Zuend - The Harvest (1859)

Walked about the Art Gallery - tick. Botanical gardens - tick. Find Marge and Simon - half a tick. Turns out that the address I found online was the one. After all this while, I've finally been succeeded in getting back in touch with them. After one trip all the way out to Bexley and finding that no one's home, I took puppy's advice and called. I guess getting to see them is more important than springing upon them a surprise visit. Aaaand I don't believe it, she recognised my voice!! *big happy grin* Even though it was over the phone, even though it's been three years since she's heard it! So will be meeting this Sunday. She promised to pick worm and I up too. Can't wait to see the new house. The outside looks really pretty. Pretty as in Desperate Housewives suburb style pretty. (I'm feeling a bit disappointed that the old house got sold, and even more sad at the news of what's become of it now. *darn them new owners* But considering the size of it, the exchange rate and all... no need to even think about it.)

Just went for worm's 'meet the teacher's evening'. Too bad Mr. Moir was away on holiday at the moment as I was hoping to meet up with him again. Of all her teachers, only he and Ms. Varcoe (who I did get to meet) had taught me before. Whatever the teachers' comments, I guess it's suffice to say that they like her well enough and think that she has the potential to acheive even more. Her English teacher's nails were something though. I had a little difficulty trying to pay attention to whatever she was saying (guess I'm just as distractible as her Stats teacher who was very very surprised to see a certain someone *not me*!) as she waved her hands and wiggled her fingers as she talked. Her nails, her lipstick, her ear-rings. Red. Red. Red. A deep bright red that was screaming out for attention. The only thing that made it slightly scary was that her nails were pretty long. By my standards anyway. And beautiful Ms. Varcoe was still as good-looking as ever. She should have kept her hair short though, she looked better that way. Come to think of it now, she had a bright red top too. What's up with red and teachers?? :S

Played CTR (I think!) today. Must admit that it's addictive, so just as well it's not something I have easy access to *whew!*, especially looking at how I've returned to feeding my FreeCell and Solitaire addictions on worm's laptop!

Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself. -Jean Anouilh

From the Worm (... that lives in stinky poo! ^^). Nothing better to do right so I figured might as well. Watching worm read Econs isn't exactly the most exciting thing ever....

Layer 1 : On The Outside
Name : I have many, and depending on who you are, you get a different one.
Birthdate : The heck! Mano mano preceeded everything, and Mano mano = eternity... why would I have/ need one??
Current Status : Not single, not married, not in a de facto relationship... guess :) Am ever hoping to build up my harem of little men ^^
Eye Colour : Dark brown?? Look into my eyes and tell me.
Hair Colour : Sorta blackish? I'm old, the occasional white comes through *shrieks*
Righty or Lefty : Proud lefty. But only when writing. Everything else is more righty than lefty :S

Layer 2 : On The Inside
My Heritage : Mix up of what my parents are, and whatever seeped into me after my years of growing up in a mix-up country
My Fears : Of pain and hurt, physical and emotional. (... and I don't forgive readily... so consider yourself warned... heh heh *sprouts horns*)
My Weakness : Stupid accounting exercises... why doesn't it add up?? *ripping sounds*
My Perfect Pizza : Cheese (more more more!!!), pepperoni, capsicum, olives and hot peppers to spice everything up!

Layer 3 : Yesterday , Today , Tomorrow
My Thoughts First Waking Up : Hm... what's for breakfast??
My Bedtime : Tell me what day it is tomorrow first!
My Most Missed Memory : Playing in the front yard with my 'nong-nong' sibs

Layer 4 : My Pick
Pepsi or Coke : Dun like! Dun want!
McD or Burger King : Mmmmm... both are equally great when it comes to greasy goodness
Single or Group Dates : What are dates supposed to be? I haven't work out what it's supposed to mean yet :S
Nike or Adidas : Whatever, as long as they are comfy... and big enough for my boatlike feet
Tea or Nestea : Black tea, unsweetened please, or fragrant tarty fruit teas... mmmm
Chocolate or Vanilla : Chocolate! Vanilla! I'm fickle and greedy, may I have one of each?
Cappucino or Coffee : Ewww... keep them away from me... *runs away screaming*

Layer 5 : Do You ...
Smoke : Heck, are my nails yellow huh?
Curse : Yeah, when you're not within earshot of course ^^
Take a Shower : Everyday... religiously, no matter how grungy the bath is I must!!
Have a First Crush : Yes
Think You've Been in Love : Yes
Go To School : Does uni count?
Wanna Get Married : ... not really at this moment...
Believe In Yourself : YES!!
Think Your a Health Freak : Yes? No? How do you define that?

Layer 6 : In The Past
Drank Alcohol : Does red wine count?
Gone To The Mall : Duh.
Been On Stage : Yes... couple of times as a kid... and just recently at the end of ECC ^^ Love being at the centre of attention.
Eaten Sushi : Mostly the ones I made myself, and by Omani and couple of times store-bought.
Dyed Your Hair : No, with threats of being shaved bald. But I want a colourful one, or a wholly white shock of hair.

Layer 7 : Have You Ever ...
Played A Stripping Game : I would but you can't play alone.
Changed Who You Were To Fit In : My way of talking according to whoever I'm talking to.

Layer 8 : Age Your Hoping ...
To Be Married : 28 to 30-ish (I've got my studying to finish first)

Layer 9 : In A guy...
Best Eye Colour : ... turns to puppy... what's yours? *brown* lol
Best Hair Colour : Anything but blond hair.
Short or Long Hair : Whatever, as long as it's not stinky.

Layer 10 : What Were You Doing ...
A Minute Ago : Typing this still and on the phone
Hour Ago : Showering.
5 Hours Ago : Sleeping.
1 Month Ago : Class?
Year Ago : On holiday while freezing in Dud?

Layer 11 : Finish The Sentences ...
I Love : stuffing my gob with anything and everything.
I Feel : happy because it's sunny outside and I've just have had a mandarin :D
I Hate : people I hate.
I Hide : my inner feelings.
I Miss : home-cooking... and hawker food.
I Need : good cooking, junk food, love, games, fun, sunshine, tropical fruits

Layer 12 : Tag 5 People
Anyone who wanna do it, copy and do it then. Mano mano practises democracy ^^

Just got back from Gisborne. Spent the last week in Tokomaru Bay actually for ECC and right now, just two days away from it, I'm starting to miss it. The people there are friendly in the way people in rural areas tend to be, the weather warm, the landscape stunning with a nice blue sea and towering mountains behind. Most of all is Kumeroa's cooking as well.

Skipped the powhiri in Gisborne and had a combined one with group A at their marae (Pakirikiri), which was just down the road from my group's at Waiparapara. Dinner for that first night was at Pakirikiri. With it being a Saturday and all, the rest of my group trotted down to the local sports club where we were hanging out earlier in between the time after the powhiri and teatime. I chose to stay home and that was when I met Kumeroa who would be our chef for the whole week, caretaker and later, choreographer and 'songmaster'. Lol. As she puts it, the 'jack of all trades'.

We didn't manage to go horseriding or fishing as was on the timetable due to the weather and on Sunday, went down to the sports club again and had a match against Pakirikiri in darts and pool. So yes, I now know how to play both. Despite having this big noob on the team, we only lost by one point. :P *ahem, I know what you are thinking, but don't you say a word*

The following days were more of what we were there for, visiting local clinics and primary schools, kohangas, a hospital some way out of town (which was tiny and ill equipped) and the old citizens centre where we had to interview the teachers, the policeman (yes, he serves this and a couple other areas... him and only him alone!!), a locum (the doctor comes in three days a week from 10 to 2 at the clinic), the old people staying at the centre, the people manning the mobile surgery unit (visits the hospital twice a year, and everyone who needs stuff done will have to travel up there, and this includes dental care) and interact with the kids. Everything is more or less ok, except interacting with the babies and primary school kids, which was really awkward. I don't think the young ones liked me much either lol.

And I think I've more or less reduced my dislike for seafood. Not so far as to say that I like it though, and that's only fish and crayfish (and a couple of others) that I'm talking about (the rest still comes under seamonstrosities :P). That bay I was posted to was rich. Our group got fed crayfish twice that week, the last being a very positive meal *grin*. With it's incredibly warm weather, mandarins, oranges and other citrus fruits grew aplenty there too. I was told pineapple, papaya, mangoes and lots of other varities of fruits that were more tropical than anything else could be grown there. As soon as I have a chance to escape the south island, I promise myself that I shall.

Last day was spent at a marae at Gisborne. Our group sat our assessment there as well. All was ok, until it got to the last question where the examiner started off with this joke: There were two horses in the paddock when a dog came running up toward them. The first horse asked the second 'Darn, here comes that annoying dog again. What are you going to say to the dog?' The second horse said 'I think I shall bark.' 'Darn,' said the firs horse, 'that's exactly what I was planning to say!'. And I was second to last to answer as well. Just as well I had one answer left that wasn't covered by the others lol.

The concert was later in the afternoon. It was interesting, with some groups putting on a really good show. I think my group did the best, but then I might be slightly biased of course. We did a kapa haka, an item involving poi (the audience loved them guys :P) and an action-song which was taught to us by the kids at one of the primary schools back at the bay. Will post up the lyrics slightly later, but it's a song which is more or less representative of the people in that area.

Overnight at the marae, and the next day we were kicked out onto the street. Lol. A bunch of us ended up at the Flying Nun backpackers lodge for that night. My legs are currently a little sore from having walked quite a bit around Gisborne... city (claimed puppy, but by global standards, that should stay a town I insist!!), and having to run as well from one end of the airport to another at Auckland to catch the flight down to Chch. The flight out of Gisborne arrived 6.15, whereas boarding time was 6.10. Whew! Just as well the stewardess had warned the groundstaff of the late arrival beforehand! Though come to think of it, I don't think I would mind overnighting in Auckland :P, with it being so warm and all (12 as opposed to Chch's 3)!

No idea when I'll be able to post again, since I've no idea if there'll be convenient access in the next week. Got up really early today, just couldn't sleep much simply because the idea of flying just makes me all happy and excited (hey, kids are simple-minded!). The shuttle is coming round at about 8, though he said he might be up to 10 minutes late and to wait outside the gate. Hm... not sure if waiting 10 minutes outside would be ideal though, seeing as I could hear the rain yesterday... *shrug*

Still no idea what we'll be getting up to when we get there. My trunk is the exact same one that I carried over here from home. Looking at it, am I moving up to Giz for a year? My sleeping bag isn't even in it that's for one. Not that I would want it in there as well, for I cannot afford the risk of it getting lost should my trunk goes awol. Wearing the same old stinky underwear for a week bothers me less than having to freeze every night for the same seven days. *Turns to group mate: Can I borrow your shirt, oh, and while you're at it, how about a bra and underpants?* LOL

Love ya all, and will see you in about a week, or sooner if possible. Miss you nana and mumiak, bola and worm (watch out, crashing in a week muahahhahaha!).

Oh yes, I forget to add...

For my Humanities Medical Elective next semester, I've been placed in the ......



DEATH, DYING & POST-MORTEM PRACTICES



....group, whoopee!!!

How many times have I said that I must get my packing done by Friday? No idea, but I certainly haven't finished packing. The trunk is left open in the middle of my room, clothes strewn about, socks in a pile by the side on the floor, and I'm sitting here in front of the screen typing this -_-"'.

Donald Evans is his usual interesting self with his lecture on Ethics today. I wonder if he has memorized his lecture or something considerng how flowing it usually is, and how he barely touched his powerpoint slides today (which is usually the case anyway). If that's the case, I must say, his darn memory is waay better than his white hair lets on, and that his monthly packet of peanuts from the university surely can't be just peanuts! Too bad some of our other lectures by other lecturers don't captivate me as much as his does.

About two hours worth of marketing by the three medical schools today. First up was Chch. They had an interesting show that they made themselves which was pretty darn funny in some parts and the usual powerpoint stuff. Not too bad an effort. Wellie was next in line and they certainly turned up the fun and games factor by more than just a couple of notches. Funny stuff for sure, but why oh why did they have to pull out their beers and stuff? Perhaps it's not so for some, but that just turns me off somewhat. I'm looking to escape Dud's stoopid student drinking culture, with their drunks bawling or sometimes laughing hysterically in the streets in the middle of the night every week, Thursday through to Saturday. Pulling out a couple of beers, what are they trying to signal to me? Though the pictures and stuff they showed of Wellie was certainly beautiful and there were certainly other attractions in Wellie that they didn't mention. Dud was last, and they certainly hadn't done too well. More people might reconsider wanting to stay back now I would think, especially with them showing a photo of cars in Invcgl covered in a foot or so of snow. Plus, the big part of things were just powerpoint slides. Wouldn't be bad, if it weren't done in a way much like typical boring old lectures on Monday mornings.

In the end, it seems that the three schools are more or less equal in content and quality, and it all kind of boiled down to choosing a city that you would want to live in for the next three years of your life in. I guess staying in Dud would be nice, being able to just walk to class and down the road to a friend's place. But for three more years... I'm full of doubt of my ability to take on Dud for so long, seeing that it's not love that I have for this place. More of a tolerance thing I would say... Hopefully I would get my choice (I've handed it in today, rather than waiting for some day closer to the last day where I might have forgotten by then), and be balloted anywhere but this little town where I've passed practically three years now... New adventure up ahead??

Artichoke Flower by Matthew Wallenstein

I was horribly wrong about a certain someone it seems and I'm really sorry. I wasn't expecting the information I learnt today. But I'm glad we did visit today, even if I can't really help at the end of the day. I had this feeling that whatever it was, our surprise visit wasn't exactly very welcomed, that we weren't meant to know something. I feel some stuff is still hidden from us, and now thinking back, some things still don't really match up or seem satisfactorily explained. Even so, the main gist of it came out in the end, which I guess is the main thing, apart from knowing what had actually happened which helped put my mind at ease again somewhat, and knowing that at least I was wrong about the *ahem*. Hopefully he will get better soon and get up and about again. Gosh, I wonder how his dad copes with it, considering as well his given excuse for why things might have been in the past. I wonder how his mum gets along alone overseas where she is, knowing that her son is doing not as well as she would have preferred.

Only had two lectures today. The PDS lectures were all cancelled. Not that I was looking forwards to it either, judging by the two EQM lectures that I skipped... deliberately. Men with hoarse voices + boring topic = sleeping Mano-mano. And if I'm going to sleep, then I might as well be somewhere else doing something useful, no? Such as going online or playing go-stop -_-". Seriously though, I've not an inkling what the previous lectures that I attended for this small 'module' was even about. A lot of statistics and what-nots to backup what research and evidence could do to make our delivery of healthcare better (or at least that's what I got out of those lectures anyway) that was as dry as a cracker and nothing that made me sit up and say "ooh, I've just got to squirrel this interesting piece of info away in some little recess of my brain", i.e. nothing important. Or perhaps, as Nat aptly put it today, perhaps they have run out of important stuff to tell us.

Waiata practice, last one! Hopefully the weather report given to us will stay the same until it's time to head back! I don't fancy wet weather, and anything warmer than Dud's of late is more than welcome! I'm still blur about what activities we're doing then, besides having to learn something new to perform next Thurs night, and having to visit their local hospitals (or was it healthcare centres she said now??) and schools. A couple of my group mates suggested we wake up early to do morning walks. Sounds good to me. Another suggested we bring along thongs to swim. Darn, why does that one have to come up? Surely not the beach, surely not the sea?! I nodded, a serene sphinx like smile plastered across my face. A pool maybe, but the sea is a totally different kettle of fish. Being less in control of my movements in the water, and the ever underlying fear of being dragged out by a current, and the fact that the weather at this time of the year, wherever in this country, isn't exactly warm and still... No, I don't like swimming at the beach/ sea. I guess that's one part where they'll have to go without me. I want to say hopefully we'll be so busy to not be able to do that, but that might be a tad selfish. Should I cook up an excuse? I wonder what mumiak will have to say... still the same as it was all those years ago??

Lotus flower by Steven Pinker

Weather has been freezing. I thought I would try out sleeping in the sleeping bag, just to gauge how many blankets I might need to pack along when I head off for my ECC posting two nights ago. I used three initially, and that's in addition to the sleeping bag I was snuggled in. My toes were frozen from the start, even before I got in. And my toes stayed frozen, if not worse. So was the rest of me. Get up, grab another blanket and a jersey. Five layers for my body was much better. Not really as warm I would prefer myself to be when I'm trying to sleep, but tolerable. My toes however stayed unchanged, even when I tried to curl up and bring it as close as possible to the rest of me. And I was wearing socks for goodness sake! Couldn't take it anymore, so got up and jumped into bed instead.

Which explains my 20 dollar purchase this morning from Bed, Bath and Beyond. A single polarfleece blanket. Got it instead of the mink one since the salesperson said polarfleece would be warmer. Anything that's warmer I'll take. So that, the sleeping bag and maybe a couple more blankets and a hot water bottle I shall carry up with me. Stupid weather. It better not turn out to be a sudden heat wave over the country when I'm up there or someone is gonna pay. Big time. LOL, next problem is finding that someone to be the black sheep.

Last time I played Scrabble with puppy was just end of last week, and by some stroke of good luck I drew sets of tiles that were easy to form words with. Last night's game was of a different story. I drew either lots and lots of consonants and towards the end, mind-boggling vowel sets. If it were a consonant-consonant or vowel-vowel matching game I would have had an easy win. But instead, I was playing Scrabble. Which kind of meant I. Was. Handicapped. Sigh.

Tutorial today was pretty much a recap of the lecture just before it. L, who was in her 36 week was present. A couple of other students and I came in late, simply because of the holdup at the lifts and then a wrong turn in the corridor. When we came in, even before we were introduced or anything, the first thing that caught my eye was, gosh, the lady's feet were really really oedematous. Reminded me of granddad's feet after his trip to Korea, only much much worse. When my gaze turned upwards, the size of her belly just made me wanna turn around and run away screaming. I've never thought pregnant women, with their distended stomachs and huffing and puffing and whatnot, as remotely beautiful. L, who was expecting twins, just reinforced the idea in my head. The tutor (and lecturer earlier on) had to reiterate the thought that came to me early on in the module -- the foetus is the ultimate parasite. *wince* But all the same, she did provide some neat insights on some aspects that the lecture before hadn't provided, and some stuff was explained away by the tutor who was and O&G specialist. Goodness, imagine not being able to lie on your back for fear you might lower your blood pressure when you squash your vena cava! She told us how relieved she was as well now that her 'stomach' has dropped a little, allowing her to breathe slightly more freely. Apparently one of the foetus had started moving down into the pelvis now. :S

Two weeks more and I shall be there to punish the worm for wanting to feed me burnt biscuits. *evil chuckle* :D!

By Judith Motzkin

I blame the KFC binge for my toilet misfortunes. The only postive side to things is as I told Sh, at least it means we don't actually absorb everthing then. Which considering my ever-growing girth, is a good thing.LOL.

Today's morning practice at club and socs is the second time I've practiced Sh's special hymn with her. Glad to say most of the technical problems with timing, fingering, and other what-nots have more or less been settled. It's now mostly a case of making sure that I remember the changes that I've made to the score and not forget things during the actual thing itself! It's certainly been quite some time since I've made so many trips to club and socs in so few days, which is something I'm somewhat grateful for (would be even more happy if the weather would cheer up a little more), considering it would help halt or at least slow down my decline. Trying out Franz Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture. It's a little lengthy, but from initial tries, it's a lovely piece. Even better is the fact that I've just located a midi for it, which would certainly make practising even better.

Those three waiatas are more or less committed to memory for now. It's just that I've minor problems in retrieval at times, but I doubt it should be a problem, as long we sing in a group all the time. Turns out our groups won't have a powhiri before heading off to our own host maraes. A bit sad at this, but then, I guess it would make sense. Don't want to be reaching and having to sing at our host marae in the dark! Especially when the weather these past few days has been absolutely dismal. *ahem* Dismal because I'm cold intolerant, hate the wet, and am a poor student still.

The snow's here already though. Except that it's up in the mountains. I wonder why would any adult of sane mind would choose this city as a place to live? Housing near the city is bad and is meant more or less for students only, so professionals or any working adult with a sense of dignity would have to live slightly further out from the city. But when it comes to Dud, living further out usually means living out in the hills, which means if it snows, you'll have a fun time getting to work. Oops, I meant 'fun'. During my early pregnancy case week wrap up tutorial, that was exactly what my tutor was worried about. She left her mobile on so that she could receive texts from her kids on the weather so that she knows that if the weather really turns nasty, she could get home and not get stranded out in uni. *The heck* I thought to myself, I donn't think I would want to put up with such nonsense from the weather! I'm already on the edge having to put up with my toes feeling frozen 98% of the time, but to be cold and stuck out of home?!! How do that patient my class saw last time managed to survive a snowstorm without protective gear on?

I'm thinking, thinking, thinking... we'll see if my thoughts do translate into action. It depends on the weather I guess. Or should I just move onto Plan B and do it the easy way? Or Plan C and look up the phone book?? I should find out exactly which part of my brain controls silly unnecessary feelings, localise it, and then scramble it up. Talking about brain, I miss the B & B module, it's waaaay less disturbing than the RDA module that we are currently doing in class. I was never enthusiastic about pregnancy and babies (sometimes I wonder why people bother...), but now I'm totally freaked by it all. I think my mild distaste at the idea has just ballooned into extreme dislike. I'm not sure what's there to be grateful and happy about being able to have the chance of being the one to carry the parasite, as soon as there is a chance to give it away, I would. I rather be the other part of the equation. *ahem, all mums must have been brainwashed by their mums/society/peers, but grateful as I am for it, still doesn't change things*

Stones by Sean Day

MacBaby lab this morning. Rather dry stuff on the formation of the embryo, and my mind blanked out a couple of times from overboredom trying to figure out the message they were trying to convey to me. Suffice to say that checking my student and hotmail accounts, boring as it is, turned out to be the two things that saved my mind from the monster of boredom.

More interesting was the developmental lab that came afterwards. I skipped my own and crashed stream A's instead (just so that I could run off to practise for this upcoming Sunday's piece before waiata practice, without having to run back and forth between the north and south ends of campus!), which ended up the saint and his apostle being separated by quite a few sinners in between. Just the perfect day's work for this evil lump *snickers*. But I digress, for the main point of today's lab was to demonstrate that foetus size correlates with age, and also to highlight the results if things do go wrong. There were quite a number of interesting displays today, all of them specimens obtained more or less a hundred years ago. I wonder why (and how, since the intro to the lab mentioned that they didn't have the means to reproduce what we saw today) did the surgeon or whoever it is removed the uterus with the foetus in it. Not sure what exactly was wrong with those foetuses either, since they looked perfectly fine to me. But to remove the womb as well? The demonstrator I grabbed said she wondered as well if the mothers actually survived those operations. *wince* Some of the other cases had foetuses that had no limbs, or no brains, or were conjoined. The most gruesome was the one of a pair of twins that shared a single face. I wonder how the poor mother reacted upon learning what the stork had brought her. Like Sh said during the lab, I sure am grateful I have everything intact and in place!

After that it was a rush over to Club and Socs for my one hour practice. The accompaniment part turned out not too bad at the start, apart from the annoying abundance of flats, but the last two pages were *ahem* something. I might have to make a few changes here and there to the score just to make it playable, not unless someone decides to wave around his/ her wand and grant me a sudden elongation of my fingers or something, and also make some tweaks in my hand-eye coordination so that I can for once hit the keys accurately after jumping more than an octave up the keyboard LOL. Wonder who wrote that accompaniment? That mum from the Incredibles or something perhaps? :P

Waiata practice was as usual. I've still not started on memorising the lyrics unfortunately, and must certainly get it done before next Wednesday! I've found out which area my group will be sent to as well, one of the bays up in the East Coast. Hopefully they'll go through the procedures and stuff later in more detail too for the bits and pieces that they told us today certainly slid off my lump of noodles like water off a duck's back. Can't wait for it though, the whole thing sounds very promising and so very exciting! Cooee!

And to make my day even more exciting, was the talking about sex communication skills lab. It was at Hercus as most of us thought, so a bunch of us ended up late for class. Not that it mattered in the end, since Miss. T was late in arriving herself *hiak hiak*. This class was one of the most engaging discussions I've ever attended. It wasn't just a boring old listen and learn like some of the previous classes we had, but this was a full-on proper discussion combining morals and ethics and legal stuff with our main goal at health providers, except that this time it involved having to do directly or indirectly with sex. That was part of the class of course. The first parts involved having to define some terms that seemed obvious in their meaning, but isn't so when one cares to think about it carefully. Think about to have sex and masturbation and come up with a definition. What do you include? What do you not? There were subgroup assigned to provide a definition to the former thought sex involved penetration (of either anus or vagina). So what is oral sex then? Is it not sex? What about phone sex? What about dry sex? And masturbation... it is masturbation only when you do it on yourself? If someone did it for you, does it still count? If not, does eating someone not count as masturbation then?? Bottomline, make sure that you and your patient are on the same wavelength. And even though talking about sex didn't appear to be too big an issue (considering what wormy puts me through sometimes), but when I had to play doctor and interview my patient, I was totally caught off guard first time round when she asked, so do you think I'm gay? How should I respond to that? :S And same problem as last year, what questions to ask next? Brainstorming questions to ask beforehand doesn't really work for me it seems since I couldn't see how they would connect to the series of questions and answers we were having. The climax (excuse the pun!) of it all was when she (or rather he) informed me, in reponse to my question about the type of relationship between the patient and his mate's mate, that it was sexual and thinking of the person made him have an erection. No idea why I totally burst out laughing at this point, and so did my mock patient. Just as well this is a role-play, or I'd be so screwed, bunging up an interview like that...

Flower by Bernard Hatt

More RDA lectures today. I suppose it's selfish of me to think like this, and yes, I'm truly grateful to mum and nana to even consider having me, but after these lectures, the only impression I get out of it (besides the hard core facts and what-nots) is that the embryo is somewhat like a cancerous lump. A moving cancerous lump. A invasive cancerous lump that has the frightening capacity to leech, and multiply like nothing else on earth. *eeps*

Tutorial was rather long, taking nearly the full hour. Didn't really get much out of it, basically a run through the prep sheet. Interestingly, my group came up with a longer list of cons than pros for having children. Though seriously, the whole exercise is somewhat pointless, since someone like Sh would say having kids because it's fun, and someone like me would certainly not see what's so fun about the whole thing, but rather the lifestyle restrictions and worry and what not. So in the end, it's more a case of personal opinion, and trying to fit it into J&J's case is just silly since they are undeveloped fictional characters. All I know is that they want kids, and nothing much else.

Reviewing a previous lecture on sperm transport earlier on, I came across this sentence saying that rape victims have a high probability of getting pregnant. I've suddenly developed this itch to photocopy it a gazillion times bigger and stuff the whole wad up the noses of those self-righteous anti-abortion sillies that tramp around outside the main entrance to the hospital. They don't need to go around pushing their ideologies on others, especially when some of those might already be in great distress. That's just being cruel.

On a lighter note, tried out a recipe for microwave bread after being given the idea by puppy's anime series, though I ended up starting the whole thing at about 10? The one I found was rather odd in that it said to not knead the bread otherwise it wouldn't rise :S... It came out pretty much ok I guess, though I don't really fancy the texture. A bit too crumbly I think? It did save time though, but if I really wanted to, soda bread would have been even better. Soda bread! Next in line once I finish up all the bread in my pantry lol.

Woke up real late today and dropped off some stuff at Sh and Q, then over to T's. It was a little chilly but still real sunny, perfect for a little trip over to the gardens and to Unimart. Was hoping to stock up on some seeds, but the type I wanted wasn't in stock apparently :( ... just as well it's the holidays, and so I shall make a couple more trips there.

Didn't really see much at the gardens. The main impression I got was that the whole place was now starting to look a little untidy, with all the plants slowly dying off or going underground to sleep. Heck, even the little bulb I picked up on my walk with worm and lovingly planted afterwards is now officially dead. *cries*

Worm is intent apparently on letting me know that she's got lots of spare texts available still it seems. Since earlier today, I've been getting spam non-stop. Just as well my phone is equipped with a delete-all option, which I had been using non-stop. There comes a point where texts just annoy you, and any incoming ones just get deleted without being read. LOL. Too bad for collaterals I guess, as Q alerted me all too late a few minutes ago (it's evening now, LOL!). Though now that I think of it, B's message prob got sent off to heaven. Along with the one from another friend that I had been saving -_-"'. Totally forgot that the whole bin would be emptied. Grrr... there shall be retribution for the worm when her Lord comes round *narrows eyes*. Not to mention for the overuse syndrome that my thumb is now suffering from... *sob sob*

Was walking home from NW yesterday when I saw something that no kid-at-heart should ever have seen. I wonder how unlucky a bird would have to be for it to be mangled to be that unrecognizable, with grizzly reddish bits and pieces poking out here and there, signature identifiable body parts no where to be seen. It reminded me faintly of stuff that I used to browse through (with morbid fascination) on the rotten site. That's years ago now, and puppy, being curious at my mention of the site, was eager to check it out. It's still as gruesome as ever, except that it now leaves me feeling queasy, green, and uneasy, rather than the excitement and curiousity that filled me as a young stupid teen. Does this mean I've grown up? Or is it just my tastes that have changed?

Made cheesecake with Cl and Z this morning. The weather is just so amazingly good. After the nearly non-stop rain, the sun broke through to smile upon all her children, so I chose to just walk up the hill to Z's place. Knowing that that lump in the middle of H. Row takes me only 2 minutes climb makes the task a lot easier. Goes to show how powerful the mind is huh? Previously I thought I had always taken about 5 minutes or so and hence was never too keen to go near it. LOL. And I'm amazed as well at how some people can just go out in the morning without first topping up their energy levels. I just can't get out of the house without a little something in the morning, even if it were just that little cup of milo. How do they manage?? :S The cheesecake came out quite ok, even though it didn't stick to the crust. I find myself wondering if perhaps there wasn't enough fat to bind it together... not that it matters. Taste comes first I guess. And despite the lemon went a-hiding, the recipe that Z found was surprisingly good. They didn't show it at the time, but I wonder if my comments about how the gelatine was strikingly similiar to some body fluids might put them off somewhat?? *tee hee*

Was pretty lazy in the afternoon after cooking lunch, which was just pasta sauce. Or rather, lunch for today and dinner for the following few days. Used loads of Chinese mushrooms, which before cooking, I thought would be rather excessive... but I'd already soaked them so in they went. Turned out that it lent a very nice asian-ey sort of flavour to the whole thing. Used the canned pasta sauce again instead of the chopped tomatoes. Which would probably had meant that the fragrance of the mushrooms might had been overmasked, since I'd only flavoured varieties in the pantry at the moment. Perhaps I should stock up on the plain varieties soon.

Declaration number one: Mumiak and nana are to blame for not giving me genes encoding for adequte brain size :( So I'm slow and stupid.

Declaration number two: Even if I'm stupid, I'm Dr. K. K. L's daughter. Don't mess with me. Grrrr.

Exams are over! And it's the most torturous one and a half hour test I've ever been through. Even the three four hour papers at the end last year weren't half as bad. This one is a case of there simply being almost not enough time to structure your answer properly and writing it out neatly. *ahem* Not that I write neatly when I've got enough time anyways, but anyone reading my answers would have to be pretty good at mind reading since my points are all jumbled up as they tumbled out of my head. Darn. And to make things worse, throw into the mix a large number of questions that no one would ever have thought possible of making it into print. The heck... epilepsy?! Memory?! *jaw drops* When did behavioural science become such a big shot in the exams? Did Miss Trevena stage a hold-up or something?? *tears* She's out to get me I tell ya. My memory was probably ok, but retrieval was the big issue for me here. *sniffles* Now Lord Mano-mano commands you all to cross your fingers and hope She passes... OTHERWISE you all shall suffer Her wrath!! Muahahahahahah!

Dinner at Great Taste was quite good. Considering the price, and that it was a dinner buffet I guess it's worth it. Though like the lunch one, it's still rather meatless, except for a few items. The food was quite nice, with an amazing selection (it was like a few main types of ingredients cooked in various ways... there was even deep fried battered sushi, which I couldn't bring myself to try... deep fried ice cream, yes, but rice? That's funky... in a discomforting way), but even with that, I must lament the small selection of desserts available. Apple crumble (not enough apple I say waaah! The one CL brought to lunch was better), carrot cake (yum!), jelly (bright red :O!) and soft serve ice cream. More or less identical to the lunch buffet last year, so that was the only sad thing about it. Even though we tried, we didn't make a very impressive job of stuffing ourselves. Q got by with 2 plates? Nat with 2.5 or so. Sh and I with 4 I think, though we didn't really fill our plates very much. Same situation with puppy, except his was loaded. Life is unfair.

I believe I've found my lucky star as well. Or rather, lucky girl. While playing go-stop, she picks all the right cards from the deck, she chooses all the right ones to chuck out. Poor puppy was looking rather down. Or as down as he can anyway. I can see where Nat's comment of puppy not looking particularly anything is coming from though *hehe* so I guess that's the green signal for us to continue torturing puppy. Kekekeke.

Dropped by Arthur Barnett's yesterday. Saw a shirt and a card with very very interesting (*read: naughty*) designs. Might drop by to take photos of it later *grin*. Saw a couple of bowls at Acquisitions as well. Darn, why do they have to sell such pretty bowls... and at such exorbitant prices as well. Or maybe not so exorbitant, considering how pretty they are. But then I've more than enough bowls so I shall refrain from pulling out my eftpos card. Kweeee.