What began as a flurry of posts in the beginning of the year has gently trickled down to the occassional update, or in my case, a hiatus for a couple of weeks. Welcome to Uni! Everything stepped up a gear and all those talks about self-responsibilities become a reality nightmare. All those skipped lectures and nights surfing the net or TV has come back to bite you in the butt. Straight after the Easter break, I had an exam (admittedly a small one) which I'm happy to say I did well in. Then a week or two later, I had to hand in an assignment, which most of us started the night before. This is incredibly scary considering how we're all med students and as much as I don't like to generalize people, I have to admit, med students are nerds and yet we were still procrastinating till literally the last minute. And then, just 5 days later, we had another exam (this monday), which I'm sad to say, I bombed it. Moral of the story, this ain't high school. There won't be any teachers poking your back demanding to see a draft or hand you out revision sheets regarding the exam. It's all you. you. you.
Oh well, life goes on.
Apart from the hectic studies, which I'm pleased to report has eased off a fraction since I've done biology and this week is on genetics, life has been good so far. While we've pretty much established our circles, everybody in our cohort is still pretty much lost and happy to make new acquiantances. Also, we've expanded our hangout place from the library to... the med common room, union house and such. We've taken trips down to Melbourne central, went to the night market (which was awesome, by the way!) and done other fun things that are outside the medical realm. The only thing I have to complain about is all my friends are med students. I don't even know where the arts, science, commerce etc. students hang out or what they do. But hopefully, that'll change... eventually.
Living in Melbourne is just getting easier and easier. The public transport takes me everywhere (and it's pretty much all zone 1 unlike Brisbane, which has 5 or 6 ridiculous zones), shopping is fun and if I can't be stuffed to cook, I can grab a bite to eat pretty much everywhere.
Course-wise, the med course has been pretty awesome so far. Two weeks ago, we got to look at cadavers (donors who have donated their bodies to the University of Melbourne to aid our learning). The atmosphere was slightly gloomy when we entered the lab. For me, it was because this was a reminder of our own mortality, something that I unfortunately receive every morning as my tram goes past the Melbourne cemetery on my way to uni. This Friday, we'll get our first taste of surgery as we try our hands on cutting up the cadavers.
My rambling has finally come to a closer and I think that's all I've got to say for the time being. So until next time!
P.S. Just a note of interest. I went into the city to grab something to eat (because I'm sick and tired of cooking and I'm sick and tired of eating my own cooking). When I came out to catch the tram home, I was surprised to find all the major streets of the CBD (including Flinders, Swanston etc.) blocked ... by yellow taxis! Apparently, there was a taxi driver strike because today, a taxi driver was killed. So they were holding a protest holding signs saying "Stop Killing Taxi Drivers". All the taxi drivers barraccaded the streets and sat together outside the Flinders St Station intersection with Fed Square, filling out literally the entire space. There were police, onlookers (with cameras and mobile phones) and the city was in chaos because nobody could get out. I ended up having to catch the train home (literally the only thing that is still moving) and only just got home. They're probably still there now. You guys will probably hear about it in the news tomorrow... Was anybody else there to witness the event? It's sad how in this day and age, things like this still happens in society.
Yup, as usual I'm on a computer in the Student Union Lab doing my usual internet activities (checking my blog, reading online articles and checking my email), and I just thought that it would be totally awesome if I posted a blog right now just to further procrastinate on the catch-up Psych work I've been meaning to do.
I'll just start with a rant - today I had an Aural Test and it was basically pretty easy since I have near-perfect pitch. I didn't do any preparation before hand as it was listening to rather simple intervals and melodic and rhythmic dictation which I didn't have a problem with.
HOWEVER, the piano was slightly sharp. To me, as a perfectionist with near-perfect pitch and used to 440Hz tuning at home on the piano AND the cello (thank god for electronic tuners), it really puts me on edge. Some of the major chords I was listening to sometimes sounded minor and my tutor went through the arpeggios (the whole chord is played first, then as an arpeggio, then as a whole chord again) quickly so I didn't really have time to listen to each note. I can't really blame anyone - piano tuners apparently cost a fair amount of money to hire, and considering the thousand or so pianos around the whole University...that's just a lot of money. Not to mention that pianos are usually only tuned once a year.
So I'll just hope that I still did well :D
On another note, my mum had an old friend from University around for dinner a few weeks ago and they were commenting on how fashion in today's society has stepped up a notch. The friend went on to describe the camouflage pants she picked up at an op shop and how she didn't really care about what she wore back in her Uni days.
I can definitely tell you people that I spend at least five minutes every morning wondering what I should wear and how to mix it up. Today I'm just sporting a black jumper over a white polo with black jeans and white volleys. My dress sense is fairly simplistic, since I like to focus on colours and simple detail rather than throwing on anything that's readily accessible.
I find it interesting how society has changed and our tastes have evolved, although I can't fathom a solid reason why such has happened.
Apart from that, my brother's away on Music Camp from Monday-Wednesday, so I should probably be dancing in joy at the fact that I'll have the computer to myself tonight and on Tuesday night and can do homework without interruptions. It doesn't help that I have to help Mum navigate to the campsite on Wednesday evening (it's my night off! Grrrrr), not to mention that a family friend's coming over tonight just to get her son to play a little cello with me.
Remember how I told you that I went to the Game On exhibition last Thursday (missing out on a Psych lecture and H2H tute in the process)? Well, to get in for ten dollars, I had to show them my concession card, right? The concession card that I shoved in my jeans' pocket straight after instead of in my wallet like I should have, so eager I was to...well, get my 'game on.' Haha.
The very same concession card that, when I decided to go to the city this fine Sunday morn to see the Egyptian and Near Easten Gallery for a research assignment, was nowhere to be found. Oh well, I thought to myself. I'll just go to the NGV and I'll get another concession card form from Flinders Street Station. No big deal. What are the chances that a ticket inspector is going to ask for my ticket today, of all days?
Except that when I got to Flinders Street Station, the line for Customer Service was so long that I decided to go to the NGV first and then get a concession card form from Melbourne Central Station on my way home instead. Except that one stop after I'd gotten onto the tram, heading toward MC from Flinders Street, who should appear but the Yarra Trams ticket inspectors themselves. Well, shit, Viv. I thought. Nobody usually asks you for a concession card anyway since they usually assume you're younger. And anyway, I told myself, I'm sure they're reasonable people and, when you tell them that you lost your concession card just three days ago and that you're headed to Melbourne Central to get yourself another form, they'll understand and let you off with a warning, since this is, after all, your first offence.
Well, guess what. I have 28 days to pay off a whopping $160.00 fine.
And, by the way, they also asked me what colour my concession card was. And I said red because, heck, it sure as hell looked red to me. I'm not that awesome with differentiating between colours, no sirree, and sometimes I even get mixed up between blue and purple. But no, a red ticket, I've been informed, means that it's expired. Well, I'm SORRY people, but the 2006 red and the 2008 pink that they used for the concession cards look the same to me!
The funny thing is that I'd only just finished helping a friend of mine draft some totally BS story for the Department of Infrastructure about her own fine. (She got off on a warning, by the way.)
The moral of the story, kids is:
1) Don't skip class. It will definitely be far more trouble than it's worth. If I'd just gone to that lecture and tutorial, all of this would never have happened, and I probably wouldn't even be sick.
2) Always, always carry your concession card (or a full fare ticket) because those inspectors will pounce. They've got to bring food home to their families somehow, don't they? They can smell fear, believe me. :P
3) Those people on Yarra Trams should die. Learn to drive.
By the way, even though I'm complaining, I guess I can see where they're coming from. I mean, it is their job and I didn't have a concession card, and to them I probably just looked like yet another person trying to cheat the system. But, heck, I'm a good person! I try to return my library books on time and, when I don't, I pay my fines! I give money to the poor, and always keep spare change ready for whenever people come around with those overpriced fundraising boxes of chocolates!
Le sigh...the only thing to do now is pay that darn fine and laugh. :)
That's my story for the day. Over and out!
By the way, since I lost my concession card, I'm now going to have to fill out the form for a new one...does anybody know where I go to get a signature for that bit where it requires some university official or whatever to sign it?
Since it has been quite some time since ive attempted to make a post, (my sincerest appologies :) )i thought i might fill you in on some of the details...
1. I am uterly confused as to how i can go so bloody well in weekly assignments and the like, and yet perform so miserably on the mid semester tests. Although I did only lose 1 mark for the ridiculously easy chem midsemtest (too bad it was only out of 12)!!! It seems I'm struggling to remember things for more than a week at the moment. It must be all those long breaks where i just read the paper, or vogue, in the rowdy - who seriously pays $9000 for a trench coat?
2. Moving right along, I have found myself pondering lately why I struggled with chem in highschool, and found bio a breeze; but as soon as I get to uni, im drowning in biological terms/names (impossible to remember them all) but chem just makes sense! Would someone care to enlighten me?
3. I joined facebook the other day, and yes i know im a bit slow, but i was deliberatley not joining so i wouldn't waste countless hours doing nothing. Unfortunately, it seems thats exactly what I've been doing ever since. But really, who can resist all those wonderful quizzes, and seeing what old school friends are up to?
4. Welcome to the other new bloggers. Apparently there's a blogger meet-up?
5. Oh, and one other thing: are blueberies not the best snack for essay writing? Must be all those antioxidants...
Have fun :)
(I just noticed, why do the emoticon thingies in wordpress look particularly evil? Damn wordpress!)
Ever have one of those remarkably bad days? Days so bad that you find yourself encountering misfortunes you didn't so much as consider in your mental preparations. I am a rather accomplished pessimist and I am very rarely surprised when bad things happen but this morning around 8am when I found myself covered in salsa I was a little shocked. I didn't even try to do anything ambitious with the salsa; I just wanted the jar open. Then it got worse when I realized how little I have actually accomplished this long weekend relative to how much I must do before Monday. It is seeming like I am going to have to struggle through every moment of today, i.e., the graphing program that would make my life so much easier is mercifully still installed in my computer but my 30-day free trial has run out and I couldn't buy a license if I wanted to because my weekly internet allowance ran out somewhere around last Wednesday. I just want to be asleep again. I find myself having dreams about end of semester when I just sleep all day. I am having dreams about sleeping, that is awfully pathetic. Anyways, it is 10 in the morning; this day does have potential for improvement. This day will improve and I will make it to the Kaki King show at the Corner Hotel tonight because Kaki King is the coolest of cool chicks and I would love to see her live. That was a vague attempt at optimism, by the way.
Hope everyone is coping if not flourishing...
The week that was----week 7.
Is it just my imagination or is it really only me in this blog who does not have to bother about pracs/essays? Coz right now, I really can't relate with the people who are busy writing (or procrastinating with) their essays. So then what has kept me busy these days---busy enough to not write a post in quite a long time? This week, I had 4 assessments: 2 tests(supposed to be 3, but one got moved to next week), 1 homework and 1 project. I guess I did alright, on all of them... and I actually have the whole supply-demand graphing thing down pat(sort of). Next week, I would have a group site visit PLUS a site/s analysis (taken up during the next few weeeks) whose write-up is due on week 11. On the breadth subject front, my breadth-subject-cum-potential-candidate-for-3rd-language is getting harder and harder. My pronunciation is still "nicht so gut"(ok fine, i admit that's just a euphemism. my pronunciation is really bad at the moment). Ditto on spelling.
This week too, I just realised that my regular 3 hour lunch break is making me more of a procrastinator and of a lazy bum. Got a homework for 2:15? Do it during lunch break. Got a test for 2:15? Study for it during lunch break. Need to get some reading done for a 4:15 tute? Do it during lunch break. This is already becoming a nasty habit wherein I spend my weekends slacking then just suffer and pay for it come weekdays. Anyone out there who's on the same boat as I am? Those big chunk of breaks could be handy sometimes, but I really rather spend them on something more worthwhile as, say, going to the city, watching a movie, attending a lunchtime concert, attending a club catch-up, discovering the meaning of life, searching for enlightenment, developing a useless talent, watching grass grow...anything unrelated to the academic side of uni would do.
Oh yeah, and up until now, I still don't get why I need to learn stuff about geography, meteorology, hydrology, etc. One more reson to have an, uhm, 'aversion' for the Melbourne model.
Keep dreaming large folks.
I know what the title refers to (well, only WoW players would get this =P), but it's also the sound that I feel like mumbling over and over because I'm not really in a mood to sleep and am listening to some Haydn (Cello Concerto in C Major, if you were wondering).
I find it interesting how I always seem to get more work done at University than at home, probably because at home I'm subject to a lot of distractions such as my brother watching the TV and Mum asking me to do chores. Oddly enough I'm also usually a lot more slack and bored when I'm at home.
Because of that, 3-4 hour gap periods between classes aren't that bad - most of the time I'm on a Mac at the Student Union Computer Lab doing work and reading newspaper articles online (seriously... I don't have time to read The Age anymore and it's too much of a hassle to carry the whole thing around all day). I guess it's rather funny that at the beginning of the year we all groan about our timetables and how 3-4 hour gaps were a bit much, but once you get into the flow of University and studying it isn't all that bad. Sometimes I usually head off to the Footbag or Chess club meetups which kills an hour of my time.
Listening to recorded lectures isn't all that bad as I thought it would be. I finished the other half of one regarding the auditory and somatosensory systems (I had done the first half two weeks ago), now I've got about...4 more to do and complete over the weekend. Life would seriously be a lot easier if I had my own computer/laptop because it means I can do them whenever I want rather than having to deal with sharing the computer with my brother.
And I've never been really good with memory work - 880001 (Psych - Mind Brain and Behaviour 1) is really getting to me with the terminology and I'm getting a little apprehensive about whether I'll be able to memorise all of it. However, persistence is the key =P. It doesn't help that I have to write two essays as part of the major assessment for it - although those shouldn't take long, it's just a matter of actually making sure I understand the material before writing the essays....maybe I'll read the relevant notes tomorrow morning.
Well the 3rd Movement just finished. Gotta love C Major, the key of the optimist.
Thursday consisted of waking up at the unearthly hour of 5am, only to miss my bus and have to catch a later one at 6:43am. Guess what. Found out that I just make it in time for 8am by catching the later bus! Score for a 30min sleep-in! Most of the Chem tute was spent talking to the guy next to me about soccer and how we don't understand anything (when he obviously did). Then I spent about an hour talking to the same someone in the 'silent' part of the library, getting evil looks from the studious genius' around me.
Next was a 3hr lab for Chem where we were synthesizing aspirin, though myself and the person next to me became drastically behind when we forgot to put filter paper in the filter – and were pushed out of the labs 'cause everyone was finished and we were the only 2 left! It was tempting to take some of that aspirin, but would have probably killed myself in the process.
Comprehending that I was almost 20mins late for a management tute I rushed over to the old arts building, lab coat flailing, only to realise that my tute was in the arts centre. Meh. Same thing. Deciding that I wasn’t one to quit while I was ahead I walked into the tute 1/2hr late. We had a debate about decision making (our team taking about 10mins just to make a decision about who was going to debate for us in the first place) and after getting verbally slaughtered rocked up late to a 3hr Bio prac where amongst other things we were solving a murder mystery using forensic biology. I solved the case in 5mins. Go me. This was partly helped due to fore knowledge of the answer…the conversation in the library was helpful.
After that I was supposed to meet some friends from church, but having forgotten the address made a bee line to the Rowdy to hop on the computer for a second or two to grab the address, got the addy and couldn’t find the place anyway and was walking up and down the street for awhile, before bumping into my cousin who happened to be going to the same place :) Missed out on various social events that was being promoted at uni on those big column things, but I don't care - had a faaantastic evening.
So yea, that’s the 101 on what happens on a Thursday for me. It’s probably not a useful/entertaining piece of information – but it gets stored there with facts like ‘the only king without a mustache in a deck of cards is the king of hearts.’ Just thought you’d care to know.
Ciao!
Ugh. Ears blocked. Throat scratchy. Nose doing that frustrating indecisive thing where it can't decide whether it'll get its kicks more from rendering me incapable of breathing without looking like a demented goldfish, or making me have to dash around the house for a tissue every minute or so.
And I know what this is. This is That Higher Being Up There laughing at me for skipping my lecture and tute last night to go to the Game On exhibition at Fed Square. (Go check it out. It's copious amounts of fun. Who knew '70s arcade games could be so darn addictive?)
Not that I'm advocating skipping any classes, mind you. This is definitely going to bite me on the behind later. With crazy metal jaws. Multiple times. Most likely during the mid-year exams.
:)
Regarding Uni;
The semester is more than halfway through, which means that everyone has lots of essays to do. I myself have 3, although one of these is a Creative Writing non-fiction piece so it doesn't really count. The other two are for 19th Century Music and Society, in which I will be writing about Liszt and how he was a such a show-off, and From Homer to Hollywood, the mess of a subject forced upon one fourth of all first-year Arts students. In this essay I will wax eloquent about something which I really don't think is important in any way. Essays themselves aren't difficult to write, you just need to apply yourself for a few days and actually have some vague insight/interest in what you're writing about.
This is easy for me in the case of 19th Century Music and Society; for example, I probably know more about Liszt than the Lecturer does. In the lecture I had today for the subject we were forced to listening to the first 10 minutes of Liszt's Faust symphony (personally I think the last 10 minutes are much better), something which I found amusing since I listen to that particular piece all the time at home. In fact I have all Liszt's major works on my laptop, which I listen to (along with an entire week's worth of assorted other music from the Romantic era) very often. So this essay is going to be immense fun.
I think I also need to take up some kind of sport, as I get out of breath just walking to Uni sometimes. That's bad. I shall investigate the badminton club.
Number of posts found:
1327