Uncertainty

You know, people assume doctors know what they're doing.

I think it's mostly that doctors don't show that they don't know.

There's even a word for a disease with no known cause:

Idiopathic.

Weird word.

If you don't show your lack of confidence, no-one ever knows.

Two people, a tutor and a student, talking about post-colonialism in a library while the world around them darkens, fades and starts to drench.

Somehow, they start talking about soy milk. That leads to a question on lactose intolerance.

The student insists that while they are no doctor, they are sure that in small amounts, you can build a tolerance to lactose.

I wonder if a HIV/AIDS patient can regain their immune system in the same way.

"Obviously if it's fatal, then it's not going to work."

I wonder how far tolerance goes in nature.

In neurotransmitters, we don't want tolerance for the most part. Same with hormones. Type II diabetes can result in insulin tolerance.

Alcohol tolerance is a "good" thing, but only by society's standards. To the body, it's a toxin one and the same.

Worse if you choose an alcohol that isn't ethanol.

Is the difference that I don't know for sure?

I'm too lazy to check it up.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.

Interesting that you can fix it with a few head movements.

The human body is fragile.

I wonder if I'm destined to be a mechanic, or a tinker, or...

But then, people are still people.

Either way, I was going to butt in and mention that the student's hypothesis is grounded in a false belief that tolerance is extremely common.

It is, but only to such an extent.

You can become tolerant to cigarette smoke, to an extent.

The cells lining your trachea transform from those with cilia to like those on your skin.

It doesn't mean that the smoke affects you less - rather, it affects you more.

Though, I'm not sure exactly when I'm allowed to cut in and mention to strangers that their view of a medical issue is probably wrong.

But I'm not sure. At all. Ha.

Felt like I needed to share something awesome.

THEY ARE SO COOL, RIGHT?! :D

Quite chuffed.

Played two games of magic today.

Lost both games.

0-2 Record with Eyes.

I'll fix it up. Need to get more sleeves :(

But that's ok. I'm travelling light tomorrow.

I'm not gonna Friday Night Magic. Haha.

Assignments to do. Better do them.

Quite pleased to find out that all my "old" cards, can still be played no problem in a new format called Modern. Hehe.

It was pretty easy to meet people and get to know them. Quite fun.

Thanks Kwanza for accompanying me.

Also got 2 copies of a card free from my opponent. Thomas is his name.

He's quite chill.

I like him.

Quick update

Fan service in Doctor Who? Oh my... Neil Gaiman!

But I think the Cyber-Doctor was pretty dramatic and likable, if sinister.

Imagine the Cyber-Planner as a companion. Unfeasible but still..

Didn't like the ending or the other plot.

Main plot was Cyber-Doctor, and that was done well. Everything else seemed to have just revolved around it.

Going to make a deck I don't need to update very much (read: budget) and fun, and casual. Cbf spending so much money to play modern/standard/whatever. I'll probably make it, then after uni, pop in for a random game with someone random in the card game shop then head home.

Key card for anyone interested:

It's a pretty junky rare. No-one plays with it. But it's fun.

It cost me $8 to get a set of four. :'C

Apparently it's so much cheaper in America. But healthcare SUCKS there. So... I don't know! T.T

Might be cheaper in London? I hope so.

My nephew X-times-removed and his parents are there. They've got a pretty good job there, but my parents think that he's (the husband) desperate for money.

Anyway, that's my little jaunt.

Tomorrow's 8-3, with a 2 hour break from 11 to 1. Maybe I'll meet someone. Who knows.

Hoping you guys are faring well.

Gotta start my assignments, damnit. Contraceptives and writing a play...

Lots of things I haven't gotten around to.

If anything, I should start my individual assignments.

But I don't feel like it. I dunno why.

It's stupid.

Tomorrow's going to be more about skin and pregnancy and stuff. I wonder when I'll be in a hospital.

Carrying a steth is kinda hard. And you can't just wear one in public right? :L

I should take a photo of the mounds of books in my room. And the state of my desk.

It's horrible.

I need to talk to someone who can motivate me to work.

Generally, that's anyone, but...yea.

I'll try to do it soon. Like, tomorrow I suppose.

Getting slowly into the swing of things. I suppose everyone else hasn't done much either. Oh well.

Maybe I don't feel so good.

I'll figure it out.

Hoping I do.

Tutoring and making stuff on the spot

Lecturing about English is pretty stimulating.

For starters, you can't be tired during it. Well, I can't.

Secondly, when I have to give examples, I've gotta be really quick about them, but so far, I haven't made up anything that's ridiculous.

Got my cardiology steth today. Maybe you guys can see it sometime, if you're peachykeen.

Also bought more MTG cards, just to add to my collection I guess.

And I got a free book.

Central Station is pretty cool.

Hoping you guys have had a fun day too.

(BTW, there's an electronic stetho, RRP $600+. It's pretty amazing. But banned in my exams)

Sorry for not writing.

I was going to write something, as usual, so I'll just make a list of things to do:

1) Finish 1Q84. It's so damn good :O

2) Play MTG again. I should be able to fit it in somehow. Maybe I'll get my mymulti and go out myself in the morning, hopping around places to teach and so forth and then go down to the shop to play later? I don't know.

3) Move over all the games I've downloaded. I've downloaded a lot from uni. I suppose I'm paying for it though. The usage of the internet. So it's all pretty fair. Plus, I hardly use any other university facilities.

4) Go over my lecture notes for today.

5) Get into the groove of playing TF2 again, I suppose.

6) Look into whether my computer can do multiple monitors. The graphics card changed so....

7) Probably stick to one hero in dota foreveeeeeeeeer.

8) Look into finding more students I suppose. Wouldn't it be cool if I could host classes, and then I could teach a whole bunch of people, and get a lot of money, and stuff?

"Money is for the living, and grounds us in reality"

Paraphrased, but I've read it twice now, and I figure it'd be nice to put it out there.

Furthermore, I realise why my style of writing is so weird. It's precisely because I have not read widely enough.

And thus, have not really be influenced that heavily by any one author and so on and so forth.

By classes means venue.

Icy, did you still want to go ahead with your idea?

9) Finish this blog post.

Hoping you guys are having a busy, fun life.

Late Term Abortions

For once, I have something to say.

Was watching that, and in the suggested videos:

I wasn't sure what to make of it.

I'm just about to start learning in detail conception to birth, and will probably have a tonne of morality classes along the way.

What do you guys make of the "sanctity of life"?

Looking at you religious folk.

That video pains me on multiple counts.

Firstly it's biased to all hell. I was expecting it to be informative, but I guess I didn't notice the title for some reason.

Especially at the end, which condemns this practice as unequivocally, and irrefutably "inhuman"

When in fact, it probably should be called "inhumane"... But that's more semantics isn't it.

Secondly, it's the apparently unprofessionalism of the doctor and the counsellor.

Moreso that the counselor is flippant and hardly consoling, and the doctor is hazy about the facts. Which would be unacceptable, but is exacerbated by her seeming specialization in women's health and natal development.

However, this could be extremely biased and they could only find these two semi-incompetent workers. Who knows.

Thirdly, it pains me to read the comments, with consequentialists arguing (more declaring) that this is wrong and that those who do this shall be smote by God, or worse, should be tried as murderers.

I respect their passion and opinion, however the sheer force of their speech (rather than the force of their argument, which is infact flimsy) makes me cringe. Why do people like this exist?

I suppose, in a word - biological diversity.

And well, it makes me angry because they could be so much better. So much more tolerant of new ideas.

Thankfully the law isn't too old-fashioned. (I hope.)

I looked up Planned Parenthood, and it was exactly what I thought it would be.

 The spokeswoman doesn't have all the answers. That's inevitable. Yet people assume that the professionals will always have all the answers.

So much so, there's a word for symptoms with an unknown cause:

Idiopathic 

Love wikipedia for simple, unreliable knowledge.

Coming back to people who assume moral dilemmas are cut and dry - take the reverse.

If I were to assume that issue is cut and dry, from my perspective I would legalize assisted suicide, euthanasia, and abortion at any age.

Nevermind the socio-cultuo-ideological ramifications. This is a "simple" concept - why can't you understand it?

In fact, science in isolation, medicine in isolation is so simple. You're applying sciences here and there to understand the world. But in isolation, how can medicine exist? Medicine exists because humans are fragile, humans need to be understood, and we're curious about it.

I suppose what I mean is that anything in isolation is simple. A cog. A spring. A sprocket.

And by that logic, we are all just atoms.

We are all atoms - atoms are inanimate - so are we actually alive?

What makes us 'alive'?

Is that question relevant? I don't think so.

From Murakami:

"I move, therefore I am."

Hoping I get more answers to these lonely problems.

I had a thought.

It was in the car this morning.

But then I forgot it because I missed my train, so I couldn't meet up with Kwanza at the trainstation.

Which was a bit awkward.

Still made it to my lecture on pelvic anatomy.

Lots of people were laughing and giggling all throughout a video detailing the circumstances of two pregnant, 15yo girls.

It was disturbing to say the least. I didn't find anything funny.

Apparently, an older man GP in a rural setting who touches a girl on the shoulder is scandalous.

Also scandalous: Resting your face on your right fist, and your right elbow is on the table, while talking to someone.

It's a bit rude, for sure, but...

My cohort makes me pretty angry sometimes.

Also, the partying nature of a lot of people in said cohort.

I wonder if I'm intolerant, or if they're as bad as I think they are.

Reading Haruki Murakami's 1Q84.

It's set in 1984.

It makes a few references to Orwell.

But the coolest thing is that 1Q84 is sorta like... a parallel universe.

Plus, 9 = kyu = Q.

Seems a lot of people have the book too.

I think Murakami will be remembered as a brilliant postmodern novelist and will be taught in schools alongside Shakespeare.

Well, that is if the DEC gets their act together and shakes off the John Howard, anti-pomo sentiments.

Anyway, that's enough from me. Time to revise the anatomy of the pelvis.

Ilium, Ischium, Pubis!

Hoping you guys are doing well.

Hospital cheapnening.

St. Vincent's hospital was interesting. It almost didn't feel like a hospital.

Except there was Aquim hand sanitiser everywhere.

Like actually everywhere.

Nothing particularly exciting going on but, with all the Christian thingummies all over the hospital (including an office for "pastoral services") I couldn't help wonder if religion is there just to make people feel better.

Does it cheapen the value of an institution if it only has a sole purpose?

It seems that way.

I wonder if sometimes tradition also cheapens the value of something. Words, physical objects, or in this case, forcing anachronism on institutions.

I wonder how many patients end up in the private or public hospital, and are atheist?

It's the middle of the city, so possibly a whole lot.

Either way, it should be irrelevant to who I am and what I do.

Also, I just thought of something the other day - I don't see Christians as Christians unless they are incredibly obnoxious, or stubborn or intolerant, etc. etc.

Sorry to those who want to be seen foremost as Christians, but I see you has a human being, first and foremost. With wants and needs, just like everyone else.

To me, it doesn't make sense the cheapen who you are as an individual by insisting you belong to a group that encompasses millions.

That's like saying:

"Hi, I'm a first year medical student, a gamer and a writer. My name is Neku."

The slight difference is that most of the time, you would introduce yourself by your name first.

Names are important. Names mean individual people.

Anyway, that's my hospital journey.

Oh and I semi-broke a pair of business shoes. Sigh. So much walking.

I'll need to get that shoe glue right? :(

Hoping that the glue is relatively cheap.