Saturday 12 March 2011

Life, the Universe and Everything.

HELLO!
I know, I know, in my absence the blogging world became a desolate, post-apocalyptic desert, where hope and happiness ceased to exist. But I am back now, fear not.
So my last post was over a month ago- it's going to take some serious work to figure out what's happened since then...
  • Exams: I passed! Yaaaay :) Though a collective decision was made with the housemates to stuff ourselves on pizza the night before results, just in case we failed and couldn't have pizza after getting them. This worked out well. Pizza and general relief over two days
  • Wolves crew: Went home the weekend after results, for an extended 4 day weekend, which was utterly awesome. Highlights included Hasan (Now 5) calling me a princess (*Oh, stop it*); Baby Bear still going cross eyed when he eats; Baby Bear starting to walk a few steps at a time before wobbling and collapsing; my mum being awesome and buying avocado just for me (I LOVE AVOCADOES); Talking at Aunty Em whilst she drifted off to sleep; Spending an evening with Aunty Em, my youngest aunty, and baby cousins (this involved a lot of food being smeared over computers etc); and a trip to Bradford with my mum and ALL the aunties, which again involved baby cousins smearing food everywhere, and was rather funny. Oh, and eating was basically continuous over the four days. All in all, best weekend in a while :D
  • Hospital visits: Yes, so we've started going to the hospital one day a week, and this is eventful but very interesting! And I enjoy it more than I thought I would. Highlights from this have included doing a cardiovascular exam on a very cute old guy who kept trying to make me look at his stomach, and then decided he wanted me to see the scar in his groin @_@ Ouch. I mean, you scream, 'NO!' but sometimes it's just not quick enough. Another cringe moment was the doctor making all seven of us feel a woman's femoral pulse (Found by poking people deep in the groin) one by one. I felt more sorry for the woman, to be honest. She told me I had lovely cool hands @_@ Yes. That would be the excessive hand sweating due to mass nerves. At least I'll be a hit with the patients ¬_¬
  • Hospital clothes: I have had to dress smart for all the hospital visits. Which may make me look even shorter than I am. Ahem. And wearing a stethoscope round my neck just makes me feel like a fraud. Though I did work out a way of being able to wear my stethoscope under my scarf without trying out any of the complicated Youtube Tutorial ways! :D *Pride*
  • Student Selected Module: Arts in Medicine has been suspiciously easy so far... We've had 'fun' sessions where we've done creative writing, others where we've just watched videos of Medical dramas, and the next one is about humour in Medicine, and we've got to take in a funny clip from a medical programme. I mean, I'm enjoying it, but just waiting for the truckload of work to be dumped on me when it's time to do the 3000 word essay that will be the assessment for this module.
  • Parks and Recreation: Is officially brilliant :D I started watching it last year, then couldn't finish it because my computer died. But now I've caught up and it's just awesome. Watch Parks and Recreation! Almost as good/funny as the Office...
  • Newsnight: And other politics related issues,and ANYTHING to do with sports invariably makes me drowsy. Just no. Although I do now have a small understanding of terms like 'Innings' in cricket. And that is more than Enough. :)
  • Gone Baby Gone: is great. Though decidedly one of the most ultimately depressing films of all time.
  • Slobness: Clearly I have become a slob, judging by the last few points and how I do nothing other than sit on my bed and work, or sit on my bed and eat. But it's all good! :)
  • Stupid recurring headaches: I have had one every day of this week ¬_¬ Aside from becoming paranoid due to having studied the various sinister causes of a recurring headache, it is also just pissing me off. I am experimentally cutting out Robinsons Orange and Pineapple squash, despite it being amazing, just to see if that's causing it ¬_¬ More on this story later.
  • Childbirth video: ....Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that birth is a beautiful experience and the most magical thing in the world, etc. But when you get sat down in a lecture theatre, and they play you a video from the Seventies of a woman giving birth, and it pulls out all the stops because apparently as medical students we need ALL the gory details... I...Just... *Shudders*. @_@ I was not able to eat for several days.
And that's about it. Or the trauma of the video has erased anything else I was going to say. So yeah! I shall not leave it so ridiculously late to update next time! :)
*WAAAAVES*

19 comments:

  1. Yey! Congratulations for passing :)
    Ew to the childbirth video. We're learning about that too - they keep showing us photos of a baby's head pushing through the vagina. They also seem to love telling us how much pain we're going to be in...
    Hope your headache gets better :)
    :D

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  2. I think you meant the blogging world came to a standstill due to MY non-blogging-ness but it's cool...
    Yay for passing exams and hospital visits even if you do probably look a foot shorter! =D
    Stop being so slobby =P And so glad you're liking all three of my recommendations there, Parks & Rec, Gone Baby Gone and Newsnight. Totally gone up in my esteem (yes, it's still possible lol).
    As for avocadoes...they have finally been promoted officially. Happy?!
    =D

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  3. Yuk to the birthing vids, talk about horror , surely you don't need to be punished for choosing medicine not midwifery! I was 8 months pregnant when I saw one, I left after 5 min, to take an extremely imp call and never went back. What are they thinking?? It's like pshce lessons all over again in year 10, crrrringggge!! Ehrm so avacados? It's gotta be! They are yummy. Oh and yey to the stethoscope dilemma, now you just need a hood of some sort you can pull over your eyes when they show you more birthing vids. Sorry I'm still traumatised.

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  4. It'sComplicated: Hello! Thank you :) And oh my god, I know. Just traumatic. I was dead set on adoption for a while (I may well still be). And the headache was better yesterday- but can't tell if it's because I didn't walk to uni, or stayed out the sun, or cut out the damn Robinsons, lol.

    Emadness:I know what I meant ¬_¬ lol. Okay,
    I'm liking 2 out of 3 of your recommendations and you know this, but yes, I can totally understand me going up in your esteem :P ..Really? Yes. lol. YOU PROMOTED AVOCADOES :D It's not enough though, you've got to try them! :D

    Aunty Em: Haha, I can understand that we needed to know this stuff, but the fact they showed us a grainy seventies video where everyone looked like the Yorkshire Ripper was horrendous :P Haha! You didn't need to see that dammit! Cringe indeed. Avocadoes are AWESOME. Oh, hood not necessary, I actually covered my eyes at one (or several) points due to the horror. So did most of the lecture theatre, lol.

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  5. I doubt childbirth is that bad....=P
    Hello Aunty Em!
    And wow. Watching such a video when you're 8 months in...!
    Talk about courage! >_<

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  6. Hey Emad me ole mucker! How are you? Hope you are not shown explicit vids in your degree! But im just thinking...sad chemistry lecturers?? The only offensive thing I remember during my chem degree was the dress sense oh and sad fascination with the damn subject. Anyway hope you are good all the way up in the north. Yes about the vid, I was 8 months pregnant, it wasnt part of the plan, I was expecting a cheesy number about facilities at hospital etc. I nearly died as did my marriage!! And yes its not that bad, its severely overated. A walk in the park. Humaira: dont worry, hardly a doc or medic in sight during these things, midwifes are trained to do it all, even minor ops, so relax...! What is it about the seventies dress and hair? and the glasses?!! How can you do everyday things with glasses that big? lol. Have a great week at uni you guys!

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  7. Emad doubts childbirth is bad....let him try it then!
    Also there are videos on youtube about stethoscopes? *goes to investigate*
    Miss you!
    Oh and well done with your exams xx

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  8. Haha, Aunty Em- total essay there :P I am much less scared now, and less inclined to adopt after your reassurance, thank you! :D So true about the damn glasses...¬_¬

    Bryony- Hello! :D I'm on about videos that show scarf-wearing girls how to pin their scarves so that they can wear a stethoscope without taking five minutes to find their ears, or looking like Shrek. It's all about logistics, lol. Trust me, I have struggled previously. Couldn't find my ears in a practical exam once- the fake patient was just sat staring. Awkward. Thanks on the exams, I miss you too! Hope you're okay :) xxx

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  9. Hello!! I am well thanks. How are you doing? Oh dear...chemistry. Just...one or two of the lecturers. One of them is from Liverpool, so you know how bad things are for me! "Offensive" dress sense? As in, looking back everyone dressed awfully etc? But it is all going well thanks. So glad to know others have survived through chemistry. Then again I have 50% biology to help me out =P
    Well glad you made it out safely and everything went well nonetheless =) Even though I'm sure it isn't exactly a pain-free process, everyone (well, woman/mother) says it's worth it all in the end.
    =)

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  10. (P.S. Aunty Em - Totally forgot to say how AWFUL physical chemistry is. Which did you like/dislike the most out of organic/inorganic and physical?)

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  11. Sorry Humaira... Emad ello! Physical chem was terrible! Our entire group failed 1 particular exam, so our lecturer was investigated... anyway we all had to do 10 remedial sessions to compensate so there was no getting away!! Organic was my favourite, I loved the practicals. Analytical practicals were good too. Inorganic was difficult but we had a great lecturer who made it okay. In the end I chose chem eng. Do you have the option? That is amazing! (humaira snores loudly in background) Oh and check out george michaels new single, its amazing! Its a cover of a New Order track back in the 90s...ehrm. Sorry about the essay, theres so much to bloody talk about.

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  12. Oh Humaira, we have new neighbours. I saw them unloading their stuff so I thought now or never. After rehearsing it in my head, I walked out with baby bear in hand and said 'HELLO' quite loudly and then with teeth clenched ' welcome to the neighbourhood, hope everything is going ok' seriously that doesnt sound too bad but it was all monotone and akwardness. I tried. *hangs head*

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  13. Wow! How I would want one of my lecturers investigated also! I like organic too! And yeah, inorganic is difficult but one of the lecturers for that module keeps the ball going really well. Well I'm taking a joint honours degree so half of what I do is chemistry and the other half biology. I have to stick to it - which I don't mind because it's what I want =)
    When did you switch to chem engineering? What was that like?
    ...You are aware neither Hummus or I would touch George Michael with a red hot poker, right? =P
    =)

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  14. Remember me..?! This used to be my blog @_@

    LOL at the neighbours- don't worry, I can picture the awkwardness :) You trying to be all suburban and taking Baby Bear over.. *shakes head*.. shameful :P
    And I will give the George Michael the benefit of the doubt and at least look into it :P

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  15. LOL george michael... I know most people wouldnt. I wont ruin our new found bloggy friendship. At least you are trying Humaira... but dont feel obliged... you sound akward. bless ya.xx And yes I was trying to make it look incidental... it was a disaster! Havent seen neighbours since!
    Back to Emad... I chose Chem Eng after the sandwich year I think. I used to get better marks than the lads in my group which was a buzz. We had an iranian lecturer who was brilliant and cool. Chem Eng was so interesting, it was all chemical reactors, calc energy loss in flue systems, using logs to calc energy efficiency in equipment. I absolutely loved it. Do u think its your cup of tea?

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  16. Hey! Congratulations on the exams, that's so great! I kept getting recurring migraines for a while and discovered it was because of perfume @_@. So I'd be lying there with my hand flung over my eyes, unwittingly inhaling the damn stuff... What exactly are the many sinister causes of recurring headaches D:?! And, oh dear God @ the birthing video O_O. Definitely a process thought up by a man.

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  17. Wow, so you did a year out and your degree was a BEng? ACE! =D
    So cool that you got better marks than the males. (It's still a "male" subject but there is quite a high number of girls in my year. I think...)
    I now want a brilliant and cool Iranian lecturer! Especially after having a veeery boring Moroccan lecturer for biology last semester, *yawn*.
    Nein, I definitely wouldn't want to go into something like that but am always super-impressed whenever someone else does. So again: wow!
    I want to do post-grad medicine =)

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  18. Well being a lass it didn't quite work out. I couldn't get an industrial placement so decided to transfer to primary teaching. There's a lot of sexism in the chemistry industry, I had a lot of it when going for interviews etc. I felt deflated and even though my cool Iranian lecturer gave me the entire chem eng lab to work in, I felt rubbish, my male peers were making thousands and had jobs lined up. So I left in my 3rd year and didn't even do my grsc exams, I transferred to a teaching degree and the uni gave me a HND cos of my credits etc. So I should have had a BSc with chem eng, but hey I love my job, but part of me is still a chemist, ask humaira!!
    Wow that's amazing about your post grad med. I wish you all the best. It's a good choice, there are not many jobs going in the UK for chemists. Chem eng jobs are abroad so you do right by doing post grad, at least you are guaranteed a job. Sometimes practicality has to overtake passion.

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  19. Damn them! =/ But at least there were some people there with some sense i.e. your cool lecturer. After all, an Asian girl wanting to do chemical engineering? They must definitely not have seen that coming - well done nonetheless! Quite awesome =D
    Teaching! So wonderful =) And glad there is a fired-up chemist still in there =P
    And oh nein, I originally applied for medicine but you know, let's leave exam marking fiascos to be discussed for another day lol. (Ask Hummus for the details lol.) So the passion is still there, don't worry - just like you clearly also have passion for chemistry.
    =)

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