thought they were going to eat it or something. So I get to the counter and as I wait, there's some birthday party going on, and, yes, the two guys picked up their plates, circled around then shoved the cream into the faces of the two (presumably) birthday girls. Hilarious. Hilarious. One girl didn't take well and was pretty peeved off at getting whipped cream on her face and hair. The other girl took it better, but was stumbling around because the cream was messing up her contacts. Hey, that gives me an idea! Whose birthday is up soon?

Lectures were the same as usual, and my last lecture was with our Borat-sounding lecturer. Against mostly basic chemistry, so I booted up my iPod and took it easy for the hour. The second highlight of the day was when U2's Beautiful Day came up. I don't know why, but that song always bring a smile to my face for some reason. I can have a shitty day, listen to Beautiful Day and it will cheer me up a bit.

Any movies worth watching? I'm liking Mr Bean's Holiday, 300, and Pirates of teh Carribbean: At World's End, but it does kind of suck watching it alone. So if you're planning to go watch a movie during the easter break or even on the weekends, just give me a heads up. I'm usually free on Fridays and the weekends.

DOCTOR WHO SEASON THREE EPISODE ONE WAS RELEASED YESTERDAY!

THE DOCTOR IS BACK!

Power Corrupts but, Traffic Enforcement Power Corrupts Irrationally

I should have posted yesterday, but I was busy procrastinating over my assignment. And browsing the depths of Youtube didn't help either. So now the weekend is being spent to finish off my assignment.

Attempted to play cricket at Uni yesterday, but it was raining like hell. So we didn't get much of a game out of it. Still, we do have nets and a cricket field. It's pretty awesome, except it is a bit of a walk to get there and back.

I had a look at some of the Physics stuff Charles was doing for his Engineering course. And it looks pretty hard. That said this is just browsing the (shitty) lecture notes and past papers. Maybe I'll understand better if I actually attended the lectures. Or maybe not. But the physics in MRS is so much easier. It's pretty basic so far, so I'm breezing along.

Arrgh, the assignment is still on my mind. I'm trying not to procrastinate, but I always seem to find stuff to take my attention away. Youtube is the main killer right now. It's probably the largest collection of human ingenuity and stupidity in one place. So to compensate for this (alarmingly) short post, here's a little something something called Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show:

Directly to Your Brain

Wednesday is a packed day. 4 straight hours of lectures, then a measley one hour break, then another 2 hours. The sheer amount of information that has to be processed is staggering and most of the break is spent eating some food so you can process more information.

A 2 hour period of lectures was spent in R035, the coldest place on Earth. It was freezing and jumpers and jackets were put on in order to stave off the cold. The tiredness and coldness actually sent me to sleep. Well, only in the last 15 minutes of the lecture. Before, I was just closing my eyes and listening to the lecturer and popping up every now and then to take some notes. Then it got to the point that I closed my eyes and when I opened them the lecture just ended. All I remember was Compton radiation scatter then the lecture finished.

That said, the science part of the lectures were pretty cool, especially on radioactivity. The maths was managable, the lecturer was cheery and funny and it was smooth sailing. Radiation protection is next on the list, but it is a bit bland and dry, despite being very important. With proper protection and stringent guidelines (because rules were meant to be broken) the radiographer won't receive any over exposure to radiation, with the exception of the normal background radiation.

I finished my draft of my radiation shielding essay, so now it's just a matter to fixing it up, staying within the 500 word limit and getting my reference list in order. It's due next week, so that's plenty of time. Though, it's probably likely that I'll end up typing the final copy at the last minute, under pressure. You know what they say. No pressure, no diamonds.

Doctor Who season 3 is so close yet so far. So instead to posting a random hot chick pic, here's a little teaser trailer for Doctor Who season 3.

Dead from Beyond

Trying to get my assignment done, typing an essay can be hard when you have know idea on what to say. Anatomy practical today. Hella cool lesson. We received the upper chest and head that had been cleanly sliced in half. Some group even got a half a brain. It was mainly focused on muscles of the upper back and upper limb. So you learn stuff and get grossed out by an actual cadaver.

Today was the short day of the uni week. Altogether it was a 3 hour day, but it was the 4 hour breaks that lengthened the day. Diag Rad has it pretty good considering we get well-scheduled breaks. The Speech Path people usually have their entire day in chucks with no breaks. Ouch.

The best way to spend your 3-hour break? Playing pool. That said, we were playing it Asian style. It's $2 a game, so we have a few guys blocking the holes to prevent the balls from falling in. So we can get multiple games for the price of one.

Short post this one, so to compensate, you'll get the usual- some random hot chick. Must get back to work. Damn.

The End of the World

Two movies to look out for. Frank Miller's 300 which is hella cool and hardcore. This is a movie that I have to see in the cinemas. Forget P2P. I want my giant screen and surround sound. The second movie is Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End. After the "what-the-fuck?!" ending of Dead Man's Chest, I want to see what happens next and how they wrap up the sucker. Will there be a fourth? I don't know. But I think that a trilogy is very good and there's no need to start pushing four unless the script is really good.

USyd's FHS is not that bad Jack. Okay so maybe it doesn't have loads of Seftoners, but more doesn't necessarily mean better. I know Charles was like "why don't you go to UNSW?". My response was "it doesn't have my wanted course." Well, it doesn't have this exact course, Medical Radiation Science (Diagnostic Radiography). Well, I could have done a Bachelor of Science at UNSW, specialising in Radiation Science (or similar), but it's not medical-orientated. That and this course is accredited. Anyway, the small-town feeling of FHS is not detrimental.

The Modern physics practical was pretty cool. Loads of people should up because the scheduling was screwed up and the two lecturers were like "OMGWTFBBQ!". We were simulating radioactive decay using cubes with one side painted black. If the the black side showed up, then that nuclei had decayed and was removed. And we had to draw the required graphs and so on. It's not too bad. I mean, there is a bit of maths involved, but nothing that can't be done with a little thinking and a calculator. Definitely not anything 4-unit.

So the PS3 came out last night/early this morning. The only thing I've decided about it, is that I'm not going to get it. The price is probably the main factor. A grand is a lot of money to sink to a console and not to mention the $90 to $100 cost of games. I know one guy has bought a PS3 and a true HD plasma tv to go along with it. Now that's dedication...and a deep pocket. Me? My pockets aren't that deep. Of course, that still leaves the Wii and the Xbox360 which are reasonably cheaper. Still tossing up on actually whether to get a next-gen console. Maybe soon. Maybe later.

And of course, this Saturday is the business end of being 18 and over. Having to vote in the state election. Since I'm an intensely non-political creature, the thought of actually voting for someone makes me cringe. That and my cynical nature on voting. Basically, we have three choices. Labour, Liberal or the Independants. All three sides are equally the lying and cunning scumbags that they are, yet voting may make a difference to the state of affairs of the state and nation. Of course, whether any party will actually make a difference if voted is debateable. It is likely that Labour will fix shit up in NSW, or the Liberals will make it worse, or the Independants...do what Independants do. Damn these decisions.

In the world of anime, I've been mainly keeping up to date with Bleach and Naruto Shippuuden. So no new anime really. I can't be bothered keeping up with loads of series. MAybe the odd 26-ep anime, but not an on-going series. I am reading the Naruto manga though, and it's exciting stuff. Too bad it only comes out weekly. I've been following House Season 3 and bits and pieces of Heroes on TV. I'm waiting for the new season of Doctor Who that comes out this month. That's about that.


Until next time.

Invictus

For the first time, and probably not the last, I skipped one of my lectures. Not because I was lazy. Nothing like that. It was simply because the lecturer, whose voice reminds me of Borat, is lecturing on Basic Chemistry. Which I've still got in my head since Year 11. So I spent the lecture time in the library, researching for my assignment. I've found some interesting leads there...

Late start tomorrow, but I'm staying all the way to 5pm. I have to attend a physics practical, which was supposed to be my tutorial, but my tutorial was rescheduled without anyone in my group knowing to an earlier day. So I miss a tutorial. Organising these sort of things get hairy I'm sure, but some warning would be nice. The USyd eLearning (formly known as WebCT) is a pretty good way to announce it. I usually check it several times a day.

I met most of the former Sefton contingent on Tuesday. I had just finished lunch and was wandering towards the library when I ran into Kevin, Sophia, Amanda, Rachel and My Hoa. We had a nice chat, and I've learned that apparently the Neuroscience unit of study is a total bitch. Which makes it seem more interesting to me, although that's probably because I'm not actually studying it.

I don't really like the library sessions but today's session was very useful. Journals seems such an underused resource, however, now with my newly acquired elite searching skills I'm able to find extremely useful information. Unfortunately, the library doesn't subscribe to every single journal, so some of the ones I really like, I can't read them. And the fact that some of the journals that contain information that are relevant to my interests regarding my essay are in either Russian or Japanese. Damn.

I got stuck in R035, which I think I mentioned earlier, is the coldest place on Earth. I don't know whether it was just today or something, but seems positively colder than usual. So much that during the quick break in the lecture, people starting putting on jumpers and jackets, me included. Someone should turn the air-con down a bit. Of course, the choice between freezing cold and boiling hot is difficult. Either extremes can get you killed, and are both uncomfortable. R035 without air-con then becomes the hottest place on Earth. Can't there be a happy medium?

You know what I dig right now? Two tracks from the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It's the main theme and the music from the scene where the three characters face each other off to find the money. That piece of music is called The Trio Or Il Triello in Italian. Get it and listen to it sometime. It's the standard of what film music should be light. Simple and full of emotion.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Until next time.

When Death Helps the Living

Woah. Anatomy prac was disgustingly awesome. We actually got to see and touch a human arm and shoulder joint. It's a bit cool to see that the human body is such a wonderful machine, how all these muscles allow for fine motor control.

Group work is progressing nicely for our presentation. We have a better idea of the question now, so with a little luck, the presentation should be easy. I also managed to find a killer book that covers the presentation question. I gotta keep that as long as possible. And I have to get started on my other assignment. Damn.

Parking was okay as usual. I have latish starts on Monday and Thursday, so getting a parking spot close to the Uni is near impossible. I usually park in a side street 10 minutes away. It's a bit of a pain, but walking is good exercise. I hate though when you have those greedy parkers, who hog the space so no other cars can park. One car parked on the length of road between two driveways. The driver parked it right in the middle, leaving large but non-parkable gaps to the front and back. If the driver has moved up some, another car could have parked there. Think about the other drivers! They would just like to park as well.

And if you have the chance, read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It shows that atheism if perfectly fine, and how it may be a better alternative than believing in a religion. If you are religious, you should read it. It brings up some good points, and interesting thoughts. That's it I'm buying that book.

Uni life is becoming much more normal. Before, every day was spent in mild bewilderment, trying to find what's going on and keeping on top of things. It's easier now, and the experience is much more enjoyable. I'm thinking on whether to skip the next set of chemistry lectures. It's all basic chemistry that I remember from high school and I'm confident that the notes will suffice. But a part me tells me to stay in case the lecturer drops something important. Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Until next time.

By the power of Greyskull!

I like Fridays. You know why I like Fridays? Because I don't have any lectures on Friday. So free Fridays!

Besides the revision of lecture notes, I was bored out of my head. Finding a suitable casual job is difficult, probably because I'm picky. It has to be this, has to be that. But I'm sure I'll eventually find something suitable. So to get some relaxation in I headed to the movies and watched Hot Fuzz.

Verdict? Awesome stuff. If you liked Shaun of the Dead, you'll love Hot Fuzz. It's about a kick-ass cop, who is so good, he makes the entire London department look bad. So they transfer him to a tiny village, where there are no murders, but a lot of curious accidents. The ending was alright, but the humour had drifted away a bit since it was full on action. But I would definately recommended it.

I have assignement due in 2 weeks, and haven't really started on it. The library has a nice selection of books, it's all about finding the right one. Anyway, uni is turning out to be much better now. Sure, Cumbo isn't as massive as the main USyd campus or UNSW, but I like the small campus feeling. It's nice.

Now off to do some homework. Again, another picture of a random hot girl to compensate.

I Can See Music

Nothing much to report. Uni was cool, as usual. I handed in a passport photo to the department, because they need one for clinical. Probably to put a face to my number. I have one course called Preparation for Practice, which is a class that prepares all the MRS students are clinical practice, that has to be done sometime in July. There is a group assignment due in 9 weeks, a powerpoint presentation. Originally, we were put into groups based on our postcode so that we would be able to meet easier. Except that not all groups had representatives from all 3 streams, Radiation Therapy, Diagnostic Radiography and Nuclear Medicine, and the presentation requires info from all streams. So new groups were formed, but it was messy.

Instead of locality, the groups were redesigned to that all 3 streams were represented. But now the groups were much larger. Instead of a managable six students, the new groups are bumped up to ten, in some cases twelve. This does make it harder to learn everyone's name, but also creates problems in meeting and workflow. Still, on the bright side, we're going to meet a whole bunch more new people.

The books I have bought for some of the courses. As you can see, they are pretty hefty books. I know of at least one more book that I have to buy and it costs $240. Arrgh. Maybe there's a second hand copy somewhere.

I've finally rearranged my bookshelf, so all my books are neatly lined up. These are the books that I bought with my own money, and it's such a small collection. Damn. Still, I'm planning to slowly expand my collection. As you can see, I lean towards sci-fi and fastasy novels, but there's a good dose of 'educational' books as well.

Monday Bloody Monday

Paintball on Sunday was hella fun. We shot each other up, had pizza for lunch and had a great time. Many thanks to Olly's sister for organising the whole shebang. It was pretty much the same like other paintball places except there was no limit on distance of shooting, so you could shoot someone at point-blank range. Which hurts. A lot. I was peppered with loads of shot yesterday, so now I'm feeling the effects of all the bruises. And my legs hurt a bit. I guess they weren't used to the run-cos-you're-being-shot-at pace, so it's probably just some DMS. What? Oh that! DMS is Duke of Ed speak for Delayed Muscle Stress. Basically, you body gets used to trekking 20km a day with a heavy backpack, and you don't really feel all the sore. But when you get home, sleep and wake up the next day, the pain catches up and you feel really sore.

Today was cool, because we had our Anatomy practical. It went for 2 whole hours. Most of it was basically, filling in some sheets, but it was interesting to learn the names of the structures of the bones, like the trochanter, fossa and sulcus. In the last fifteen minutes, the teacher unveiled an embalmed arm and leg, along with other bits and pieces from the lower and upper limbs. It was disgusting, but we couldn't look away. It was captivating, in a way. This was actually someone's limbs, donated to science so that we could learn. It wasn't indepth, I mean, he just pointed out some of the major muscles. But, yeah, amazing stuff.

Then came a 3 hour gap. It was hella boring because there was nothing much to do. Lunch took up only 20 minutes, and we spent the rest of the time wandering the library, chatting to each other and trading stories. I also met some new friends! So it wasn't that bad. Just long. I happened to meet Sophia, Amanda and Rachel and we traded some stories about our courses. Speech Pathology is so different. It's interesting to know some of the stuff they are learning. I briefly saw Cindy, but she was hurrying into a lecture and I didn't get to say hi. Also saw Kevin Nguyen, who is doing Physio. Nice to know that Seftoners can still run into each other, despite our separate paths.

Off to do some study. Revision is so important. So here's a random picture of some hot chick to compensate the shortish post today.

Chalk it Up, Charlie!

Every driver will have at least one during their driving career. An accident. What's that? Yes, I was involved in a car accident. It has a high speed head-on crash with a small truck, that was also speeding, whereupon both me and the other driver suffered horrendous injuries and the wreck suddenly combusted creating a small mushroom cloud that nearby onlookers reported a nuclear explosion to the police. I sit now in front of the computer screen, typing with my left pinky and right big toe, paralysed from the waist down and swathed in bandages due to the massive amount of skin burns.



Seriously.


Nah, just joking, I just scraped the bumper of the other car in my haste to leave the carpark. Anyway, I apologised to the person and his first response was "Sorry isn't good enough". After resolving this incident and in hindsight, I began to reflect on that phrase. "Sorry isn't good enough". My first thought was "What is?” Massive aggro? Turning back time? Seppuku? "Sorry isn't good enough". Well it could be true. Sorry may not be good enough but what can be done to reverse it? Nothing. One of the simple facts in life is shit happens. When it happens, there is nothing much you can do but accept whatever bother or trouble is causes you and move on. Instead of getting unnecessarily angry or rage about it, something should be done to resolve it. It seems in life that there are more people who cry 'wolf' rather than offer or carry out solutions to stop the wolf from doing more damage.

Example. The QLD government is planning to build more dams to resolve the water crisis. Seems simply enough. However, when they announced it and a list of possible sites, everyone there went psycho and starting to opposing the idea. Now that is within their right. However, what bothers me is that no person seems to offer an alternative solution to solve the water crisis. They could bring up a thousand reasons not to proceed, but they could not bring up one alternative solution. You have to look at the bigger picture. We have a water crisis and something should be done to stop it effects from digging in deeper. My point is that doing something is better than doing nothing.

Since realising this, I have been trying to think more about the big picture. I have been trying not to let incidents get to me personally. Yelling the crap out of the other guy may be satisfying, but it is not productive. It is difficult yes, and life always likes to put the occasional edge into some random incident. All I could do is shrug and say sorry. Because I could do nothing else. And nothing else seems good enough. Except maybe comprehensive car insurance.

Woah, what a rant. It's been a long time since I ranted. To finish off the tale, the other driver called my dad and said the repair to the scratch on his rear bumper was $2000 and if my dad paid $1500, it will be all good, it would be settled privately. My dad offered $1000 but the guy refused. My dad said he would call back. He was a bit suspicious that the scratch would cost so much. He thought it would be a lot cheaper. Anyway, he called NRMA Insurance and went ahead and lodged a claim. Since I'm under 25, we have to pay a $900 excess, and NRMA deals with the rest, the repairs and stuff. My personal thought is that the other driver was still pissed, and tried to rip us off, so he could have some extra cash in his pocket. There's no proof but I'm just speculating. Instead, we pay $900 to NRMA, his car gets repaired for whatever, and he doesn't get extra cash. It was a good plan, but the price was just too high.

So that little incident is chalked up to experience. Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from mistakes. I made a mistake and now I'm wiser. About what happens and what to do. My dad was just happy that it was only a scratch and I wasn't involved in some high speed crash. You can fix cars back to perfect condition, but fixing humans is a lot more complicated.

Will of Iron? Nah, Will of Caffeine.

Tired as hell today. I had three 2-hour lectures. That last lecture was a killer, because the room was fully air-conditioned to the point that the temperature must have dropped to sub-zero temperatures. I got through the day with a well-timed dose of caffeine, but relying on it to give a boost for the long term is probably not a good idea. Perhaps switching it out for Gatorade to rebalance my electrolytes...

The coolest class for me was the "Preperation for Practice". We had the split into different groups in preperation of presenting a slideshow assignment. It was messy, since you had to find your student number, thus finding your group number and then finding the rest of your group. I'm in lucky number 13. So in my group we have Andy, Denise, Jenni and Brendan and our final member is still MIA. All of us are in Diagnostic Radiography, with only Jenni doing Radiation Therapy. They're cool people. But then again, lots of uni people are. It's like some people reached a level of maturity that grants automatic coolness or something.

I bought my labcoat today so I'm ready when we have anatomy practicals. Fortunately, we're only looking at bits and pieces of a human body, not a whole cadaver. If we were dissecting a whole cadaver I would probably gross out.

Paintball on Sunday! My parents gave me the okay, but said I had to finance it with my own money. My reserve levels are still acceptable, so I should be okay. But I should really get a job. I don't want to dip too low (STAGE FIVE MONEY RESTRICTIONS!!!) so a job would be cool. Still searching...

Off to a quick nap.

Your Standard Gun in a Pen

First day of uni was interesting. I didn't start until 2pm and ended at 5pm, so it was going to be a short day, with only an hour break. But that was just the start.

I drove to uni but despite circling around a few times, there was no parking space for me to luckily park into. So I parked about a kilometre away next to this small park. The walk wasn't that bad, and it'll probably count as good exercise.

The first lecture was supposed to be an hour, but only went for ten minutes. Yes, ten minutes. The lecturer mainly told us about the online WebCT/eLearning thingo, and told us about our textbook. So we walked out rather suprised and with much more time to spare than originally intended. We (as in me, David V, Nishan and Mike) visited the campus bookshop to see the price of the textbook and it weighed in at $140. So yes, quite expensive. I could buy it straight off, but I'm waiting for my rewards card so I get a discount. So asian.

We spent time talking a bit, then headed to the library to check it out. Now I now the Cumbo library is probably tiny compared the main campus, but it was still hella cool. All the books, journels and magazines on pretty much all the health sciences offered at Cumbo. I could seriously spend some time just reading. Now I know why we have to get degrees from Uni and can't just go on Wikipedia. Ah well.

Last lecture wasn't really a lecture. It was more explaining on the course outline, and eLearning. Saw My Hoa (Vision Sciences) at that lecture, because a whole bunch of courses do the same on. It did go the near full hour, but that was because the lecturer was being more thorough in explanation. I stopped quickly for a Pepsi and then drove home. It took a bit of time due to traffic and wet weather.

I have to buy a labcoat soon for the practical lessons to check out dead bodies. I've seen pictures of what the dissections look like, but I know it's nothing compared to the real thing. So quietly nervous on that.

Bah! 8am start tomorrow. But I'm out by 3pm, so not that bad I guess.

Doctor Who Season Three starts 31st of March. Watch it.

A Kinda Final Solitare

O-day at Cumberland wasn't, as I had feared, a complete waste of time and effort. The information and tours were very useful, and now I feel more confident at navigating the expanse that is USyd Cumberland. That said, it's still a small campus, and getting lost is almost impossible, unless you have a terrible sense of direction.

I drove to Cumbo and got there at around 8:30am. It was a bit early so I waited until 8:45am before I went in. Then I found out that there were two groups divided based on the courses. So my group didn't actually "start" until 10:30am. I met up with David Vuong (Diagnostic Radiography) and Sophia (Speech Pathology) and we had a quick tour around the campus. My guess was that there were around 1000 undergraduates present. With a total student population of ~5000, Cumbo was big, yet still quite small. The Sefton student population at Cumbo for undergraduates is tiny, compared to UNSW (with all the commerce & engineering people) or USyd main (all those pharmacy people). If I remember correctly...

• Me (Diagnostic Radiography)
  
• David V (Diagnostic Radiography)
• Nishan (Diagnostic Radiography)
• Sophia (Speech Pathology)
  
• Amanda (Speech Pathology)
• Rachel (Speech Pathology)
• Nam (?)
  
• My Hoa (?)
  

Yeah, only eight Seftoners here. But the campus is small, so I guess we'll run into each other. Plus with David V and Nishan with me in Radiography, I guess we can cover each other in note-taking and whatnot.

After all the lectures and information flooding, Nishan, David V, a friend Mike, and I decided to grab some free lunch. Except the line was hella long, and it was certain that food wasn't going ot get into our stomach anything soon, at least not in the next 30 minutes. So we called it a day. The other guys took a bus, while I drove away, still feeling distinctly hungry. I was going to go home, but instead diverted to Parramatta Westfield. Grabbed some food from the food court, and picked up a few new books. I had gone to Parra on Tuesday to buy books as well. My now favourite bookshop is Borders on Lvl 4. It has a massive collection of books, especially sci-fi, my favourite genre. So, including the books bought on Tuesday and yesterday, the list stands at:

• Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
• Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
• Dis Information (and other Wikkid myths) by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki
• Neuromancer by William Gibson

Night Watch and Day Watch are very cool books detailing the uneasy truce between Light and Dark set in post-Soviet Russia. And contains musings on what is good and evil, the boundary between, and where that boundary exactly is. Highly recommended, very great plot and even greater writing. Dis Information basically refutes a number of myths, like there is no adverse reaction when mixing alcohol and most antibiotics. Very cool and interesting read. And Neuromancer is a sci-fi cult classic. The very first cyberpunk novel dealing with possible technology before it was cool and pioneered the dystopia setting. When I say classic, I don't mean those English canon books written all those centuries ago. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a classic, along with the Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson (which includes Neuromancer as the first in the trilogy) and the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Cult classic books right there.

Now my only remaining Uni problems are textbooks cost and transportation. Textbooks costs are be dealt with, but I intend on getting that rewards card so I can get discounts. Transportation is different. Since all available and convienient parking is gone by 9am, and I don't have class until 2pm, parking will be a problem. By the time I get there and find a place to park, I might as well bring a bicycle to get to uni. Public transport is a possible idea, but altogether it'll take an hour or so. Not sure how to solve it, but I'm thinking of driving and parking near Lidcombe station and using the bus to get to the Uni. And home time, I take the bus back to the station and pickup my car. Still in progress there.

Until next time, I have reading to do.