End of week 1!

There was only a prac today, and it was pretty boring. Risk assessments and such.

I still haven't eaten lunch or anything ^^;

I'm so good at this stuff. But really it's cause I couldn't really find the time to get something to eat.

I'll probably get the crispy chicken with rice next week. It looks and probably is pretty good.

Man I'm a little hungry now. I wonder what I should eat.

Even with my short fingernails (read: super short it's apparently hideous), I still manage to get stuff stuck in..under...around them.

I suppose it just shows that you should pay more attention to those areas when you wash your hands.

I love the hospital grade antiseptic soaps. They smell and feel so much nicer than like Dettol (gives me headaches).

Next week I'll have to write a paragraph about this week, so I'll probably refer to this blog. But nothing much actually happened ^^;

I have two assignments to do, and I'm not doing them right now lalalala.

Researching and reporting on Peter Doherty, who's an immunologist and I think he documented how T-cells recognise which things are malignant to the body and also is responsible for transplant rejections.

Basically something about binding to MHC.... which is some chemical/receptor... and I don't know very much. But that's what the assignment's gonna teach me.

I'm gonna strive to make it epic and super academic but I know I'll probably fail somewhere along the way.

Hrmm. Group assignment. Group wants to do either Obesity or CardioVascular Disease (CVD).

I think if we pick Obesity, we'll have to have images of fat people to prove our point.

Ah what am I saying. I'm going to cook something now.

Was in Epping today and considered going to the Battlegames store there, but then I realised that I don't have the time to play MTG, even if I bought cards. Maybe later (kinda pains me).

Hoping you guys are having more interesting lectures.

Cadavers!

I was actually expecting younger cadavers, with full bodies, but I suppose they're in really short supply. Probably cause they tend to be either buried or have their organs cut out for transplants and such.

I'm finding the lectures interesting in a sort of... means justifies the ends way. I think it's kinda bad.

I don't really have a passion for it when I'm just semi-actively learning it. It's only later in discussions I care I suppose.

Biochemistry and Histology. Proteins and tissues. I'm doing so much bio... I suppose it makes up for not doing it in HSC.

There's two assignments and one written exam every course, including what they call a "reflective essay".

I'm managing to integrate it into my blog, thankfully though. And I suppose you guys might be slightly interested in what happens in the upper campus.

Tomorrow's just a practical and it's in... Biology?

I think that's lower campus. Can someone guide me around there? :o

The reflective essay is about the first week of med...hmm. It should be fairly interesting, huh.... I'll get round to writing a quick draft on the weekend I think.

There's an assignment which is researching Peter Doherty. Apparently there's some really advanced science involved. I wonder what it'll be like. He's an immunologist who's still alive today, haha.

ISS Staffie applications due tomorrow at midnight D:

Does anyone else want to read it before I send it in?

Cadavers. I guess they were anatomically perfect within bounds of normality but...

So old D:

And the risk of contamination is incredibly high in those labs. I'm going to assume from now on that everything is contaminated in a mixture of decaying biological matter, formaldehyde, phenoxyethanol and methanol. (Had to check up the second one)

And we're learning so much anatomy :o Bones...muscles...joints...systems.

What the. One of my folders...oh. It's not missing, it's on the table behind me.

I bought a lab coat, but if anyone wants to wear it for kicks, it's at your risk. It could be contaminated. I'm going to pretend it is except when it's freshly washed.

Latex gloves are really fun.

I think the only thing I regret from this prac was that I didn't take down more notes, but that can be rectified later. It'll be a little more effort, I suppose.

Otherwise reasonably fine.

I'm not sure why or how Tuna insists that even in Med I'll have time to game and socialise and get drunk and all that stuff.

Though, he's taking time off gaming as I speak...sooooo.

Anyway, he's in RMIT doing a Music-related degree that I kinda forgot.

For anyone who is mildly affected, I've rescheduled so Fridays don't have students.

Hoping you guys are having lotsa fun times.

More lectures

Unfortunately, I can't say that I would have changed how I did anything today.

Met a few more people from my scenario group, which was fun.

Had pho for $8, which is apparently relatively cheap, all things considered, which is nice too.

Lectures were a little intense and a little boring. Cell biology (Histology...ish) and Anatomy. Just took notes... maybe next time I'll have more to eat for breakfast. Like tomorrow, cause I've got a 9am start, again.

Then there was a anatomical pathology practical... and I need a lab coat for next week.

Basically, virtual microscopy. Which is kinda weird, but makes sense cause unless we/I go into research or pathology, we're not going to use microscopes much. Basically, it's a simplification of microscopy onto a database, which houses all these images and think google maps, basically.

I didn't pay much attention, but I got the basics down.

We saw Cirrhosis of the liver and Pancreatic cancer with a Dr. Kumar who has an excellent British accent.

Anyway, I think that's all I need to talk about.

Hoping you guys are also doing weirdly fun things.

Oh. Cadavers soon!

Self reflecting on self reflexivity about self reflection

So apparently I need to reflect on what happens in the med course and then present it later as part of my portfolio, lol

I figured I might as well tie it into blogging, which makes it easier, I guess.

Anyway... lectures were pretty boring, haha.

They were just introductory and kinda hard not to fall asleep.

I should bring something quiet and reasonably undistracting to do. Maybe fixing up my timetable or something.

Looking in my diary for notes about today.

Found some music while I type this up. Not particularly distracting.

I didn't bring my program guide cause I thought it was unnecessary, haha.

Concept mapping tutorial was pretty bland. I got to meet people in my scenario group, which was pretty fun.

I learned that gym membership is free for the first month, but then it's like..$600+ for a year. Which comes to about $2 a day, and thus, per fortnight is $24. Which is kinda horrid.

I guess I'll tell my father about it - he told me that it would be cheap, lol.

He's an alumni.

Anyway, the concept mapping... I think what I would do next time is try to talk more with my group. I think I'm pretty shy - I have to try to make conversation with new people and it's a little uncomfortable. I suppose after 6 years I'll be a Legendary Conversationalist.

Oh, and the lectures told me that I'd be a specialist in 2031. Like, finishing. Soo... another lifetime (literally) for me.

Aha.

Apparently the perks later will be worth it, but the thing that concerns me the most is how financially nonindependent I'll be in these few years.

I found someone with a better rate than me for tutoring. He's doing tutoring for years 7 to 10, and it's taking about $10 more per one on one session, and says that if it's a class of 4 or so, he gets $110. Which is pretty good. I have a feeling that I'll have to hold classes, but right now I don't have a good set besides their house and libraries venue, and different people have different needs.

By the way, libraries close really early on weekends. It sucks.

Scenario groups.

I was a little late cause of lunch with Dandelion (forever now known as Dande cause I think it's cool) and Icy Foliage but I just said I got lost. Which I did, a little.

I think it was more to get to know the group more than anything. Something that came into my head was that I shouldn't try to answer every question asked. Lol. Maybe I talk too much when I'm comfortable and not enough when I'm not.

Oh well, 6 years, Legendary Conversationalist.

Computer lab on data retrieval and information gathering.

Somewhat dreary. But I did talk a bit with Fiona Li and Jeffery Liu are in my group. For people who aren't in the know, Fiona left in year 10 for Ruse and miraculously, somehow still knows who I am. I..have no idea how. I didn't realise I made any sort of impression on her.

As for Jeffery, he graduated in 2011, and did optom in UNSW for a year before 'restarting' as he calls it and is now in a bonded place for UNSW med. Which is pretty cool. He got an offer for UWS and UNewcastle too, but who wants to go there? They were both bonded, I believe.

I think everyone looks intimidating and unapproachable to me if they're in a position of equal standing. If I'm in a a Privileged Position, then I'm a lot more comfortable. I think it's just my conceited nature. It's a little... unnerving. I think I think that I'm superior to a lot of people in some way or another, until I talk to them and vice versa. Then that delusion melts away, thankfully.

Can't touch this!

Speaking of which, Ravnica was my favourite block of all time, and now it's back and ooh the new set's really pretty and I should get back into MTG again. Which I will, once I figure out how I'm going to get to Friday Night Magic at my local cardgame store. BUT I WILL DO IT.

[/fanboy]

...lost my train of thought.

Oh yes, I'm talking to Icy about it - religion and basically how religion fits into politics.

My answer? It doesn't.

I overheard two guys talking about 'spreading the word' of the Bible and such. A really snide thought crossed my mind:

"What if they're a gay couple?"

But then I remembered that not all Christians are against that kinda thing.

But what really made me think (unfortunately this is not related very much to medicine until I get into Sexual Health Medicine) is that they are trying so hard to come up with ways to preach their religion...without it seeming like preaching. Which was kinda ironic, and made me feel superior again (I'm such a bad person).

I was just about to turn around and talk to them about it when I decided that I shouldn't cause that would be rude.

Anyway, the main thought was "Why does religion need to be spread by its followers?"

I was discussing a similar topic with my role model and practically life mentor, who I call Tuna, or Uncle Tuna and it was basically about Michel Foucault and after reading Tuna's paper on Foucault, I told him that what Foucault was on about is that knowledge must be self-propagating. The current generation must teach the following generation in order for knowledge to grow and sustain itself.

And that is very much true of science. Science stops if it there is no-one to teach it.

[By the way, a bit of background on my dear mentor, he's gay (ie; homosexual, but he's also pretty happy about it too) and pretty damn left-wing. He dislikes the entity of science for a few reasons, most notably of its underlying aims to first and foremost spread itself and maintain its presence. Also that science can't prove anything, and yet there is an entire society of misconception or at least corruption of the word "proof", in the context of everyday usage of the phrase "scientific proof". In the context of science and research it's ok, because it's assumed that "proof" is something that can be counterpointed later in the future with different evidence/research that's peer reviewed. The public seem to think that it's a football game and that science is lying to people. So... in essence it's a gripe with how language is used, but language is pretty important.

Tl;dr, I have an awesome role model, and science is hard to explain to laypeople.]

And yes, I did talk about him when UNSW asked me about my role models.

Back to the beaten track... my main point was how come if religion - and again, I'm talking specifically about Christianity/Catholicism - proclaims to have a singular Truth (with a capital T) then why does it require its followers to 'educate' other people about it.?

I'm probably striking a logical fallacy somewhere in that, or someone is going to tell me that I'm twisting words, but unless someone does, I'll stand by my ideas.

And as an aside, if you look at the John Howard government, one particular gripe is that they banned the teaching of Postmodernism in schools. At least, formally teaching it. Almost all contemporary literature has postmodern elements and someone who does not have any education about education and particularly about education of literature (see entry for John Howard) would not be able to pick it up.

(Apart from being a bad person, I'm probably hot blooded. Which...may explain why I like cold environments? :] )

And postmodernism goes against Christian teachings, which are pretty ingrained in politics at the current moment, and probably will be as long as Western society remains exactly that. Western.

Which is to say that they Church and Pope have way too much power. And way too much of a Privileged Position.

Again, being ignorant, I make little effort to distinguish the Vatican from everything else, from Christians, from Catholics. They're all in the gray limbo I call "religion" along with other gods, pantheons and everything else.

Shinto and such that I respect a slight bit more go into "supernatural beliefs that are also amusing and have beautiful lore".

That includes horoscopes and astrology, if you're wondering.

Back to the very first thesis - I don't believe that religion should need to be 'spread' by mere mortals if it is the Truth. I mean... if you believe in a singular Truth, then that Truth will eventually be uncovered, no matter what angle you're looking at.

The fact that we have no agreed as a race on a singular Truth means it's either elusive or doesn't exist. I like to think it doesn't exist and that we all hold truths about the world and each other, and that each truth is as "true" and "real" as the next.

Getting more juice.

[Btw, there's a Secular Society on UNSW that I'm not willing to join because I don't have the time and it seems kinda unappealing to me who doesn't have the time for hardcore culturo-political philosophy. Heh. SecSoc.]

Anyway guys, I've got more sugar. Are you proud?

[And Dande, if your brain's dying, just give it a rest and comment later :P]

I believe that's it.

Dare you to click on it :)

If anyone's wondering.... here's what it's based on, and that you'll recognise.

Anyway, it's beautiful :)

Hoping you guys are having lots of fun in uni and are less busy that me :(