Thursday, 29-May-2003 6:35 PM

My mother and brother are arguing as I type this.

Yesterday's Neurology exam was okay. I felt pretty good during and after it. My partner and I practiced out on the stage in one of the buildings because all the skills rooms were full. This man came past and asked us if we were done with our medical procedure yet :P Actually, he walked past us twice and made comments both times.

Prior to the exam, my brain started getting fuzzy...felt like it was all foggy and grey inside, kind of like how the weather is around 5:30am. I was starting to forget more and more and it was making me panic. Waiting in the corridor with a mass of nervous kids didn't help any. Nor did sitting out there in shorts and a singlet and bare feet. It was absolutely freezing but we had to be appropriately dressed in loose attire or stripped down to underwear. Now there's a dress code you'll rarely come across.

I also had a towel with me (need it for draping the patient in the exam) and for a short moment there I huddled under it and just closed my eyes. Tried to calm my mind and nerves and told myself to just relax and that I know my work. It actually helped a LOT. The exam was fine, I got through a lot more stuff than was necessary and I thought I did it rather well. All the stuff came flowing back into my head when I needed it. I should take my brain out and celebrate :D

Later that day, there was a Rehab revision class on but the lecturer took so long to come that Reebok and I decided to just leave and practice it ourselves. We passed the lecturer on the way out. I hate that...mainly because I'm a really undecisive person and I kept wanting to turn back and go to the revision class. Anyways, Reebok and I went to this museum at our uni that I didn't even know existed. It's a small museum that houses all these human bones and animal bones and stuffed extinct animals. There were also live reptiles and all these fish in big glass cases. At the very back of the museum there was a rectangular couch and we practiced using that. The whole place was empty until this woman came in. She was just looking around and apologised for disturbing us. Half an hour later she re-appears and she was pretty hesistant but decided to interrupt us to ask what we were practicing for. I told her we were doing chiro and Reebok said we had exams. Then she goes to me 'you were doing something just now...on him...it looked very..nice..relaxing..I wouldn't mind...I'd be very interested and inclined to see you.' Hahaha...aww..that was nice of her. Then she left and I think I was smiling to myself. I realised what it was that I was doing on Reebok..it was a PIR stretching technique of his upper trapezius. We have to talk really calm and make the patient relax and she must have heard me saying to him 'take a deep breath in, hold it....okay now breathe out, let it go...relax...let it go..'.

Haha..makes me laugh whenever I think about it.

Today in class, they needed volunteers to come up so the lecturer could demonstrate adjustments on. No one ever wants to go up because if we do, we can't see how to do the set-up and we can't make any notes. Anyhow, I went down today and the lecturer couldn't really do the adjustment on me because I was too flexible. That's kind of embarassing having a million eyes looking at you. I'm wondering if there's anything on my butt, my back, my shoes etc.. I'm lying there facing the other way but after the lecturer does the adjustment, he rolls me over so I'm lying on my back while he's talking to the class. I did the stupid thing of turning my head to look at the crowd when someone asked a question and I could see a million beady eyes reflecting the light. Eeek...scary. He said I was a really bad patient to do that particular adjustment on (lumbar sideposture forearm thrust - anterior) :P

Tuesday, 27-May-2003 8:06 PM

Drip drip.

Just a quick one as I only got home five mins ago and I also have an exam tomorrow. My mom, bro and his gf came to pick me up from uni today and we went to have dinner nearby. Chicken snitchzel was good =) The reason why we ate out was because my brother's gf flooded the kitchen. She was cleaning the bathroom upstairs (the one my bro and sis share..and now her I guess) and didn't realise that the floor kind of leaks into the gap between it and the ceiling of the level below, which is directly above the kitchen. So downstairs, it was dripping bucketloads according to my mom and they had to drill holes into the ceiling to let the water drain. My mom and bro also had to remove the lighting incase it short circuited. We have two different kinds of lights in the kitchen. A long trail of those small lights attached to a rectangular beam which was full of water, and another one of those typical half circle ones, shaped like a big dish/bowl which was overflowing with water too. That is a hellova lot of water. It makes me wonder just how exactly she cleans the bathroom. That just made me think of this episode of Mr. Bean I watched way back in the day, where his idea of quickly painting an entire room consisted of covering all the furniture up and exploding a tin of paint in the room. Maybe she did that and just blasted the walls and sink and everything in between with water.

So we have a dark kitchen with a soggy ceiling that looks like someone has been gnawing at it.

Monday, 26-May-2003 7:21 PM

A short break.

Ahh! So much to do. So little time. It's crazy how fast this year is going...just crazy. But, I've been happier than I've ever been the past five years, in regards to uni work and the students I'm with and the socialising. It's strange because the less time you have to do something, the faster and somewhat better you do it. No messing around, ya know? Last year I was practically home all the time, even weekends and it tooks me eons to get one assignment done. Had a hard time not surfing the net too. This year, things have been more productive and I'm still able to update this pretty often. Not bad eh?:) Okay, shutting up now. Pictures. Blurry however :(

Textbooks! Textbooks! I have about four and a half rows of these. They cost a damn fortune. Chiro books are ridiculously priced. Some are over 300 bucks a piece!

Can't see my desk :( Those sheets in the midground are 3 inches high =( And that's just one corner of my desk.

eeeeeeeeeeeeergh. Actually, this is an old photo. I thought it was fitting.

Ahh...the golden gem. I just stumbled across this last week and it's worked wonders. I used to take it in highschool but forgot all about it.

Sunday, 25-May-2003 8:20 PM

When little achievements go a long way.

Well, well..the weekend is almost over. The other day I was all stressed out and I vented to Salami and he was saying to set little goals and get those done. That way I can feel I accomplished something...and you know, he's right. That works for me...and I can say that, although I'm still so far behind from being up-to-date with everything, I'm proud of what I achieved this weekend. Saturday I was at uni for 4.5 hours practicing some neurology testing for the exam this Wednesday. They also put our Peripheral Skills marks up from the OSCE we did three weeks ago. Seemed as though the whole year did badly. I saw a whole bunch of low 50s (out of 75) marks. Lately I've been checking my marks only at the end of the day so as not to ruin my entire day and prevent me from learning anything in class. This time, I decided to check it out first thing and I'm relieved to say I did well! :) There were only a small handful of marks in the 60s and I was one of them :) The highest was 64. They really are marking tough this year.

Finished two assignments due tomorrow and I also covered two 2-hour lectures of Rehabilitation. Did a bit of Radiology which I've yet to finish right now and also squeezed in some time to do laundry and run on the running machine. Oh...and I was in a cheesy mood and watched Pretty Woman on tv cause it was already on. I love curling up on the sofa outside and vegging out :) I think I spend more time daydreaming than I do actually watching the movie though :P

Almost all the times I've called Salami when it's morning for him, he's not answered because he's still in bed, but he's right there next to the phone. Now I realise this and all I have to do is start talking on the answering machine and he'll probably pick up but I can't get over my fear of those machines, even though it's just him listening. So I decided to just go to bed...or least I tried to but I really wanted to talk to him so I ended up calling him right there semi-complete darkness (had my lavalamp on). We talked for about 50 minutes. I couldn't sleep for an hour after that. I don't know if it was because of all the chinese tea I drank or because I was thinking about him. Maybe a bit of both :) I subconsciously focus on different things when he's talking...I don't mean to, but little things just stand out from time to time. Like how he'll begin to laugh at something and how it's not a chuckle but an actual laugh. It's got that lighthearted air to it and it always lifts my mood. It's infectious too :) Anyhow, I'm blabbering again..just like I was to him..I don't even remember what I was talking to him about...I just remember he was quiet for a while because I didn't give him a chance to speak :)

I got a text message on my phone today from C. She was asking if I got her email and whether I was coming to watch the Matrix today at 2pm. I replied saying I never got her email and I haven't got any replies to the ones I sent her since last year. Told her I couldn't go because I was swamped with work and that my mom had wanted to watch that with me. So I tell her to have a good time and I asked who she was going with. She replies saying L (her bf) and Raymond. I don't know if I'm jumping to conclusions but I immediately thought 'oh man, not again.' This girl has tried numerous times to set me up with guys and I always catch her out. She tries to be secretive about it too but back in highschool she could never hold a straight face and I knew she was up to no good.

Better take my shower because everyone else beats me to it :P

Friday, 23-May-2003 5:07 PM

I hope this weekend goes slow.

It hasn't even been 24 hours and the novelty has worn off. Yeah, I know my brother's gf has good intentions but the dinner last night wasn't that great and there were really long, awkward silences and it was killing me. She even served me and I'm not used to that. I don't like that. Not from a guy, not from a girl, not even from waiters sometimes. I think I had a big talk to Raymond about how I don't like being watched when I eat too. Well anyhow, this adds to it. It was just odd because she told me to eat first and it wasn't even 6pm when I got home, and she had served only MY portion of food and it was just sitting there on the table. It was only the three of us eating (her, my brother and I) and he kept commenting on how great all her dishes were with every single bite he took. Which only made me feel more guilty and pressured into telling her it was great yada yada yada. But in reality, vegetables with garlic and soy sauce - anyone can make :P The ginger chicken was good, except for the fact that I don't like ginger, but hey! Who said I was being fussy? She made chicken and sweet corn soup too, which in my opinion, is a westernised chinese dish.. :P I still don't know what I think about having sugar in my soup. It's a little weird..but it tasted nice :) I think I thanked her three times in total and even one more time before I left the kitchen to go upstairs. It was just too awkward and formal and I don't want to have to do it again tonight.

Err! I was getting at something! It's not about how the dinner tasted, it's about coming home and seeing her in the kitchen AGAIN. I'm a hermit crab, I like my space and privacy. She's in my damn shell and it's starting to make me feel cramped. I think I'm just cranky because I can't be myself. I can't just sing in my completely out-of-tune way, or make myself something to eat (she'd get insulted and not have the balls to say anything but just whine to my brother later probably and then I'd have to hear it from him) or run on the running machine etc etc. Bah. So I'm confined to my inner shell now, that is, my room. Stupid cockatoo outside won't shut the hell up. Half the time I feel completely sorry for it and the other half of the time I feel like strangling it. Now, it's the latter..and I'm wondering how it'd fair if I grabbed it by the legs and whacked it against the cage.......hmm.....is that silence I hear?

Thursday, 22-May-2003 5:46 PM

:D

Excluding all the work I have to do/catch up on for uni, can I just say, could things get any better? I come home and my brother's gf is cooking dinner. A full hardcore, tasty chinese meal, with soup! I love soup :D There was a nice email waiting for me from Salami..it's really nice when guys show their feelings, but in a natural, non-corny way. You know, like when they don't even realise they're being sensitive to your needs and you catch them out and they'll deny it or get embarassed. That's what I'm talking about..or something like that..err..where was I? Oh yeah, and the anonymous surfer emailed me too =) I wasn't expecting that but that was nice. Hello you!

I bumped into Ben the last two days. Today I saw him stumble into our tutorial room looking around and I was actually standing right next to him. So I say hi, and he tells me I'm just the person he was looking for, as though there was intent behind his search...but he didn't seem to ask me anything or have anything important to say. Poor thing...everytime I see him, he's by himself. After the whole Byron Bay incident and the fact that all of us aren't as intelligent as he is and failed something(s) along the way, he's not had many people to hang around. He seems lonely :( I say this also because today he bent his head down for a kiss (on the cheek:P) and yesterday he asked for one and I felt pretty awkward because T was around and I think they hate each other. I just didn't want to seem so chummy with Ben or as though I have some kind of crush on him, which I think everyone in the previous year believed because we were always together. Actually, last year I found out from someone that they all thought we'd been going out for the past four years. That's scary :)

In class, all the set-ups I did were good, according to the tutors..which shocks me..but I'm glad because although it's not boosting my confidence through the roof, it's not dragging me down further, which is important. Very important. I do not want to hit that lowest of lows again. Did I mention I have around 13 exams?

Tuesday, 20-May-2003 9:09 PM

I'm super sleepy. Expect typos everywhere.

Chiro Care Week was yesterday and today. I volunteered an hour of my time (turned out to be two hours) to help out with massage etc. Guess who woke up with dead forearms today :( One of the 5th year students got four massages in a row :P I was doing this lady (sick minded ppl :P) and I could see another woman waiting for a massage. She was like...the incredible hulk, only a mini version. She looked really tense, stocky, broad shoulders, broad body but very short. She seemed pretty stressed out. I didn't want to massage her and I was trying to be sneaky and massage the present woman for as long as I could, so that someone else would finish first and have her. Someone else did finish first but they had been massaging a fellow chiro student so they swapped over and I didn't have much of choice. When I finished with the lady and say goodbye, incredible hulk was already sitting in front of me. She was the most hardest person I'd ever felt. It was like squeezing rocks! Reebok felt like goo compared to her (he came after the woman left). I did three people in a row (about 5 in total)..each for about ten minutes or more, and the moment I got a chance to rest, I had someone rub my arms. They felt bloated and hard :( Hopefully those efforts show in the form of lean, sculpted muscle mass :D hehe...yeah, I doubt it too:P

Salami forgets that I start class late on Tuesdays...he wasn't around online when he usually is, so I decided to call him. The dork. He spent a good deal of the weekend teaching himself how to juggle. Everyone secretly wanted to learn how to juggle when they were little...it just seems a little dorky when your boss asks you how your weekend is and you tell him you learned how to juggle. Anyhow, it was really nice getting to talk. Sometimes you take a simple conversation for granted. To hear him laugh and know that he's smiling. To feel him getting sleepy over the phone..those are the things that stand out to me. Not the actual words that are said although they're important too :) Ahh, I'm just rambling :)

One of the tutors chucked a fit today in class. He was so furious at the large number of students that he said if those students who weren't allocated to this tutorial time didn't leave, then he wasn't going to teach. He shouted somemore and said he was going to walk out. No one left. No one dared to move :P So he said 'see yas then' and walked out. He happened to be tutoring my group too so that left us with no tutor for about ten minutes, until the main coordinator went to get him. We practiced the internal gapping adjustment for the TMJ - that's an in-mouth adjustment. It required gloves and sticking your hand inside your friend's mouth :P

Hey, you think that's bad? We've yet to cover the sphincter reflex.

Tuesday, 20-May-2003 0:46 AM

I get paranoid when I see someone coming here through anonymiser.com ! Stranger, reveal yourself!

Sunday, 18-May-2003 11:09 PM

Maybe that's what fabric softener is for.

Once again it feels as though the weekend has slipped from right under my fingers. Actually I did quite a lot today. I'm partially exhausted. Vacuumed the house, did three loads of laundry (not all mine!), ironed my clothes and helped make dinner. Wrote up a whole bunch of notes too. I'm a big re-writer. I know there's not much point to rewriting notes because you're basically making a carbon copy, only neater...but I just can't help it. I think it helps me learn. I hope so anyway :P

The other day, when Salami was getting some food, someone asked him if he was Jamaican. That cracked me up seeing as he once referred to himself as 'white as whitebread'. He said no, and the guy asked him how he knew about goat curry and then said 'that's good, mon'.

Hehe..alright I'm curious...do people normally iron their doona covers? (The thing that goes over your thick blanket incase you're wondering what I'm talking about:P) Mine is so crinkly, you can't even tell what the design on it is =(

Sunday, 18-May-2003 0:29 AM

If I had super powers...

Just got back from watching Xmen 2! Went for coffee with mom just before it...mmm, cafe mocha...I love those :D I liked the movie...maybe I would have liked any movie tonight...I think it was about time I got out of the house. I've been antisocial for weeks and so caught up in all the stuff I haven't done.

This morning my chiro told me that I looked quite upbeat - a change from the normal stressed out self that I am. I don't know what it was..couldn't have been the weather because it was still raining (has been for days and days on end). It might have something to do with this May 9th entry though. I remember looking up from the table (I was lying face down on it), grinning at him and I said 'it could be fake.'. I have no idea where that came from. It wasn't fake though...I was really quite damn happy this morning. I got to talk to Salami for a few hours and I got some work done too.

My brother's girlfriend...ahh....she's just so quiet and shy and invisible. By invisible, I mean this - I stepped on her today. I didn't even know she was standing behind me. We were all watching this vcd thing my mom cut of my grandparents anniversary and some other things and didn't know she was watching as well. Well I did at first because my brother and her were there but since she follows him wherever he goes and I heard him walk off, I assumed she did too. That's when I took a step back and bumped right into her. I apologised and said I didn't know she was there. She sort of just laughed and stood back a bit. Five seconds later she gets my attention and goes 'oh, you did not know I was standing here?'. Uhm..yes..hello? Didn't I just say that?

Hey that just reminded me...the other day I was getting food at the cafeteria. Some of it isn't self-service...and I wasn't sure if they weighed the food (because some sections go by weight) or if it was a set price. So I ask the girl, 'does this go by weight?', to which she replied 'huh!?' and then I asked, 'do you weigh the food?' and she says 'yes' about one second before I asked, ' or is it a set price?' and she quickly said 'yes' to that too. I should have asked if she understood english. That was pretty mean of me :D Ok ok..sorry :P

Hey Lynn, I'm too lazy to go to your site and tell you this personally, so I thought I'd just share it here. I remember reading some grotesque thing you wrote about one of your friends owning a snake and wanting to take pictures of it swallowing mice/rats. I once owned a whole cage full of mice, so I'm all for vegetarian snakes:P Speaking of gross...Ben owns a child's python and it sheds twice a year apparently. Two years ago he thought it was amusing to hide the shedded skin in my schoolbag. Anyway..back to what I was going to say...I stumbled across this guy's page and he has a picture of his snake swallowing a mouse...cept it's dead. So I guess that would only half amuse you :D I actually have a newspaper cutting of a snake swallowing a man whole but I can't remember where I put it...some other day perhaps.

I just remembered something else...while we're on the topic of skin and shedding...my family stayed with this couple a few years ago when we were in Cairns for a holiday and they owned all these frogs. It was like their 'children' and they roamed around the house freely. They shed their skin once every few days and it's just like snot, if you roll it up in your fingers.

I'm busting to say this. I really don't like what they did to Halle Berry's hair in the movie. It just looks..like a mop. I think if they really had to do her hair white/grey, I'd prefer it short. Anyways, she has super powers, so I won't insult her beyond this :D

Saturday, 17-May-2003 0:54 AM

Sleepy thoughts

Whenever he mentions wanting a dog, I think about us staying together in this house, with two dogs of our own. Thing is, I always imagine the same house with the same setting, in the same location. I wonder whether the future house I live in will actually look like what I imagined all these months. I wonder if he'll be in the picture too. It scares me...the thought of a future without him.

Thursday, 15-May-2003 7:31 PM

196 pages and no papercuts!

I just spent the last 5 hours out with my mom. At the mall, at Officeworks making four copies of Neurology notes for everyone and back at the mall having dinner. I tell ya, photocopying takes so damn long. Especially when you're trying to be a cheapass and do it all yourself. Plus I needed to bind the sheets and there were only two people working there and about 50 random people needing help.

I'm in need of extra hours of sleep but looks like that won't be happening tonight. Yesterday was a super long day (8am to 8pm) because we had an extra 3 hour class for 25 of us who hadn't done Muscle Testing the year before. It was great...very fast-paced but learnable. It was just that most of us were brain-dead...I know I was absolutely dying. I almost fell asleep (again) driving home :( Came home to a good three hour finale of Survivor =) I was rooting for Matteo! I thought he looked pretty damn hot after gaining all his weight back :D Mmm....new flavor of the month perhaps?:D

Took a photo of some photos (hence not the best quality) from the Easter Show back in April. Nothing major...most of them weren't included as they were rather embarassing - the guy who came with us (my cousin's uni friend) just had to do the peace sign in every photo. WHY do people do that?! WHY?!?!!

Scroll over for description. Click for larger image!

Wednesday, 14-May-2003 7:07 AM

The sky is a blanket of grey

Ugh. It is pelting down with rain. I miss those old days back in primary and highschool when they used to call my mom up early in the morning to say that school was cancelled for the day. She'd creep into my room and whisper that in my ear and tell me not to get up. Sigh...no such luck here....class is on rain, hail or shine :( Off I go..

Monday, 12-May-2003 11:59 PM

The mother-son talk has begun and it happens to be going on in the room right next to me. At least there isn't any swearing or yelling. I just don't want to be lying in bed and able to make out the conversation clearly while I try and get to sleep.

I think the door just slammed. All I hear are the crickets outside.

Monday, 12-May-2003 10:52 PM

Not particularly fond of Mondays.

I went to buy C a b'day present today at the mall during my break. Couldn't really find much and I was staaarving so I ended up eating and while sitting by my lonesome, Mr Confident and T busted me. I told them I was getting a b'day present and they asked if it was for Joey. Then it hit me - I'd missed Joey's b'day! By over a MONTH. What's worse is that I've bumped into her several times during the month too. I feel awful about it :( I've just been so caught up in things *I* have to do. All ME stuff. Sheesh :(

Some other news...my brother...ahh my brother. He never seems to learn and it breaks my heart because I see him try and fail time and time again. With advancing in life and trying to change his lifestyle and get things going right. Another speeding fine. This time not caught on camera, but pulled over. By THREE police cars. The fine is $1500 and he might lose his license. My sister said he looked so miserable today that he just had to leave the house for the night, with his gf. He wanted to go to the movies but he didn't have a single cent and asked my sister if she had any free movie tickets. She ended up giving him some discount ones. Man...I do wish that things could go better for him...there's no way he can get this money unless my sister and I lend it to him. My mom was telling me in the car today about how she was going to tell him to move out etc etc and I'm sure that if she heard about this speeding fine, that would be one string too many to pull and if he heard about what she has to say about getting a job and moving out regardless, I think he'd crumble and lose it even more.

:(

Sunday, 11-May-2003 0:12 AM

It has to be better than here.

Sometimes, I just want to be wherever you are, Grandpa.

Friday, 09-May-2003 3:37 AM

Shut the hell up you chirping bug!

Ugh! I am in desperate need of sleep. The last two nights I didn't have enough so I thought I'd sleep early this time around and now look - 3:37am! Why?! Because there's a freakin baby cricket in my room!#^$&^ I'M TRYING TO SLEEP DAMN YOU. It was incorporated into my dream too..I thought it was someone tapping a glass rod on my mug but it was a warning sound about not forgetting something in my Neurology exam. Then the sound moved around my head...as though it was behind my head..and then in front, from the other side of my room. Damn cricket. I didn't want to kill it so I tried the sticky tape method but now I have no idea where it went :( I think it's under my bed. I'm pretty sure it is and now..if I turn the lights out and go back to bed, it'll start up again with it's constant, annoying, ear splitting chirp. GRRRRR...I'm NOT happy.

Thursday, 08-May-2003 8:31 PM

Teeth chattering experience.

Last night I was taking a shower and the water went from hot to freezing. My teeth were chattering. Not only that, but my parents finished my bodywash and they're also depleting my shampoo AND someone used my loofah thingy (ew!). I thought it was my sister taking her shower in the other bathroom but I later found out the gas water heater outside had the flame blown out. Hmm..going back to the part where I thought my sister was in the other shower...it really pisses me off when people take their shower while I am, knowing full well that someone is already taking their shower. It doesn't happen often but when it does, I get damn well pissed off and I make sure I turn the handle on the shower in every direction possible, offering a blend of hot and cold spurts to my enemy across the hall.

Anyhow, Dad and I went outside to reset the gas thing. You'd think it would be a simple matter of just relighting the flame but it's not. There's a full page of instructions you have to follow. Turn the knob to the off position, wait five minutes for the unburnt gas to escape, turn knob to the ignitor image, depress for 20 seconds, keep it depressed while pressing the ignitor for up to 40 seconds, release knob and wait 20 seconds. If the pilot light is not on, turn the knob to the off position and wait another 5 minutes and repeat the steps all over again. We did this FOUR times before the thought occured to me that earlier that day my brother may have turned the gas meter off at the front of the house earlier that afternoon. He had. Ass! We wasted 45 minutes :( 45 of my precious sleeping minutes!

The worst part was having to go out the back with torchlights and squeeze yourself between the wall of the house and the fence - which had centipedes all over it :( we counted around 5 in a meter of fencing. When you shine the light at them, their zillion, billion legs look all shiny :(

Wednesday, 07-May-2003 7:44 PM

I thought this was rather bizzare. My mom and bro went grocery shopping the other day and came across this. They decided to buy two of them just for fun. Maybe send it in to Rove or something :D Click for a larger image!

Wednesday, 07-May-2003 6:53 PM

Woah! Yours is so big!

Bushpig had this special tape measure he brought in today and was measuring everyone's biceps...mine was around 23cm or something ..haha :) I should work on that. In class though, some of the guys behind were playing around with it and I happened to turn around and catch one of them measuring their ahem :P Two seconds after that, the tape measure actually broke...so uhh..perhaps his thing was so big it busted the tape :P

A few people were trying to guess my age too...it's strange. It was practically agreed upon that I look no older than 19. Honestly now people! Not that I mind, I guess...it would just mean I'm somewhat of a brainiac since I've been at uni for five years :D Speaking of braniacs...we used to have two 11 yr olds in Biology in first year....back in the day you almost felt like telling them to go outside and play with their marbles or something. Anyhoo...some semi good news I guess...got my Orthopaedics mark back. I was extremely hesistant to go check it on the noticeboard when it was pinned up. I waited until the end of the day, therefore I wouldn't have to be completely bummed out during class. I got 17/20 which is pretty good. A lot of people got higher though =( My partner got 13...I'm a little shocked about that. I'll bet she is too. We had a pretty hard marker though...well..he intimidates me and most other people.

I'm really embarassed to say that I haven't been keeping up with any world news etc. What's everyone up to? Is this war over? Ugh..I shouldn't ask that...it makes me look really ignorant. But I am =( I've been busy studying!

Tuesday, 06-May-2003 10:37 PM

Spot test

The spot test tonight was pretty okay. I'm afraid to say it was good and then find I did poorly. As usual, they were running late and my 7pm exam turned out to be 7:40pm. I think I'd practiced to the point where I was just so sick of it. Wanted to get in and out of there and go home. I got a pretty good patient. Didn't know anyone allocated in my group but I guess that's good practice for me. The guy that I was 'patient' for was pretty nervous. He kept doing the wrong set-up and the supervisor would tell him to re-read the card again. It sucks because you're sitting there wanting so much to help him out but you can't say a thing. My parents and bro picked me up and we headed nearby to eat at a chinese restaurant. Why is it that when I've got little time to spare, people take so long to decide what food to order?? We had this crazy hotpot dish which tasted plain weird. Yam and chicken cooked in something like a Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup or something...no one finished it =/

On the way home, my mom almost ran over this dog that was running all over the road. My brother and I drove back to get it but it kept running away from me. Dumbo dog. It was this scrawny, dirty white maltese terrier. I used to love those dogs but now...I don't know. They're like big rats with curly hair.

Monday, 05-May-2003 10:27 PM

It's all psychological.

Well it's been another busy few days. Got a spot test tomorrow (practical test) for Peripheral Skills. It's scary. We have three minutes to run through 5 adjustment set-ups and 3 minutes to do two motion palpations and static palpation....ok, I understand this is where everyone skims along for something more interesting to read...:P

Well lets see...Saturday I met up with my friend to practice for the skills test that's tomorrow. Had a chiro appointment that morning and I whinged to my chiro for about half an hour...he got me a little teary because it's hard for me to talk about how I've been consistently doing bad without feeling some sort of self-pity. I told him I wanted to be a housewife and he got annoyed at me. You didn't waste five years to become an overqualified housewife. Don't say that.

So here it is, from his perspective and now mine, since I agree with him. I DO know my stuff, I can do it all, it's just the mental part I can't conquer. Like he said, he sees boxers and elite athletes who are great at what they do but they buckle and it's all pyschological.

Play the game. Play THEIR game. Pretend you're preparing for a major stage role and just act for the moment.

Sunday morning, Reebok came over and we (my sister, dad, Reebok and I) headed into the city, back to Wharf 8 where Superstar Leo had docked that morning. I had asked Reebok if he wanted to go on board the ship to have a look around since he'd been asking me for years about the ships. We met my sister's bf there and all of us got brought around by this guy. Even though I've been on it before, a lot of it was new to me. I can't believe I didn't make full use of all the facilities there. Running track, golf driving net, basketball court, games room, sauna, gym, cinema, hairdresser, beauty salon, bars..the works.

It was funny, looking at Reebok's face. He was like a little kid that was beyond amazed. Sort of like staring at Disneyland for the first time...you've been excited to go and nagging your parents for years but the moment you step foot in there, your jaw drops, your eyes widen and you're frozen in a minute's silence due to pure amazement.

We ate on board as well..there's a whole bunch of restaurants but they were closed since everyone had boarded off the ship. We had a buffet and the dessert was deeelicious. I was so full but the dessert section looked so good, I couldn't resist. I had a cup of chocolate mousse, a big slice of blackforest cake (I've been craving this for over a month!), a small slice of tiramisu cake, a slice of watermelon and some kuay (chinese dessert). hehe :D Hey, I had to stock up for the week since I hardly eat when I'm at uni.

After that, Reebok and I were doing our assignment at my place. Mr Nice called him and asked him to go to the driving range so we spent about two hours doing the assignment and then we both split. I headed into Darling Harbour to catch the last hour of the Mind, Body & Spirit Festival. I'd been dying to go and just counting down the days since it started four days ago. I'm so glad I went! I got this whole body aura picture taken...which was amazing. I'm not surprised by what it showed..actually, the lady interpreting the colors was rather amazed. Apaparently I make a really great healer. So that's reassuring given what I'm studying.

I also got this Qigong massage done. It was great. I've always been curious about the whole energy thing and I actually felt it when the man touched my fingers. I had my eyes closed at first and it felt like static electricity. Shocked the crap outta me so I opened my eyes to see if he was holding some kind of electrode, but he wasn't. His energy was pretty damn strong. When it was all over, I still felt my fingers tingling for over an hour.

Mom flew in this morning and we found out tonight that my uncle from Melbourne was flying in so we met up with him for dinner. Had crab. I love crab :D They say I'm a true blue aussie because I go for the claw...well it was actually because I said I like any part of the crab that has lots of meat and miminal effort to get the meat (who doesn't!?!? Crazy chinese people). I just don't see the point in making all the effort of breaking the shell, pulling all the tiny cracked shell bits off just for a teeny piece of crabmeat. So yes, that means I like breast meat when it comes to chicken :P

Ugh, ok..back to practicing for this test tomorrow. Gotta put on the biggest show of my life tomorrow.

Friday, 02-May-2003 5:05 PM

Warning: it's a long one!

Alright. So an account of the past few days..

Monday night, I circled the domestic airport a few times, trying to find my dad. Third time around I decided to park and walk around to find him. He kept telling me he was at Terminal 1 but that doesn't actually exist. That's the international terminal which is a few minutes drive away. Finally spotted him standing at Terminal 3. We were on the phone to each other at the time and I was telling him to look straight across the road where I was standing. Taxis kept thinking I was waiting for a ride. It was great though. He was happy to see me and I him. On our way out, we realised we had to pay for parking before leaving, not during, so we walked everywhere looking for one of those auto-pay booths (which was inconveniently on every other level but the one we were parked at). When we were leaving, I asked my dad for the ticket because he took it from me but he kept insisting he didn't have. This went on for a while and I ended up having to reverse the car and park it by the side. Here, we began a light-hearted blame and denial argument about the parking ticket. I KNEW he had it but he couldn't remember taking it from me so kept insisting he hadn't and wouldn't really look for it. So I get out of the car and open the backseat, to look there (where his coat was). But before I got to it, lo and behold, my dad pulls the ticket out of his back pocket.

Thought we were going to go for a nice father-daughter dinner thing but I could tell he was too tired so we headed home.

Wednesday, we all needed to be somewhere so there was a shuffling about of who was taking the cars. My dad took the one I usually drive and my brother was using his, to drop me at uni and then do whatever he had to do. The cruise ship, SuperStar Leo had arrived and my dad had to be at Darling Harbour to talk to important people and the media. I really wanted to go see the ship and everything else. But I knew it would be too much hassle ...err..hard to explain but it had to do with the cars (I knew my dad preferred not to take my brother's car and vice versa with my bro so I thought I'd make things easier. Plus I can't really drive manual - my bro's car). Anyhow, I finished uni at 3pm that day but said my bro could pick me up at 4pm so he could have time to do his things. 3:45pm I decide to send him a text message (which I realised later was sent to his old number that's still saved on my phone) saying I was going to go wait for him in the usual spot. I sit on the most uncomfortable, cold, jagged rock and wait. 4:25pm I call him and ask where he is. There's a pause and he trying to say he was on the way, or so I thought. I ask him exactly where he is and I find he's heading into the city (the complete opposite direction and the same distance away from my house compared to uni). Then I find he's not heading into the city, he's already there, about to go on the cruise ship because my dad had called him to say that he could go up and look around (with his gf) but only if he got into the city within the next 10-15 minutes. So he completely forgot about me.

This has happened numerous times. Am I that forgettable?!?! Sheesh!

My mom had called earlier and told me to catch a cab home. Didn't have enough money for that. Thought about catching the bus home but realised I didn't have my house keys - gave them to my brother that morning. Ugh. So in the end, my dad left work (in the city) and came to pick me up. All in all, I waited 2.5 hrs. I was that dumb girl sitting on the dumb rock until sundown. You know, kind of like those nature documentaries where they show flowers opening and then closing as the time went from morning to night. Except, there were no opening and closing of petals here, just droopier eye-bags and greater furrowing of my brows. Grr. That was a long and very cold day.

But that wasn't all. My dad was super nice to me. I can't even comprehend it because I don't recall him being like that, ever...maybe when I was really little. I told him about how I had really wanted to go into the city to see the ship and he said we could still go (it was leaving at 8pm for Melbourne). So we went into the city =) My sister had called me while I was driving and she had wanted to go see the ship too and said she'd meet us there and we could all have dinner together. My dad and I were there for quite a while. I called my sister to see whereabouts she was and the first two times I got this automated message saying she was currently on the phone. When I did get through, she yelled at me for calling while she was driving this truck (for work) and it was manual and she was alone etc. That almost got me. I think my eyes welled up because I'd already had such a crappy day. I hadn't really eaten all day too and it was already 7pm. Once again, my dad was super nice. I think he could tell I was pretty upset and he sounded cheerful and asked if I wanted to get a drink and some food from this mini cafe thing that was there at the wharf. He practically insisted so we ended up having hot chocolate and I had a small custard tart thing =) My sis did call back later but I didn't really want to talk to her, so handed the phone to my dad and apparently she told him to tell me she was sorry for sounding so stressed out. Eh whatever, she was a bit of an ass to me when she got to the wharf too. Her bf came along as well. Took some pics but they're not very good :(

Thursday I was at uni from 8am until almost 7pm. We got feedback forms back from two practical tests we did before the holidays. I did badly. I don't want to talk about it. Practiced a little bit for the next test, then stayed back to do spinal screens on anyone who wanted one - my uni was holding this Postgraduate Fair, which hardly anyone came for. It was either the weather, or it just really sucked. But it wasn't too bad. There was a big tent outside with beer and wine and some tidbits =D We got a free shirt for helping out too. Cept the only time I'll ever be wearing it from now on, is to bed, since it almost comes down to my knees!

Today we had a new lecturer for Rehab. Since daylights saving, no one has changed the clocks in this particular lecture room so it was still an hour ahead. Everyone knew about this except the new lecturer of course and so he rushed through thinking he was running out of time :D Sometimes it's great when the whole class works together by not speaking up :D I needed the break. Was so tired, even though the lecture was great (it was on paediatric chiropractic).

We had a free bbq held for our year because we won some kind of competition for getting the most students to sign up to be a member of the chiro club at uni. It's not really fair because we have the biggest year too. At this bbq, there were two representatives from Heine (medical equipment company) and they had some free things to give away. They said whoever was drinking a Red Eye drink (it's just like Red Bull) and had a sticker on the bottom, won something. I looked under mine and thought, gees, I don't have a sticker but I have this tacky looking thing stuck to it. It was just like a white rectangle with 4 black zeros on it. At first I didn't do anything but decided to go up anyway and ask if that was the sticker. Hah! It was! I was expecting a real sticker..you know, the kind that have a picture or colors on it :P So I got a free Heine Pentorch! They say it's worth about 50 bucks. Not bad :D I have an 8 dollar one :( Anyhow, that's great..that's what I get for being boring and not drinking a beer :P

Also, today my feet were the talk of the town :D ehhee..everyone loves my toes ..I even convinced them I was a former foot model. A foot fetish model. Hehe :D

On another useless note, the other day, my friend and I were walking towards the library we saw this cute little girl with really blond hair, staring at a tree. She was about 3 years old. Her dad was with her. He was aussie and looked pretty young. As we were passing by, she saw me and just looked at me. Then this big smile broke across her face and she pointed at me and shouted out 'mommy!' as though to say 'there you are!' and started coming at me. My initial thought was..uhh hello, I'm chinese, can't you tell??? Now I know genetics does allow this happen, whereby the kid can have all the dominant genes from one parent, but I always assume it's unlikely. I just laughed and said 'noope' and looked at her dad, who strangely, didn't say anything about it, or stop his kid from running to me.

Ahh anyhow, I realise I don't lead a very interesting life. I have to go pick my dad up later - he's flying in from Melbourne. I'm glad it's the weekend...in a way.

Thursday, 01-May-2003 7:41 PM

Still around.

I am exhausted. So much to do and just not enough time, or concentration span. Dad was in town and now he's in Melbourne but he'll be back on Saturday. This will just be a blurb because I honestly cannot think straight ...my eyes were closing while driving home just now. I have a bad habit of doing that lately. Plus not eating all day is taking a toll on my body. Anyone know of a good pick-me-up exercise or pressure point or essential oil? I'm trying hard not to resort to a Red Bull or V here. I know what I really need is a warm bed and sleep ..I've been freezing my ass off lately but more about that later. No time for sleep though. Test next week and I know nothing :(

The cruiseship Superstar Leo docked in Sydney yesterday. My dad was giving a speech on it too. Didn't get to see that but I went later in the night and took some pics so I'll get those up one of these days.

Argh. This is all over the place. My apologies.