tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40082643550280022912024-02-19T04:11:10.684+00:00Chariots On Fire"This isn't flying- this is falling...with style!"Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-50087032148992352552013-03-20T00:06:00.002+00:002013-03-20T00:06:09.782+00:00CUE GASPAnd like the hermit crab emerging from his...crab-ness... so I emerge back into the world. Ahem. I'm a poet at heart, don't you know.<br />
<br />
So my last post was pre exams. I started my revision in October. Yes. October. For an exam at the end of February. And I have only just moved past my post traumatic stress disorder, including horrendous failure-nightmares, and exam flashbacks, in order to write this post. Just...where has my life gone. <br />
<br />
I did not dare tempt fate by typing a blog post in the meantime, because obviously, if I did fail, it would be due to the thirty minutes I spent that one evening writing on my blog. But all that's over now, I did indeed pass and this is awesome and somewhat unbelievable but also in a way I should bloody think so too considering the large fraction of my life that I gave to becoming an overweight hermit crab. Who got so overweight that she was stuck in her...crab-ness (SHELL, thats the word), and couldn't get out again. There I go, snowballing. Stop talking Humaira.<br />
<br />
Where was I...oh yeah, I passed! And am now a final year medic @_@ And in just over a year, could be handling peoples lives. Which is a little bit shit-scary. But trust me with your lives. Ahem. *Confidence-inspiring, winning smile*<br />
<br />
Let us have a think about what's happened since...October... This could take some serious thinking, which is beyond my brain capacity at the moment. Having a saturated brain has a dementia type effect on you, seriously.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>My cute squishy lump of a baby brother grew by 4 months! He is now prone
to make his views known on all subjects, whether we can understand him
or not thank-you-very-much. He becomes particularly excited when one of
us is on the phone, somehow interpreting this as a request to him to
become personally involved in that conversation, and prompting a spew of
excited babble and giggles. Anything that takes solid and grasp-able
form is fair game to be eaten, and he finds this an excellent rule to
live by. He has also discovered the association between cars, and the
word 'car', and has taken, rather adorably, to whispering 'KA' in
hushed, excited tones whenever a car drives by. </li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His favourite part of that Elmer? The label. Seriously. </td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2q4xax0uqfp6-qQDueiO8hskk1pT8jGuM46eaCbI29Fk-denGG-GVr8Z9bdyKsn1OxgWx9gc812vWfWL_nIgw0eR2Sj2XvG_-KECl_NiXH_hAK7ihCxW6e8Yt2r1AqOcPLVyyCBAYKZD/s1600/2013-02-09+09.44.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2q4xax0uqfp6-qQDueiO8hskk1pT8jGuM46eaCbI29Fk-denGG-GVr8Z9bdyKsn1OxgWx9gc812vWfWL_nIgw0eR2Sj2XvG_-KECl_NiXH_hAK7ihCxW6e8Yt2r1AqOcPLVyyCBAYKZD/s320/2013-02-09+09.44.12.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>...Okay, seriously, that little fatty is all that is going on in my life. Can you blame me though?! How squishy. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I am currently on A&E! I will let you know how this goes, since today was only my first day, but have to say it's cool to feel like a real doctor and be helping out with things, and making decisions about patients. So Yay for that. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I desperately need to write something fictional. Anything. ANYTHING. Have to get medicine out of my head for short periods of time! But I find that when I do, I just get mental scenes of tumbleweed :( </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuydRgVxWg4" target="_blank">THIS</a> is the most awesome thing I've heard in a long time. My favourite line is about the two year olds. But it's all genius. I love it so much. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I randomly came across <a href="http://chariotsonfire-humaira.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/back-and-more-sane-than-in-previous.html" target="_blank">this old blog post from first year</a>. It was somewhat scary to read... I feel my blog reads differently now. What has happened to me etc. Also, so much boundless enthusiasm back in first year, I'm surprised at myself! Pull it together, Past Humaira. You also sound different, Emad. Though the reduction in deadpanning is an improvement :P </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Aaaand...I'm done with life updates :) Totally listen to 'Be with You' by Owsley because it's awesome and yes alright okay Emad does have good taste. </li>
</ul>
In a while, crocodiles! <br />
Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-70275555654219265922012-10-16T19:51:00.003+01:002012-10-16T19:51:48.992+01:00Countdown in the Early HoursIt is indeed October! But I made no promises, so shhhhh. Shush, gawwd! I have a life you know ¬_¬ Can't be keeping up with all this blogging malarkey, it won't stand up as an excuse for failing the year. ('THE BLOGOSPHERE NEEDED ME' etc.) <br />
<br />
Anyway :)<br />
<br />
Since the last post, I have gained little knowledge, even less wisdom, and waaay more weight than I am comfortable admitting. I mean, come on metabolism. It's not even like I'm eating any different, and if anything I'm exercising more than I was. But no, my body likes to play a cruel game known as lets-see-how-much-heavier-we-can-get-before-humaira-cracks-and-buys-a-gym-membership. I mean, it's not that I dislike the idea of a gym, I'd love to go. I just hate being around other people at this sensitive time of increased weight. Nobody who's in the gym looks like they need to be there, which can be a bit soul destroying ¬_¬ That and I refuse to join any kind of 'class' because I have a thing about needing to be in the back corner of a room so that nobody is behind me or even looking at me without my knowledge. Otherwise I feel hemmed in and horrifically self conscious. So classes are not happening. Neuroses, eh. What fun.<br />
<br />
Let me think, then, what has happened...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Did I mention I got a car in my last post?! I can't remember and can't be arsed checking, but I have a car now, wooooo! :D It means I can just drive home every week which is awesome, and I'm kind of enjoying the driving solo, it's peaceful. Beats the train by a million miles- I think I'm allowed to rub that in as I was punished by the trains for 4 years, which is longer than anyone should have to put up with National Rail and it's Lack of Train Times. Also the car is a he, and he is called Fernando, and we are great friends and, I like to think, Partners in Crime. Just like Michael Knight and Kit :D </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> My cute squishy adorable lump of a baby brother has just gotten chubbier and cuter and smilier and now sort of laughs and is generally happy at anything. He also discovered that he has a voice, and vocalises enthusaistically in response to any noise whatsoever. Seriously, any. The other day he full on serenaded the hoover as my mum went past with it. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>My 24 month phone contract, which has ensured that I am the only person left in the UK without a smartphone, is due for upgrade next week, which means I can fiiiinally get WhatsApp and whatever else you do with these newfangled phone devices... </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> I read Life of Pi which is officially being added to my list of Best Books Ever that Changed My Life, along with Mister Pip and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. It was just so ridiculously good and you absolutely have to read it especially since there's a film coming out pretty soon, and I'm sure it'll be a let down and I will cry but at least you'll have read the book and it will have changed your life :D *And breathe* </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I actually successfully took blood and cannulated various patients! Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means in any way 'good' at it, but I'm taking my occasional successes as miracles, and my frequent failures as 'well that patient just had really bad veins anyway'. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>This block is awesome- and that's saying something, haven't really enjoyed a full block before. It's GI/Metabolic/Renal, so it's a bit of everything and generally all the patients are elderly people with diabetes. But it's awesome because the ward I've been placed on has the loveliest junior doctors ever, who really look out for us and totally sympathise with the awfulness of being a Med Student on the ward (you're just in everyone's way, seriously). So yeah, they've really made us part of the ward, we help out on ward rounds, take bloods, do cannulas, and actually feel of use. Nice people man. We're not used to doctors being nice to us. Initially I flinched every time the FY1 turned to speak to me. Like an abused puppy. Yes. But I'm better now :') </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The next block is GP which should be..interesting! I kind of want to be a GP so it'll be the moment of truth. Or 7 weeks of truth. Fun. I feel like the niceness of the GP I'm placed with could make or break it for me, because 7 weeks of hell would probably influence whether you pursued it as a career, so reeeeally hoping he's nice. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Had an interesting conversation with friends yesterday- I will be turning 22 soon, and my friend said 'Oh, your best year is almost over then. 21 was the best year of my life.' Okay, 21 was definitely not the best year of my life- my mum was a wreck for most of it, and whilst I'm totally and utterly ridiculously grateful for the cute little lump of smiley adorable-ness that is my baby brother, he caused us a bucketload of stress and a half. And it didn't even stop when he was born! So no, not the best year. I then realised I can't really think of a 'best year'. My other friend just shrugged and said I hadn't had it yet. Which was a nice thought :) Because I was panicking somewhat, thinking it'd happened and I hadn't noticed. The fact that I didn't even consider not having had it yet probably says something about living in the past and optimism etc. In conclusion: NOTE TO SELF, BE MORE OPTIMISTIC AND FORWARD LOOKING INNIT. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Oh god, so Doctor Who...THE PONDS, NOOOOOO! I found that <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/all-the-gifs-youll-need-to-express-your-doctor-wh-725b">this</a> really helped me to express the horror and despair. Ugly sobbing indeed. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I am getting dangerously close to huuuuuge exams that are just so unfathomably difficult that it will be a miracle if I don't cardiac-arrest midway through the whole thing. Just *horror* </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>And just because:</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awwwwwww look at his little feeeet! Because baby feet are not as repulsive as adult feet. </td></tr>
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Also, I am totally loving this song, massively. I know Radio 1's liking it at the moment so you may have heard it, but if not, watch! And if you have, watch again! If only for his amazing massive hair :D It just sounds so good. <br />
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So yeah, woo! I shall be off now! I wish you all well! I say all, I mean, Aunty Em/Rosie/ Lexie/Emadness are probably the only people who read, but I wish the four of you and anyone else who stumbles here well! Drop me a line and let me know how you are :) Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-68308116631204818992012-08-10T23:05:00.000+01:002012-08-10T23:05:35.205+01:00Pitter Patter...So I've been absent for like a year, but you knew this would happen. I have an excuse, as ever, but it's a slightly better one than usual. This excuse weighs about 10lbs 9oz, and has a tendency to projectile milk with surprising accuracy.<br />
<br />
Yes. I had a child.<br />
<br />
I joke, I joke. But there IS a baby! At 21, I have become an older sister for the third time. Before I start going on about how cute he is (awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-), I would just like to get all the terrifying maths out of the way. Yes, when he's 10, I will be 31. When he's 21, I will be 42. By the time he's 30 I'll be over half a century @_@ I have kind of almost somewhat come to terms with the fact that my family, which had just about settled down, with me and brother at uni and younger brother midway through high school, now has to start all over again. All our memories and nostalgia are going to be meaningless to him, we have to create a whole new set of memories for this tiny little bundle that has arrived in our house.<br />
<br />
And yet, it's totally lovely. Our home, which was getting quieter and quieter what with two of us away at uni and one teenager increasingly confined to his room, is now filled with the kind of warmth and light and noise that only seems to come with a baby. I've been lucky enough to have holidays for the last 3 weeks and the next fortnight, and I don't think I can bear to leave him and go back!<br />
<br />
He is a total Bear, seriously. Five weeks old now. He snuffles and sneezes (in twos, always) and whimpers and scrunches his face up and frowns, and occasionally cracks a huge, adorable, toothless smile. He is the new centre of our lives and we are all totally smitten by him. I didn't want to put a proper photo because I'm wary of plastering his face all over the internet, but just so you can appreciate his adorable bear-ness and babygrow...<br />
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So the reason I Kept That One Quiet is that my mum was very unwell for most of the 9 months, and we weren't actually sure it'd work out. Thankfully it was all good, though the last few weeks have been horrendous, as my mum has been bedbound for a lot of it. Since her recovery has been so slow, I have had to step in for a lot of the baby-care-related-things. This has been...educational...<br />
<br />
Things that I have learnt, then, having acquired a new baby brother and been mostly in charge of him:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Nappy changing is a dangerous, dangerous game.</li>
<li>The care one takes to avoid certain projectile nappy situations (see 'strategic placement of baby wipes over certain areas of anatomy') is directly proportional to the likelihood one will be hit with a jet stream of wee. </li>
<li>Emergency baths, following projectile nappy situations, will start out as a careful procedure involving smiles and shampoo and baby moisturiser, but after the 94th emergency bath, will consist of repeatedly dunking the baby in question into a large bucket of water like a giant biscuit. </li>
<li>I can now make bottles of formula milk on autopilot, to the point of walking into the kitchen half asleep, and coming to as I'm walking back out again with a bottle all made up. Totally Bourne.</li>
<li>Babies need to be winded. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. </li>
<li>Nappy rash is the most horrific ailment known to mankind. And Sudacrem is the saviour.</li>
<li>I have established my own baby talk. It disconcerts certain people, ahem, but it's established now. Nothing I can do about it. </li>
<li>If one discovers that a certain gesture makes baby smile, one will never tire of repeating said gesture, however much slapstick self harm it involves. </li>
<li>I have new respect for new mums. I see them in the street and feel the urge to wrap my arms around them, saying 'It's okay, I <i>know</i>.'</li>
<li>I WANT a papoose.</li>
<li>A 21 year age gap means that people are inevitably going to assume that this baby is my child, whenever I am without my mum. I find myself being repeatedly congratulated in shopping centres, and getting 'aww bless' smiles from old women. I'm not complaining, but the subsequent explanation tends to get a little awkward. </li>
<li>That baby smell ^_^ awwwwwwwwwwww</li>
<li>Our house is no longer a coherent house with rooms separated by function
(kitchen, living, dining) etc. Every single room has become baby
oriented. The Room for making Bottles, the Room for Changing Nappies,
the Room for Emergency Baths... </li>
<li>Baaaaby clothes....Oh my god, so <i>cute! </i>I melt every time I'm shopping. </li>
<li>Forget feminism, I wish to give up everything and just be a stay at home mum. Seriously. I want one. It's ridiculous.</li>
</ul>
There are many other things I've learnt, but I'm conscious that I am rambling, and that not everyone wants to hear about the adorable little things that babies do. Even if it's all I'm going to talk about in this post. Ahem.<br />
Don't get me wrong, it's been the most stressful time of my life so far, all this anticipation of baby, then mum's health scares, then mum in and out of hospital, me having to take time off uni, then mum being in a bad way. It all added up. But he definitely makes it all worth it. And my mum is improving, and so it's all good!<br />
<br />
So yeah... It's been one of those major life-trajectory-changing events.. We're all re-evaluating where we stand in light of this new development. I keep worrying about not being present for a big part of his formative years- after all, I'm just about flying the nest! Yeesh. How can I make time to be around and spoil him?! And how am I meant to stay all hip and cool when I'm 21 years older?! What the hell man. But we'll make it work. I guess it's just that we lack a blueprint- I don't know of anyone else who's been in this situation. But just because it's unchartered territory, doesn't mean it has to be a bad thing. We've never been more happy or more thankful, especially because we know how touch and go it was for the last 9 months.<br />
<br />
So..I guess, in conclusion: Welcome to the world, babybear. It is so lovely to finally meet you. <br />
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</div>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-68027787859155267072012-06-10T22:07:00.001+01:002012-06-10T22:07:50.882+01:00You've got a smile that could light up this whole townHello there! It has not been like fifty weeks...Shh! <br />
<br />
So I feel I should acknowledge the weather, since it's really outdone itself, even by the standards of weather-PMS we're used to here in not-so-sunny England. What the hell happened?! I swear, just two weeks ago I was sat in the garden with a Solero, reading a book, dressed like a girl, and steadily getting sunburnt, as follows: <br />
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Yes I did wear socks. Because one should never, ever be without socks (preferably stripy ones). Feet are just horrible.<br />
<br />
But then, just like that, it was gone. Like the sky got shy or something and was like 'STOP LOOKING AT MY BLUE-NESS, I CAN'T TAKE IT, I MUST RETURN TO GREY AND REMIND THESE PEOPLE OF THE MEANING OF OVERCAST AND DAMP'<br />
Apologies, I am in a strange mood.<br />
<br />
Which allows me to segue shamelessly into the fact that I have just started my psychiatry block, woo! Haven't met patients yet, we're still having introductory lectures, but it is all massively interesting and I really have been enjoying learning all this random new stuff abotu mood disorders etc. Also I'm pretty sure I have many traits of Generalised Anxiety Disorder. But then, a large number of us self-diagnosed ourselves with some kind of psychiatric condition by the end of the first day. Maybe we're all just hypochondriacs- another psychiatric condition. Ahem. Steam coming out of ears. <br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I feel like I never really acknowledged the surgery block being over- let's just say the highlight of it was getting to hold someone's small intestines out of the way (The surgeon needed space to work in the abdomen so just piled the intestines onto the patient's chest). This was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. Intestines are warm @_@ And as I was holding them, they were actually moving, kind of like worms, beneath my fingers!!! I thought something was wrong and that the patient's intestines had come alive to strangle me, but realised eventually that I was actually seeing peristalsis, the natural contraction of the intestines in order to move food along. Mind = BLOWN. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Also got to cut a few stitches/feel a few intestinal tumours before they were removed. I have decided never to be a surgeon though. The main reason for this is that once you're scrubbed up, your hands are sterile so you can't touch anything, not even your mask to adjust it. So naturally my mask rode up my face repeatedly, and pushed up at my eyelashes, causing me to be blinded by eye-irritation until I plucked up the courage to ask the nurses to lower my mask for me. Naturally, it had ridden up again within seconds of them pulling it down and I didn't have the guts (OH, PUN INTENDED) to ask them again. </div>
<br />
I BOUGHT THIS AWESOME BAG/SATCHEL THING<br />
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My dad approved of it more than is normal for him...or for any male, really. I was walking around with it in the store in the way you do when you try on new shoes, and caught my dad looking over and giving me massive thumbs up and a hugely happy expression. I was impressed by this, as he doesn't tend to acknowledge that I am a female.</div>
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I have got into Arrested Development! It is utterly brilliant, and so, so funny. Will Arnett and David Cross are my favourite things about it, but I had to put in this clip. Generally the premise is that Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) tries to cope with his hugely dysfunctional family. A running joke through the series is that none of Michael's family seem to know what a chicken looks/sounds like, so whenever someone calls Michael a chicken and subsequently attempts to imitate one, it's disastrous/hilarious. Observe: </div>
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Also, listen/re-listen to this, as it is totally awesome :D<br />
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I Shall return with a verdict on Psychiatry block! Just give it a few weeks.<br />
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In a while, crocodiles!<br />
:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-69455033950551950872012-05-06T16:50:00.001+01:002012-05-06T16:50:35.985+01:00Because Poppet is the best term of endearment ever.Well, hello there. We meet again. I've been expecting you, Mr Bond. Etc :)<br />
<br />
It has been a strange two weeks, fluctuating between days where literally nothing has happened and I've come home from the hospital depressed, and days that are so weirdly intense I haven't stopped talking about them. For some background, I am now doing the surgery block, which I had been dreading due to hating the idea of surgery in general, and also the faff of having to change into and out of scrubs etc. So brace yourselves, because I am going to go onnn and onnn, lol . <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Intensive care</b></li>
</ul>
So the first week of the block was spent in ICU. It was a massive change for me, being on a ward where you can't just wonder round taking histories from patients and being all smiley, because near enough every patient is sedated/comatose/seriously ill. Over the week I became accustomed to their faces, who had deteriorated overnight, and who was improving.<br />
<br />
Some patients had their sedation lifted- I found it strange to walk in and find a patient who I'd observed sedated for the past three days, awake and talking to nurses. It was a massive relief, but he had no knowledge of what he'd been through. Just two nights ago, his potassium levels had become dangerously high and his blood pH had dropped very low, and his bed area had been flooded with doctors and nurses, all trying to stabilise him. He had no idea that they were the reason he'd made it to today.<br />
<br />
And then there was a patient who had been on ICU for a very long time, gradually deteriorating for some reason that the doctors couldn't explain- they had tried every course of treatment for every possible disease they could think of, but he just kept getting worse. People look so small in hospital beds- he was frail anyway, but it was so sad to see him almost lost in a vast array of tubes, monitors, needles, and venous and arterial lines. We did the ward round with the doctors, and each morning they were at a loss for him. Worse still, his family were unable to accept that in these modern times, a solution could not be found. Who could blame them? The doctors eventually sat them down and explained that they were considering stopping treatment. I passed the family later that day- they were all stood outside the ward, crying. I couldn't even meet their gazes, it was horrible. The patient died at the end of the week, quietly at some point in the night.<br />
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It's very hard to detach yourself from cases like these- you're encouraged to be somewhat distanced, because otherwise the amount of trauma you'd take on would likely stop you functioning as a doctor. At the moment though, I'd rather be fully involved, and feel every loss, and terminal diagnosis as sharply as though I know these people personally- because in future that feeling will almost certainly be blunted by a massive workload and sheer weariness of experience. Better to let yourself be affected and sympathetic now, than never understand what patients are going through. And as a student, what can you do for patients but offer a bit of comfort and empathy, anyway? The doctors would if they had the time, but they don't. It's the only way we can help at the moment, and in a way its one of the most important things to offer. <br />
<ul>
<li><b>Surgery</b></li>
</ul>
So we saw some surgeries for the first time this week. I have always been completely sure that I never want to be a surgeon, and it still stands. I have to admit though, that surgery is pretty amazing in that it literally is butchery. As one of the lecturers said to us, surgeons are causing a trauma to the body in the same way that car accidents cause trauma to the body. The only difference is that they cause it in a controlled environment. You truly appreciate the fragility of life when you see that people can be patched up/sewn/glued/have bits cut out/have bits added/have bits taken from places and sewn elsewhere, and then return to their lives. The first operations I saw were eye operations- just so intricate and complicated that I had no idea what was going on. They were correcting people's squints (where one eye points out in a different direction), and to do this you have to shorten certain muscles that control the eye, or reposition them. But you have to be very precise in your measurements, and how many millimetres you move/shorten the muscle by, because obviously if you're slightly out, they will have double vision. Never becoming an eye surgeon. And needless to say, it required a strong stomach not to be repulsed by scalpels in eyes etc.<br />
I have to admit though, as a sidenote, that it felt pretty damn awesome to walk into the hospital restaurant in my blue surgical scrubs, and stand in the lunch queue. I can see why surgeons are totally high on themselves. It's the same kind of glamour reaction a pilot gets walking through an airport. :D <br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
<li><b>Maternity</b>.</li>
</ul>
So the anaesthetist I'm attached to spends some mornings in the maternity operating theatres, and so I was there the other day, wondering like a lost sheep until another anaesthetist ran past and told mine that an emergency caesarian section was going to happen. So mine sent me running (yes, literally running. How embarrassing) after him. I helped him draw up a load of drugs that might be needed into syringes (by 'helped', I mean I opened boxes for him and threw away empty packages, lol). We then entered an operating theatre where, it appeared, all hell had broken loose. Fifty different doctors, surgeons, nurses running around, getting monitors and IV drips and surgical instruments ready. Another set of doors burst open and a very scared, very pregnant lady was wheeled in and helped up onto the operating table. She was still having contractions, but they had found that the baby was in distress for some reason (I wasn't sure why myself, as I didn't know her history) and so they needed to operate quickly or its life would be at risk. Within minutes this team of staff had her hooked up to IV lines, had numbed her from the waist down, had completed the safety checklist before proceeding surgery, had put up a set of drapes so she couldn't see what was happening, and had brought in her husband to hold her hand. And they were ready to start! It was pretty seamless, I was massively impressed with their efficiency. And they were all very reassuring with her as well.<br />
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I tried to stay out of the way, and watched as two surgeons made a large cut below her navel, then more carefully began cutting through layers of muscle and tissue, trying to locate and make an incision in the uterus. The baby is contained within an amniotic sac in the uterus, and just before its born this ruptures (waters breaking etc). But if the kids in distress (e.g. oxygen deprived), it effectively 'poos' a substance called meconium, which turns amniotic fluid green. When these surgeons cut into the sac, a load of very green fluid gushed everywhere, it was..eww. The surgeons then practically wrestled this poor baby out, suctioning all the muck from its mouth, so it could take a deep breath and start crying. After all that tension, it was the most beautiful sound, and everybody visibly relaxed. Mum and dad were congratulated by everyone, and the process began of carefully controlling any bleeding, then sewing the lady back up. Baby was taken to a corner and vigorously rubbed down and warmed, and tested for reflexes. I was pretty spellbound. Miracle of life and all that. Ahem :')<br />
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I left with the anaesthetist after a while, and we began preparing for the next caesarian, which was a planned one. It was amazing to watch- this time the atmosphere was much more relaxed, and controlled. The surgeons took more time since there was none of the urgency of before. And it was twins this time! Just brilliant. My clinical partner and I were practically in tears, both being guilty of over-emotionality at the best of times, lol. We didn't get to see them complete the sewing-back-up phase as we had to leave, but we were on a total high for the rest of the day. Just, how awesome! I am now considering being an obstetrician, despite having only experienced it for three hours, lol. One can dream etc. <br />
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So thats it for major things that have happened! I know, I know, she's shutting up etc. <br />
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And, finally, in other news... I had to include this picture of a neatly abandoned pair of shoes that were near the door of the train I was on. <br />
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...And of the food I made at my uni house! It's a chicken/red pepper/mushroom/spring onion curry type thing. With salad-ness. It was rather nice if I do say so myself :D I'm just proud because I bought the ingredients and made it myself, as opposed to microwaveing/pot noodle-ing my dinner like I usually do, lol. <br />
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And of course, all credit to Emad-ness for the awesomesauce-ness that is this rainbow slinky :D It is a massive source of cheerup. (Yes, my dressing table is messy, shhh)<br />
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I leave you with this, that I was relistening to yesterday (again, thank you to Emadness), and saw a comment that it would be featuring on the Voice, so woo for it being more widely used, despite the guy killing it when I watched the Voice clip ¬_¬ It just sounds so lovely!<br />
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(Also, lastly, I promise- ItsComplicated- I watched that slam poetry American guy and was blown away! Favouritest line EVER- "Death is breathless but poetry's deathless". WOW :D )<br />
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Oh, and rewatch Mrs Doubtfire, everyone!<br />
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In a while, crocodiles!<br />
:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-91489786179589677252012-03-31T16:37:00.001+01:002012-03-31T16:37:46.997+01:00GASP.<br />
Phase 2 has started! And I was kind of dreading it (not least because of the stethoscope-under-headscarf conundrum, which has by the way turned out fine), but it has so far been waaay better than I expected! It definitely beats 2 and a half years of lectures. SO, I am at a hospital in an undisclosed location, but which happens to be the middle of Nowhere, and I have been here several weeks now, and have got to do a hell of a lot of waiting/chasing consultants around/waiting... but also a few VERY COOL THINGS! And so I shall concentrate on these.<br />
<br />
<b>Cool Things What I Have Done/Seen in the Hospital</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Taking blood from NOT ONE, BUT TWO REAL PATIENTS. We're supposed to be able to take blood with our eyes closed (well...not quite) by the end of this year, but since we only trained on plastic arms in October, I was very hesitant to actually try on a real patient. My partner chucked me in at the deep end this week by saying 'HUMAIRA WILL DO IT' when a doctor mentioned that bloods were needed for a patient. Ouch. The first was very gracious when I missed the vein first time (perhaps because I did not disclose that he was the first Live Patient I had to steal blood from), and let me try the other arm, which thank God, I got. The second patient, whose vein I got first time, was incredibly nice about it, and whilst I had an actual needle in his arm said 'Your parents must be very proud of you. They should be, you're doing a great job.' WHILST BEING IMPALED WITH A NEEDLE. I took this as a compliment of double value. He also kept thanking me for taking his blood so well. Totally overinflated my ego. I am now convinced I am the KING OF TAKING BLOOD. (I joke, my inferiority complex remains as strong as ever). </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I got to shock a patient! HOW AWESOME. Now is probably the time to reveal it wasn't all that impressive a deal, since all I did was shout 'clear' and press a button. And it wasn't one of those cardiac arrest saving-a-life scenarios- this was a planned procedure to try to get the patients heart back into rhythm. But still. It works better if all you know is that I got to shock a patient. Just go with the awesome images of me rushing in with those huge black paddles (which incidentally aren't used anymore...the stickers are so unimpressive!) and shouting 'DON'T YOU DIE ON ME TODAY' whilst repeatedly shocking some ridiculously-good-looking young patient with a dramatic backstory back to life. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Our consultant threw me in at the deep end in a clinic by giving me a patient file and saying 'There's a room, see this patient in there, take a history and do an examination and then report your findings to me.' I actually died at this point, since I've taken loads of histories from patients but never been the first person to see them, and I've never had to report my findings and a preliminary diagnosis back to a doctor @_@ A very big deal. But I felt like a total doctor, seeing My Own Patient in a clinic. Also, I thought I could hear a specific kind of heart murmur, but his previous notes said it was a different kind.. But when I reported back to my consultant, turned out I was right! AWESOME. I may or may not have dont a silent Victory Fist in the Air right there in the clinic, before realising that the patient was sat opposite me and unamused at my glorifying in his diagnosis, after which I quickly subdued my enthusiasm. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We had a patient who had over TWO litres of fluid in his lung, and I got to help drain it! This was totally amazing, because it has an instantaneous beneficial effect on the patient, who can breathe better as you are draining. So totally got to stand there with a GINORMOUS syringe and just pull out massive amounts of yellowy fluid which was nasty and yet awesome. (I'm sure this enthusiasm will be killed by next year but I'm just revelling in it for the moment :D) </li>
</ul>
<b>Other Things: </b><br />
<ul>
<li>I saw bronchoscopies, where you put a camera down into peoples' lungs. Not particularly cool but very interesting, as they let you find out the source if someone is coughing up blood, or if someone has a suspected cancer- we did see one or two tumours, which was weird. To learn so much about them and the huge effect cancer has on people, and then to just see this small, unremarkable lump show up on camera in someone's airway. To think that's what all the fuss is about, all these massive charities and fun runs and Macmillan nurses and support services and family breakdown and chemotherapy. Just... a very strange sensation. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I have seen waaaay too many lung cancer patients in these last few weeks. Some terminal, which was horrible, and some young and newly diagnosed, which in a way was worse. All of them had a smoking history. DO NOT SMOKE. Just not worth it. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I see a lot of sad, lonely old people who come in from care homes and don't get visitors :( </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>There are some doctors who are absolutely amazing with patients, and who will comfort them and make them feel better even if they can't do much for them, and they tend to be young, which is good to know because these are the consultants of the future. There are others who are... a little robotic, but they have minds like computers so I'm hoping they're the future of research.. lol. </li>
</ul>
<b>Aaand things that aren't to do with the hospital:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I watched the Hunger Games! AWESOME. Very fast paced and tense and creative and pretty much true to the book. And I love Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role. I am willing to overlook the sliiight overtones of TeamEdward/TeamJacob going on, which might get played up in the next film which would disappoint me. But the whole satire/reality tv/social commentary thing still has me hooked :D Also, Josh Hutcherson is all grown up since Bridge to Terabithia! And has a very square jaw... which is strange. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Apparently I am supposed to upload a picture of a pier...? But since Rosie and Emad seem to have the monopoly on the most awesome piers, I decided to have a different picture. Besides, at the moment, my life feels more a split between this: </li>
</ul>
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And this!<br />
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Not just because I was torn between the prettiness, and am now explaining away the situation with a shoehorned-in commentary on calm days and hectic days and something about the Great Unknown up ahead. <br />
<ul>
<li> An awesome weekend was had with the Wolves crew, including catching up with Aunty Em and being given an AWESOME purple eyeliner/nail polish/eyeshadow, Hasan being unusually well mannered and stressed by mess, Baby Bear looking like a small Harry Potter with his baby glasses, and Umar being so chubby he has actual folds :D Cellulite is clearly the next step. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Took this picture of my dad and brothers at the park a few weeks ago, and I totally love it, mainly becase my dad (on the right) is doing a distinct Winnie the Pooh hands-behind-back walk, and because both my brothers are now taller than him :) How lovely.</li>
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So I have probably rambled on enough now, and shall go and catch up on other people's blogs! Who know when I shall next blog, so I shall just leave you with an 'In a while, crocodiles'!<br />
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</ul>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-11795546839356597272012-02-13T17:47:00.000+00:002012-02-13T17:47:04.081+00:00Of Beaches, Daylight Robbery and Feral Kittens.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVTdwMB-DkiBzdIbgkHVXwNgK7Bdtb5YTdf9Sa2i0sQKXG0YUzt0tB29W_2WDzJQC1E7-3rhGhfwEQxrmIVbUyFVRv5xJhf5AlcP4sptUJMUXqHrVR2uLOOi7Aawvq7N6doVwIom_ZmPw/s1600/CIMG0512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVTdwMB-DkiBzdIbgkHVXwNgK7Bdtb5YTdf9Sa2i0sQKXG0YUzt0tB29W_2WDzJQC1E7-3rhGhfwEQxrmIVbUyFVRv5xJhf5AlcP4sptUJMUXqHrVR2uLOOi7Aawvq7N6doVwIom_ZmPw/s320/CIMG0512.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
....So I just got back from that place. Naturally, <b>could not have been happier </b>to see Merry England again, with her rolling fields, her vibrant greenery.<br />
...Except that literally nothing could be seen out of the aeroplane, and so I thought we were descending through miles of cloud, when suddenly we hit the runway, and I realised that it was actually just fog that reduced visibility to zero. FUN.<br />
As I said. Great to be back, lol.<br />
<br />
So Tunisia! Spent a week there as a post exams gift from the parents (partially to make up for the fact that whilst I've been on this degree they've all been on holiday without me ¬_¬) and it was TOTALLY AWESOME. Granted, all the Tunisians were bewildered at how this was the coldest they had known it in 10 years (naturally, the climate followed me), but this was not too big an issue, as when the sun came out it was totally beautiful.<br />
So I have photos! :D<br />
<br />
This next one is a typical street in Kerouan, which is a small traditional village- a man (see: vulture) recognised that my dad and I were tourists, and so offered to be our 'guide' by saying 'YOU COME WITH ME'. Naturally, like lost sheep we followed him around streets like this one, whilst he showed us various interesting things. He also made sure that he took us to all his friends shops, and that we bought something ridiculously overpriced at each one. Since this was our first day, we were failures at haggling, and were effecively robbed of our money. Ahem. We decided to avoid markets after this.<br />
<br />
One thing that is interesting is that the doors are really important!
Arab houses have brown doors, Berber houses have blue ones, and mosques
have green ones. All had very intricate designs on them. Tunisians are also very superstitious, and so their
door knockers are shaped like a small hand, called 'the hand of Fatima',
and it's supposed to ward off evil eye...! And the number of knockers on a door signifies how many families live there. Some doors also have a smaller door built in, so that kids can use it. Of course, the 'guide' could've just made all this up... but we trust him. My dad paid him at the end of the tour because if anything, he was creative. <br />
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On the way to Kerouan our driver pointed this out- Butchers will hang the head of the first animal slaughtered that day outside the shop. WHAT THE HELL. At one shop we saw a camels head hung outside! Highly disconcerting. <br />
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This is Saeed the camel (I kid you not), who walked round this well in Kerouan, which drove a wheel to pull up water. He was quite adorable. Kerouan is, I believe, the origin of the word caravan, because it's where bedouins etc used to camp and rest with their camels and caravans.<br />
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This was the beach when the sun came out in the evening and it lit up the sand like gold glitter. I was just taken aback by how beautiful it was, seriously. Oh my god. <br />
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<br />
...This was me trying to be arty and take a perspective shot. Ahem. This failure that you see below is part of my dress, towering over my dad in the distance. Nice one, Humaira. <br />
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Just WOW. <br />
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We had a horse and carriage ride! There were two horses and the left one kept attacking th eright one, which was funny/disconcerting. The driver, pictured below, looked like Asian Bradley Cooper (Good thing I am not a fan), and smoked like a chimney, taking time to turn around and inform us about Tunisia, whilst breathing smoke in our faces. Nice. He informed us that his priorities in life, in order, were house, car, money, then wife. What a guy. <br />
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Tunisia is overrun with cats. One adorable example is the one below, who, when I took out the camera, assumed it was food and came right up to me to try and eat it, hence the close up. Another one found me whilst I was eating at an outdoor cafe with my dad, and sensing I was a soft touch, sat and watched me eat food forlornly, with great big cow eyes, mewing and waiting for me to throw it some chicken. When I refrained, it spent half an hour trying to jump into my lap/onto the table/mewing loudly/watching me with guilt-inducing judgement. Adorable! But I couldnt get a photo because it thought the camera was food also, and tried to jump on me. <br />
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Other things that happened<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Hotel that we stayed at was very nice, but had a tendency to play the same songs again and again and again @_@ I lost count of the number of times I heard Enrique Iglesias's Hero, and Mariah Carey's Hero one, and some other 80s hits that only my dad could identify, which made him very happy. It was all I could do to stop him going to the karaoke ¬_¬ At one point, when we were having dinner, the cheesy keyboard player started singing the Police's 'Every step you take' song in a heavy Tunisian accent. He must've been puzzled to see the unassuming small man with glasses at one of the tables suddenly brandish his knife and fork fiercely, whilst shouting 'YOU'RE MURDERING IT!'. </li>
<li> It rained.</li>
<li>People assumed my dad and I were Arabs, and so Tunisians full on addressed us in Arabic, only relaising that we had no idea what they were saying after about five minutes of us looking gormless. </li>
<li>French was the other main spoken language. I spent a lot of time conjugating verbs in my head as revision.</li>
<li>I READ FIVE WHOLE BOOKS :D Seriously, it felt amazing. The Hunger Games trilogy is totally awesome and addictive and should be read. And Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is THE BEST BOOK EVER. Since Kavalier and Clay and Mister Pip and a few others. But seriously, SO GOOD. I would avoid the film like the plague because I can't understand how it's going to do the book justice. </li>
<li>We visited the ruins of a massive Roman public bath at Carthage, which was awesome. My dad and I were the only people under 55 on that coach...just not good. Also, the tour guide was the grumpiest person ever, and held no prisoners.</li>
</ul>
Tour guide (speaking to us via mic on coach): Es ist ein sehr klein-<br />
Woman (interrupting): Are you going to be talking in English? because most of us are English on here and we can't understand you.<br />
Tour guide: YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, LADY. I AM TOUR GUIDE FOR MANY YEARS IT NO MY FAULT PEOPLE SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. NO. NO, YOU DONT WORRY, I WILL SPEAK ENGLISH AS WELL. DONT YOU TELLING ME HOW TO BE TOUR GUIDE.<br />
<br />
Best tour guide ever. When she started on him again later, he turned away like a sulky child and shouted 'IF YOU WANT SAY SOMETHING TO ME YOU SAY TO MY FACE'<br />
He then had a complet mood swing and offered her part of a doughnut he was eating. Just hilarious!<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I was also full on proposed to by a random Tunisian man, on the one occasion I was alone in the lobby. This would, I suppose, have been flattering if he did not have th eeyes of a killer, and if, once I told him I was recently married, he had not promptly asked if I knew any other single Pakistani girls ¬_¬ Thanks a whole bunch, Romeo. </li>
</ul>
...And not much else happened! Or rather, a lot did but I can't remember it now, so we'll leave it there :)<br />
<br />
Hope you are all good and well and awesome etc!<br />
<br />
*waaaves*<br />
<br />
<br />Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-64296744671079398902012-01-27T21:54:00.003+00:002012-01-28T00:04:51.948+00:00Trust me, I'm half a doctor.OH MY GOD HELLO EVERYONE<br /><br />So I know I've been absent for...*checks* 3 months, and before that was absent for about 3 months, but Medicine has a way of making you feel guilty for doing anything that is not Medicine. On numerous occasions these past months, various enjoyable activities have been clouded by <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">revision guilt</span>. Food became just another opportunity to revise the digestive system. Pre-sleep relaxation was suddenly an opportunity to listen to my heart/bowel sounds. Any kind of bright light was grabbed and shone in someone's (willing or non willing) eye in order to observe their pupil response. My family just became Simulated Patients to Practice Examinations on, or Lay People to Practice Explaining Stuff To. My dad, a pharmacist, became a Person Who Can Test Me On Drugs and Side Effects. Even the Emadness fell victim to this, enduring a full teaching session on the basal ganglia, which basically allows us to initiate or inhibit our actions. I will test you on this ¬_¬<br /><br />You'll forgive me then, if I say that everytime I opened up the Blogger Dashboard, my eyes were literally and painfully dragged away to the bookmark at the top of my screen that said 'Spinal Cord levels', and an evilly smug voice in my head didn't say anything, but I could hear it <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">smirking</span>. Pfft.<br /><br />Somewhat unsurprisingly, all this thinking does have <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">negative mental effects</span>. Just a few weeks ago, I sacrificed a revision break in order to conduct a full cardiovascular examination on an imaginary patient in my room, right down to addressing the pillow as if it was the patient. Out loud. I was really friendly, too. To a pillow. Sometimes I'm glad I don't study at home, so my family are spared from <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">The Madness</span>.<br /><br />I'm not saying it's always awful to revise- I'm geeky enough to be interested. You're talking to the kid who read first-aid books in her spare time, I joke you not. On numerous occasions, I have been caught attempting to explain complex medical ideas to the younger (see ages 8+) cousins. My excuse, as I am dragged away, is that they will be able to impress their classmates, dammit. The younger brothers have learnt to tune me out at the dinner table when I launch into explanations of korotkoff sounds (blood pressure), or to just full on drown me out (see the time that I started talking about oesophageal varices, which cause you to vomit massive amounts of blood everywhere. In hindsight, probably not the best timing). Just last week, whilst out shopping solo, I decided that I would go all House and observe people for gait abnormalities. Third person I saw had <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">foot drop</span>, which is where they can't lift their foot to point up whilst walking, so it 'drops', which shows damage to the superficial fibular nerve, which can be caused by a car bumper hitting your lower leg side-on :D WOO. I'm probably wrong now. You can't crush the enthusiasm but sometimes I am woefully misguided.<br /><br />There are physical effects too- I have put on a shameful amount of Revision Weight- due mainly to the fact that my schedule since October (and also the summer before, when I was revising for that bloody resit) has consisted of:<br /><ul><li>Wake up.<br /></li><li>Breakfast + watch something which does not require thinking</li><li>Revise<br /></li><li>Eat + watch something which does not require thinking</li><li>Revise with housemates<br /></li><li>Eat + watch something which does not require thinking/brief, traumatised conversation with housemates. </li><li>Sleep</li><li>Repeat<br /></li></ul>It's not the best formula for physical fitness. Hence, I have turned into a <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">pile of flab </span>and acquired a tire. No amount of sitting up straight whilst examining my profile in the mirror can eliminate it, and I feel it's just disturbing. Further physical effects include turning ghostly pale due to a lack of sunlight (plus, no doubt the long term effects of a complete lack of vitamin D); sunken eyes that just exude 'help me'; and a constant fight, fright or flight response- dilated pupils, racing heart rate, and sweating. Yep. I did not look good.<br /><br />I realise now that I have not been entirely clear thus far. This is because exams have driven me out of my mind. Basically, I spent the time since the last post revising for my Phase 1 exam, which is the exam that marks the halfway point of this course, and after which there are no more lectures- the next two and a half years are all spent doing 7-week hospital placements. How awesome, right? WRONG. Because the whole idea was just dangled in front of us, so close and yet so far away, because between us and Phase 2 stood this massive exam that people trembled at the mention of, and that when you spoke of it to 4th and 5th years, they got this distant, post-traumatic-stress-disorder look in their eyes, and just clammed up. Of course I'm not exagerrating, shush.<br /><br />Phase 1 exam is basically a four hour exam paper split over two days, which examines you on anything and everything from the last two and a half years. In order to pass Phase 1, you also have to pass the OSCE- a practical exam consisting of 10 stations, each requiring you to, for example, perform a physical examination, or take a history from/explain a medical condition to a fake patient. It is, to say the least, daunting stuff.<br /><br />My exam was two weeks ago. I still shudder at the thought of it. I had revised non stop since the summer, and was a<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 102, 204);"> Total And Absolute Zombie</span> by the end of it, but somehow, by some massive twist of fate, the papers were completely awful. I came out and had a full on meltdown, convinced I had failed, and have spent the last two weeks being a quiet and destructive shadow of myself, waiting for the inevitable result which would tell me that I had to come back to the Hellhole for further revision.<br /><br />Except that I found out yesterday I passed!!! SO WOOOOOO! Officially half a doctor! No more lectures! Next stop hospital placements!! :D This is more awesome than you can understand, because I cannot understand how I passed that paper, and have since yesterday checked my Uni email four times, just in case they sent an 'AMENDED PHASE 1 RESULTS' message.<br /><br />So yeah. God knows how I'll find the hospitals, my next blog entry might be an outpouring of self pity and reminiscence of how easy I had it before, but to be honest, I'm just glad I've got this far. And I'm glad of the change- 2 and a half years of daily lectures has given me enough deep vein thrombosis risk for a lifetime, so thanks very much, Medschool.<br /><br />In other news!<br /><br />...Except nothing else has happened, because as you may have deduced, revision has consumed my life.<br /><br />*tries in vain to think of something significant to talk about*<br /><br />...Look! I took this cool picture of the small cousin today, when it started snowing!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WpdnAJY4wKzOu567LwPeOXgZQQhTY4gAkLRBnT6q1LfNxUgi-bqhUX3WNBHgoc6mqlc7kI_bWuCeBnawlVrnUTytuXm9mUakmo2auKIgkXCtXINIksuX03bAwg2vWC-RJ-6UGHBXHMq0/s1600/Photo0596.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WpdnAJY4wKzOu567LwPeOXgZQQhTY4gAkLRBnT6q1LfNxUgi-bqhUX3WNBHgoc6mqlc7kI_bWuCeBnawlVrnUTytuXm9mUakmo2auKIgkXCtXINIksuX03bAwg2vWC-RJ-6UGHBXHMq0/s320/Photo0596.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702433617532110658" border="0" /></a><br />*Continues to think...*<br /><br />Erm...Okay. Fail. Lets resort to a list of things I need to do, now that I have holidays for the next few weeks:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">LOSE WEIGHT WOMAN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD</span><br /></li><li>Read <span style="font-weight: bold;">MANY, MANY BOOKS</span>. Including awesome graphic novels. Did I not mention my new graphic novel obsession?! Oh my god, read <span style="font-weight: bold;">Maus</span>. It's a man's account to his son of being a Jew during the Holocaust. It won the Pullitzer prize, and having read it, I fully agree that it is amazing.</li><li>Continue <span style="font-weight: bold;">efforts to be a girl</span>, including expanding the amount of colour in my wardrobe</li><li>Get clothes for the hospital placements, which I did not dare buy before in case of failure. Yay!</li><li>WATCH <span style="font-weight: bold;">MANY FILMS</span>. (Oh my god, people, watch Drive, the Emad was right)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">WRITE </span>SOMETHING WORTH READING</li><li>DRAW/PAINT THINGS- yes, there may be a theme of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">regaining creativity</span> here, since the right side of my brain appears to have shrunk and died.<br /></li><li>Regain a semi-normal face, that does not give the impression that I have Just Escaped from some kind of high security prison camp, or that I am currently addicted to illicit substances.<br /></li></ul><p>I will keep you posted on how I get on with all this!</p>And now I shall go and start catching up with all your blogs!<br /><br style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Over and out, crocodiles :)</span>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-90588626768692870062011-10-31T00:03:00.004+00:002011-10-31T12:32:58.813+00:00...So yeah, it's me again...!<div style="text-align: justify;">I'M BACK EVERYONE. REMAIN CALM. It's okay, really. There was no need to panic. Put down your weapons etc.<br /><br />Well, God knows when I last posted, but the last few months were a horrendously stressful/occasionally nice combination of...well.. many things. No doubt I have forgotten most of it, but here it is:<br /></div><br /><ul style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Resit exams</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">July was the most stressful month of my life so far. You go through the horror of UCAS, interviews, moving away from home, first year, second year, Infection and Immunity module etc..., only to find that you fail by one question, and your future on the course will be determined by a four hour exam over two days in August (which just happen to be the first days of Ramadhan too, so no hearty brainfood breakfast for you, matey). Having people to revise with helped, and there was always the silver lining of we-will-have-a-better-knowledge-of-stuff-for-Phase-One-Exam, but nevertheless it's as though someone physically beat my confidence to a pulp for a month. Happy ending and all that, since I did pass, but the lack of summer holiday (due to getting thrown straight into Ramadhan) before term started again, and the fact that it was the first big exam I failed, mean I still feel like an imposter on this course. But you know, we shall see when it comes to Phase 1 exam... ¬_¬<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Ramadhan</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">I spent all of Ramadhan/August working on my dissertation. Which was 10,000 words, all about constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. Seriously. I know so much about bowel movements now it's untrue. The things I've seen @_@ etc. Still amused by one of the things I read about a certain laxative- 'Excessive doses can cause explosive and uncontrollable diarrhoea'. LOL. It's the small things :)<br />Did manage the finish the dissertation on time :D Not looking forward to the Viva exam on it though.. you basically get grilled on your dissertation, so they can verify that you wrote it @_@ I can't even remember what I wore/ate/did yesterday, how am I supposed to remember 10000 words on bowel movements?!<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Further becoming female</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">So yes, my efforts to be a girl continue, with the purchase of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joe-Browns-Marvellous-Maxi-Dress/dp/B004V820QY/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt">this </a>AWESOME maxi dress (I know!!). Not for every day use, naturally, just for Eid. Also! The fact that I now have nails, having been clean (...of nailbiting) since June, means that I have been able to experiment with various nail polishes! :D Current favourite: sparkly deep purple :O And I saw an awesome tip about blowing Barry M dazzle dust over your nails straight after putting on polish. So pretty @_@ Ahem. I'm sorry, world. I sold my soul to girl-ness. But dammit, I can't resist sparkly things! It's the magpie instinct!<br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">The giving up of all fizzy drinks. NO, SERIOUSLY.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">I KNOW. Having spent the second decade of my life drinking Pepsi as a staple drink, I decided on the day before I came back to uni, that I wasn't going to have Pepsi anymore. Or anything fizzy. Because I still wanted teeth by the time I turned 30. My family, who were witness to my grand announcement, responded with a hearty, all-round laugh. So supportive ¬_¬ But the reverse psychology worked, because I've successfully given up just to spite them! I'm not going to lie, there have been challenging times. Old habits die hard after a decade of turning to drink to solve all my problems. Further exagerration etc. I was classically conditioned to calm down as soon as I had pepsi. I have now had to replace this with having a staple snack of Kit Kat Chunky with tea. Not sure if it's actually worse for my health...but it's the principle of giving up that counts. Ahem.<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Term starting</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, we came back to uni near the start of September. Sickening. The past seven weeks have consisted of neurology and pharmacology modules, along with a neverending bombardment of reminders about how we will fail the Phase 1 exam, and how hard the OSCE (practical exam) will be, and how we should already know the full medical course inside out or we are basically doomed, and how we should have started revising two years ago, and if we didn't, then we might as well leave now. Etc. So no pressure on us at all. Whatsoever. And just for the record, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN NEUROLOGY. WHAT. THE HELL. I'm still too weirded out by the fact that my brain is learning about itself. I fear it will become self-aware and try to break out of my head :|<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Cannulation/Venepuncture</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Two of the coolest things we've done in a semester of nothing cool whatsoever. Cannulation = where you put a needle with a tube into a vein, and it stays there so you can give medication and fluids through it. And Venepuncture is just taking blood from a suitable vein. These were so much fun, though I would have preferred to practice on real people. But the cool fake arm things with the fake veins with the fake blood running through them were still very much fun. The blood went everywhere! :D And I now can't resist finding suitable veins on my hands/arms. Excellent stuff.<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);"><li style="font-weight: bold;">Illness</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm pretty sure that my recurrent illnesses have been due to the beating my immune system has taken from the stress since June. In ay case, the most recent illness has given me the infamous man-voice again (WHY does nobody else's voice go this weird when they have a cold?!), and also sinusitis, and sniffliness. Yes. Because sniffliness is a medical word. OH, speaking of cool medical words, apparently 'blob' is a medical term for something to do with the eye that I can't remember but was very impressed by in the lecture! :D<br /></div><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Bathroom saga</span><br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes. Our bathroom was under construction for a week. This was the worst week in history. It was supposed to take two days, but inevitably two turned into seven, when several tiling disasters happened. The horrendousness included being unable to shower for several days, and having to use public toilets during the day due to ours being unusable, but these things paled in comparison to the fact that our bathroom door was REMOVED ...yes, REMOVED, and so if we wanted to use it we had to close the nearest door, throw a blanket over it so it was no longer see through, and have a sign saying 'DO NOT ENTER'. This loss of dignity means that nothing can ever be embarrassing again.<br /></div><ul style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);"><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">London</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes! This weekend, as a pre-birthday surprise, my parents took me and the brothers down to the Science Museum in London for a day! :D AWESOME stuff. The day included a lot of food (naturally), an IMAX showing of Born to be Wild (which was adorable- baby elephants and orangutans!!!), a 4D show where you experienced rocket take off and landing and driving in a moon buggy and got jolted around and sprayed with water when you returned to Earth and landed in the sea. (not amusing). Various space exhibits meant that we geeked out massively, and I spent far too long in the Art/Science/History of Medicine exhibitions! Despite them having creepy dummies that look like real people and freak me out. So many scary medical instruments too...think amputation handsaws @_@ All in all, a totally awesome surprise :D<br /><br />So yeah, I'm supposed to be getting ready, and should probably go. I'm sure I've not mentioned something properly major, but it's all good for the moment, because otherwise I will be late for this GP thing I'm doing for my student selected module. Long story. SO in a while crocodiles, it was nice seeing you all again :D<br /></div><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold;">*waaaaaaaaaaaaaaves*</span>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-26629011432711186742011-07-18T11:39:00.004+01:002011-07-18T12:40:07.401+01:00"I need some air"<div style="text-align: justify;">Once again, totally irrelevant title, but it made me laugh when my five-year-old cousin Hasan, (who has a tendency to be slightly effeminate), said this in reaction to eating a particularly spicy pakora. Bless him.<br />So hello! I dropped off the face of the Earth firslty because I had nothig to blog about during exam season, then because I was too busy sleeping/being a slob to blog after that. but I am here now. With my non-chronological List of Events That Have Happened.<br /><ul><li>When I was younger, the family and I would go for walks along the canal that runs fairly near where I live. It's a hell of a long walk, but very pretty for greenery and the occasional barge that goes by, with the people on board waving as they pass, like it's still a century ago. We made a spur-of-the-moment decision to revisit it in June, and so, woefully underprepared with a lack of sunscreen/hayfever-tablets for the brother/water/cool clothes, we set out to be all nostalgic. Fifteen minutes into the walk, the brother descended into explosive sneezes, the sun came out and melted us all to death, and my dad got thirsty. It was too late to turn back though, so we soldiered on. My dad's quick-fix solution to the brother's hayfever went as follows:</li></ul>Dad: Humaira, do you have any lip balm?<br />Me: ....Yes..? Gawd, I know they're bad, but there's no need to-<br />Dad: Give it to him.<br />Me: But his lips aren't chap-<br />Dad: It's for his nose.<br />Me: *laughs uneasily in a misheard-way*<br /></div>Dad: Haroon, rub the lip balm around your nostrils. It'll trap the pollen and you won't sneeze.<br />Me: *Begins to run*<br />Dad: SEIZE HER!<br /><br />Maybe the last part didn't happen.<br />After much disgust, struggling and refusal on my part, I was coerced into finding a lip balm I was sure I never wanted to use again (I may possess several due to a slight obsession). There was a horrible moment of lip-balm smearing and emasculation for Haroon, and then it was over. And despite the Bear-Grylls-ness of this, he did stop sneezing and my dad did the whole smug see-I'm-a-pharmacist-I-know-these-things look.<br />We did actually manage the walk, despite the humidity and the sun and the younger brother moaning that this was too much and my clothes sticking to me, and an awful ten minutes when we had to pass the sewers and there were literally swarms of flies @_@ But yes. About 4 hours later we were back home and decided to offset all the calories burned by ordering two Dominos Pizzas. Because why not :D<br />The first picture is just the pretty-ness of the canal. Yay! And the second was when we passed along a field of rapeseed..I think that's what it is, the bright yellow one anyway. Huge field of all these yellow flowers, and I spied two red poppies in the middle of it all. I felt for them, so took a photo.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7O8fL4GBgiNTzaKScXh-3a5y0DF7QXoXP45SiKjQaN3vM94Ks_4kijRZumhYeIi3qQhLjKxbaKB7RvcPu_zUSe6wDl04V8Zl-NjiXCQTXWRIQNDUPodyhJv5sC9dHAWAFpPA6zrNpRS5m/s1600/Photo0379.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7O8fL4GBgiNTzaKScXh-3a5y0DF7QXoXP45SiKjQaN3vM94Ks_4kijRZumhYeIi3qQhLjKxbaKB7RvcPu_zUSe6wDl04V8Zl-NjiXCQTXWRIQNDUPodyhJv5sC9dHAWAFpPA6zrNpRS5m/s320/Photo0379.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630640717760375506" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_-rfG3T3ew_RePMs-4CCRDaccITnMRHL7xoBF547nXRWo1BCr4gegEOHijqAUaUdjjb7419ydDKqAGy0b5otnz7CdAeKPLLxcNb7rlo6ppdmUO2txIqboTBY19ly1auazECiR9SeAjRw/s1600/Photo0383.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_-rfG3T3ew_RePMs-4CCRDaccITnMRHL7xoBF547nXRWo1BCr4gegEOHijqAUaUdjjb7419ydDKqAGy0b5otnz7CdAeKPLLxcNb7rlo6ppdmUO2txIqboTBY19ly1auazECiR9SeAjRw/s320/Photo0383.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630640968042322322" border="0" /></a><br /><ul><li>I MADE COOKIES TOO! Same recipe, refer to the Emad's blog for the link, I can't be bothered to find it and may as well plug his blog while I'm here, it's adequate in a sort of readable way :P (I JOKE! It's great.) But yes, the cookies were awesome and that recipe is seriously the best ever: they come out all chewy! And don't listen to what anyone tells you, using chunks of galaxy chocolate instead of chocolate chips tastes ten times better. :D I know. I tried both ways, to make an informed decision. Or just to get fat. Note the pretentious arty-ness of how I took my photo. Because I'm oh-so-experimental and creative.<br /></li></ul><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ilgZEJSwYK0mg-XZhQA_fdpoAkkWtJ0g1Rm2N66odKHp1-DNePl_jviZl6-mKRSkwbVHvMymmB5IORfUDrubUNr1VHWK_HIItYSeO2MNRPIRvtbeQ0FgXWPNGpOs90qKGRiwhmf90Pwh/s1600/Photo0376.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ilgZEJSwYK0mg-XZhQA_fdpoAkkWtJ0g1Rm2N66odKHp1-DNePl_jviZl6-mKRSkwbVHvMymmB5IORfUDrubUNr1VHWK_HIItYSeO2MNRPIRvtbeQ0FgXWPNGpOs90qKGRiwhmf90Pwh/s320/Photo0376.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630640455409994034" border="0" /></a><br /><ul><li>I have been making a conscious effort to be a girl, recently. I have decided that 20 years of life is long enough to be going through a self-conscious awkwardness crisis. Despite being hopelessly outshadowed by girly cousins and the like, I shall make my own small steps towards attempting to do things that girls do. Step One was to acquire a girly bag, as I have never carried anything other than boyish satchels. So I got a huge, pretty white and pink shoulder bag with a lot of shiny sequins/beads on it because I am a magpie. And I can't find a picture but will edit with one if I do. This decision worked well, despite me walking lopsided for a month due to not being used to the weight of a shoulder bag as opposed to a cross-body one. Step Two was not biting my nails, as I felt this was not ladylike. Nah, it's because it was starting to hurt to touch things. But I did put nail polish on for the first time in my life! It was an awesome peacock blue-green metallic colour, and admittedly I got it everywhere due to never having worn the stuff before, but it was a start. I have now ordered a sparkly purple one because it looked awesome :D And Step 3 will be to sort my dress sense out, but that ones going to take a while. Note that high heels will never be a part of this effeminisation. Yes. New word.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>My family is all over the world at the moment. Had to stay behind to do a resit/curl up in a ball of self pity as everyone else went off to do things. It shall be a lesson to me: use brain more effectively next time, stupid person.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Spiders appear very frequently in my room due to there being a massive hole in the wall where the fireplace was, that can't be covered by my clothes drawer. I keep having heart attacks. Just...*shudder*</li></ul><ul><li>I have a LOT of palpitations. I mean, I know I drink pepsi a lot and caffeine accounts for this, but I keep having them when I haven't had pepsi- sometimes I haven't had caffeine all day and still end up with them. It's like my heart misses every 3rd beat and it scares the hypochondriac in me. Already thought out all the worst case scenarios. I fear that another spider would just cause my heart to throw in the towel and storm out.</li></ul><ul><li>The Sandman graphic novels are pretty damn ace so far, but what with exams I haven't been able to get the next one so all I can say is the first 3 are very good. I've never read a graphic novel before, but they were clearly a good place to start. Awesome stuff.</li></ul><ul><li>My obvious bewitching-ness made me the target of attention for not one, but two creepy Asians, when I was getting the train home from Uni. It happened twice, and I would have been flattered by their perversely invasive questions ('Where are you from in pakistan', 'Where are you going?' 'Will you come to Manchester with me?' and further Urdu things) had they not been forty something and dentally challenged. I mean, really?! A sad state of affairs.</li></ul><ul><li>Went to see the Wolves crew yesterday, just for the day. This was, as ever, much fun: comfort white Magnum with my aunty Em was indeed comforting, and the comedy relief of hearing Baby Bear (who is now 18 months-ish) saying nothing but 'Ball?' the whole time was great. And Hasan's over-excitedness manifested itself in him abandoning his food to come and tap dance in front of me. Brilliance.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>I think I may have run out of things to say. No, really. I know..!<br /></li></ul>So yes, I won't make any blog-soon promises because clearly it's counter productive.<br />In a while, crocodile!<br />(Or, as my housemate likes to say as I'm leaving, 'Stay safe, and say no to drugs!' ...You'd think she had no faith in me.)<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-86338586992387320652011-06-07T23:55:00.004+01:002011-06-08T00:23:50.338+01:00What is this...'sunshine' you speak of?!I AM BACK!<br />Gawd knows when I last posted, but I swear I've been revising since Easter. Gah. The effects of at least 8 weeks of revision include:<br /><ul><li>A 'walking-dead' complexion</li><li>Panda eyes (which coincidentally is also the slang for periorbital ecchymosis, and- *slaps self out of revision coma*)</li><li>A lack of fingernails, and an inability to touch anything.</li><li>The tendency to twitch involuntarily</li><li>Revising during sleep. Seriously. I had a full dream the night before the exam where I went through a flow chart to do with the body's response to high blood pressure. I woke up in a cold sweat.<br /></li><li>Forgetting what it feels like to wear anything other than pyjamas.</li><li>The development of a revision belly.<br /></li><li>A permanent indentation in my bed, or 'study space' as I like to call it. Observe:</li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg2vSuzJ9YuGQxub2k0EcTnZ14AYDUtr-WSY9MixwgRMos-LoS3JHlCGAXMh4YoS5rc_tiAr_4qKNdWnVFNqt2xcYrE_hmS4anQ_hyphenhyphenNzvnILTinALYpK0l7YRD_rfCLPIudDEBWmlvv2D/s1600/Photo0361.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg2vSuzJ9YuGQxub2k0EcTnZ14AYDUtr-WSY9MixwgRMos-LoS3JHlCGAXMh4YoS5rc_tiAr_4qKNdWnVFNqt2xcYrE_hmS4anQ_hyphenhyphenNzvnILTinALYpK0l7YRD_rfCLPIudDEBWmlvv2D/s320/Photo0361.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615617360737236514" border="0" /></a>My poor bed :(<br /><br />So yeah. Life has consisted of waking up, revising, eating during study breaks, revising, and then sleeping. It's got to the point where I've classically conditioned myself (think Pavlov's dogs, which is part of Health Psychology modu- *slaps self out of revision coma*) into associating eating with relaxation. We'll make me obese yet!<br /><br />The exams were Monday and Tuesday. They crashed and burned, to understate. But..yeah, I can live with resitting if I at least take a few weeks off from revision now. Because if I see another cranial nerve mnemonic, I will snap and do some serious damage, using only my Clinical Anatomy textbook as a weapon/anvil.<br /><br />So relaxation it is! I ordered myself one of the Neil Gaiman Sandman graphic novels as a post-exam reward, and am going to read that, with a can of pepsi and a Galaxy Roasted and caramelised hazelnut bar, on the train home :D Yay!<br /><br />Oh, and family wedding this weekend. Yay for jazzing up...? I'm scared of turning up and causing the guests to flee, having confirmed for them that Dawn of the Dead has finally come true. But what the hell. At least I can be a happy temporarily-exam-free zombie :)<br /><br />And good luck for your exam, Emadness! Even though you won't see this til after yours, probably. But join the post exam zombie celebrations, yay!<br /><br />*Waaaaaaves to all!*Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-78528585586336682892011-03-27T19:51:00.009+01:002011-04-07T20:17:48.480+01:00Silly BeanHello!<br />Oh my God, so it's been aaaaages! @_@ I'd make some excuse about exams or something but I've totally slacked off work in the past few weeks so I can't even blame that. Never mind. I am here now. Here being home :D :D *YAY*<br />I should begin with the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">highlight </span>of the past few weeks. Yes, it is food/drink related. Don't look at me like that.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_wfzlHs69Op2TR9O9RVqFoUHEyAeBhtz2tXytyIlkyvaG8scNN9YZcZMUbvFziZVtLi_kjnAfmAOiqeTZLLoJqMkTkyLsaJty3ZCjziY4YCWi4xPTNoXPgbpC-x1bGfskpwP4LF_KQXD/s1600/Photo0251.jpg"><br /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheh_tHr1vkzGp2bQ4WBs_cFtaapgsS6DEHYEJ_HRV2duPkxTQqgNPHvvUlnde3DT6nAw3TVYYnwnDHuPfYVd1j6qLTUn17ZecWJYpXcDcvNE4tMS7VAzaSyruxcC1fDOWUrh27am2qSMmS/s1600/Photo0209.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheh_tHr1vkzGp2bQ4WBs_cFtaapgsS6DEHYEJ_HRV2duPkxTQqgNPHvvUlnde3DT6nAw3TVYYnwnDHuPfYVd1j6qLTUn17ZecWJYpXcDcvNE4tMS7VAzaSyruxcC1fDOWUrh27am2qSMmS/s320/Photo0209.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588834517033000562" border="0" /></a>Utter awesomeness :D Go to Cafe Nero and have <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Frappes</span>.<br /><br />In other news! Hello again. Since it's a picturey kind of post, this photo has no significance but I thought I'd post it anyway since it looks so pretty. I was walking back from uni through the decidedly <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">creepy and deserted industrial estate</span> near my house, and the sky just suddenly looked rather lovely, with all the dramatic rays of light(which you can't see too well here). So I took a photo. And several passing taxi drivers gave me weird looks.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-__UNI6PK_sNaWcAxJso2MW2kfHmKkj_kRUfwI5Y69knD1m5v35lW5eTTOhxhyphenhyphenk6DRQ8lXlaTy8qADc4quWhMicTNjlXBJzG8F05R8N5ysp1FArXibmTU_9rW0k3OpXqs9-1Cc-ttqi5P/s1600/Photo0239.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-__UNI6PK_sNaWcAxJso2MW2kfHmKkj_kRUfwI5Y69knD1m5v35lW5eTTOhxhyphenhyphenk6DRQ8lXlaTy8qADc4quWhMicTNjlXBJzG8F05R8N5ysp1FArXibmTU_9rW0k3OpXqs9-1Cc-ttqi5P/s320/Photo0239.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588834640587956162" border="0" /></a><br />It is also noteworthy to..note..that I am home now!!! The last week of term was a bit hectic, involving much food and late night work, but it finally got to Friday. And it took me a good 3 hours to pack (mainly due to my extended food break mid-packing...I get hungry! @_@). And I had to isolate a pile of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">revision books/folders</span> to take home, which I'm going to work through over the next few weeks. And the size of the pile, which eventually became a highly unstable Leaning Tower of Pisa, made me laugh. So I took a photo of it. I present to you, some of the knowledge that I must cram into my head. (There's still more subjects to cover after Easter, so this isn't quite everything):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_wfzlHs69Op2TR9O9RVqFoUHEyAeBhtz2tXytyIlkyvaG8scNN9YZcZMUbvFziZVtLi_kjnAfmAOiqeTZLLoJqMkTkyLsaJty3ZCjziY4YCWi4xPTNoXPgbpC-x1bGfskpwP4LF_KQXD/s1600/Photo0251.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_wfzlHs69Op2TR9O9RVqFoUHEyAeBhtz2tXytyIlkyvaG8scNN9YZcZMUbvFziZVtLi_kjnAfmAOiqeTZLLoJqMkTkyLsaJty3ZCjziY4YCWi4xPTNoXPgbpC-x1bGfskpwP4LF_KQXD/s320/Photo0251.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592629755091427234" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Oh! So I packed Friday night, and on Saturday my family were due to come. The plan was that we'd visit the<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> Space Centre</span> in leicester, which we'd been planning to go see for a while now. So I slept on Friday night in the knowledge that my internal body clock would get me up at about half 10, as usual.<br /><br />...Skip to 11:46 on Saturday morning, and I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. In my sleepy confusion, I accidentally cut it of instead of answering, but saw it was my dad calling. I thought, they must've set off and have rung to tell me.<br /><br />...And then there was a loud knock on my window. Note, my room is downstairs, so if someone knocks at my window, it means they've been ringing the doorbell for ages and have now resorted to the next best thing.<br /><br />So I stumbled like a <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">zombie </span>to the front door and opened it and came face to face with my dad and my two brothers, who came face to face with what looked like a yeti in pyjamas. Their reaction was a slightly startled one.<br /><br />So yeah! The lesson is, don't rely on your body clock ¬_¬ I had to speed dress/finish packing and we were out the door in 20 minutes.<br /><br />On the plus, Leicester Space Centre is awesome! :D Planetarium and everything. And if anyone needs a free annual pass, just ask.<br /><br />Oh, and I drove home, which was fun. Note: it was not fun. How is it fun to be going at 70mph in a very crushable metal box?! @_@<br /><br /><br />...And in other news, I made awesome <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Millies-style cookies</span> on Sunday! I say Millies Style. I didn't follow the recipe- it said to use brown sugar and caster sugar, whereas all I had were Demerara and Granulated. So I used those instead. And instead of chocolate chips I cut up chunks of Galaxy chocolate :D An improvement, I feel. On the whole, they turned out pretty damn nice! :D Yay for a successful baking attempt!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOMx9vRoWXznNRiYLITjhSJcMiYXioHVzKWVgYfOKS0_wYeyMzwMXULw-AWr_xBeheskjblbPosJ7luUefT7kyxlZdi2W3_rLhnRCFoyeBicS2z9_lHi0h60ahvV8-lgA_SACaocV24f2/s1600/Photo0253.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOMx9vRoWXznNRiYLITjhSJcMiYXioHVzKWVgYfOKS0_wYeyMzwMXULw-AWr_xBeheskjblbPosJ7luUefT7kyxlZdi2W3_rLhnRCFoyeBicS2z9_lHi0h60ahvV8-lgA_SACaocV24f2/s320/Photo0253.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592623742903864770" border="0" /></a><br />I can't really think of anything else, so random bullet points it is:<br /><ul><li>One side of my face hurts</li></ul><ul><li>Let Go by Frou Frou is just awesome, as is the film Garden State</li></ul><ul><li>Aunty Em is a full on literal follower of my blog! Hello!! And she is helpful in pointing out <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">potential blog material</span>. :D</li></ul><ul><li>B&Q is second only to Matalan/Ikea as a great Eater of Souls.</li></ul><ul><li>I now possess a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Matalan card</span>, having made my first ever purchase from there @_@ I feel like I've lost a part of me.</li></ul><ul><li>...That is all! OH WAIT, since the Emadness added one of the two great Reliant K songs to his post, I shall add the other great one to mine :D</li></ul><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aMEPrXGW6v4" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span><br />So I promise (emptily) that I shall blog within two weeks, and bid you all farewell!<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-26760425298575211552011-03-12T12:49:00.003+00:002011-03-12T14:16:39.802+00:00Life, the Universe and Everything.<div style="text-align: justify;">HELLO!<br />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.<br />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...<br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exams</span>: 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</li></ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wolves crew: </span>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 <br /></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hospital visits: </span>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 ¬_¬</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hospital clothes: </span>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*<br /></li></ul><ul><li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Student Selected Module: </span>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.</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Parks and Recreation: </span>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...</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Newsnight</span>: 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. :)<br /></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gone Baby Gone: </span>is great. Though decidedly one of the most ultimately depressing films of all time.</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Slobness: </span>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! :)</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stupid recurring headaches: </span>I have had one every day of this week<span style="font-weight: bold;"> ¬_¬ </span>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.</li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Childbirth video: ....</span>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.<br /></li></ul>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! :)<br />*WAAAAVES*Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-41211311553188447492011-02-06T16:44:00.005+00:002011-02-06T23:09:49.513+00:00Colour Coded Ringbinders and the smell of Sharpies.Hello world!<br />*resists urge to add 'I'm Tyrannosaurus Alan and I'm going to eat you for breakfast!'*<br />Ahem :)<br />Who'dve thought it's only been almost a fortnight since exams. It feels like YEARS ago. Why does it feel like years ago..? Well, because we were plunged straight back in at the deep end of work, with the only light at the end of the tunnel being summer. But who am I to complain... ¬_¬<br /><br /><ul><li>Did I mention I got my student selected choice..? We got to choose one of the modules we'll study this semester. I got given the Arts in Medicine, which was my 2nd choice, but I'm fine with it :D This way I feel like fate handed it to me, rather than me outright asking to do it. And so I can explain this to people when they ask why the hell I'm doing it, and look at me in disgust when I venture forward that I enjoy reading. Secretly, I am rather enjoying it :D It's like English lessons all over again! YAY.</li></ul><ul><li>Oh! And we've fiiinally started going into hospitals for one day each week! Though the first proper ward session is this week so I shall write about how that goes next time. But yay/*nerves*!</li></ul><ul><li>My people and disease patient is in her seventies, and is addicted to playing Tomb Raider on her computer. How awesome is she?! :D</li></ul><ul><li>I socialised with people after exams! This was the first time I socialised with a group of people since starting uni, and I feel like it was a really great achievement for me. true, the group was made up of my housemates and a few others, so not that far out of my comfort zone, but still! Progress!<br /></li></ul><ul><li>I am actually organised at this moment! All my notes for the first week, and my self study, have been completed! This is the first time ever that I have achieved such a feat, and it absolutely cannot last.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>I have rediscovered Love Hearts! If you do not remember, they're the semi-fizzy sweets that have creepy messages on them. Such as 'heart throb'... @_@</li></ul><ul><li> Bought a pack of 7 tortilla wraps on Wednesday, and because they expire so quickly once you open them, I have had nothing but toasted wraps since. Yay.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Re-read my personal statement for the first time in aaaages. THAT was embarrassing. It's (not) funny just how desperate it sounded.</li></ul><ul><li>I discovered an English essay that I wrote in Year 10, when we were studying Othello- the essay was on Iago, who is essentially the evil villain. We were required to do about 2 sides. But I was so enthusiastic on the subject that I wrote 5 sides of A4 in size 10, with widened margins. Yay for being a Shakespeare freak!<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Unstoppable is a great film! And actually stressed me out due to the unbearable tension. Why will the train not stop?! D:</li></ul><ul><li>Ease Up's 'If you only knew' is just awesome :D</li></ul><ul><li>I now own THE COOLEST pair of shoes ever! This <a href="http://store.rocketdog.com/content/ebiz/rocketdog/invt/jazzincq/jazzin_check_quilt_red_sneakers_xlarge_main.jpg">link</a> is the closest image I could get, but mine are more purple-y with white laces. Generally prettier.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Because I am so proud of having organised ALL my notes into ringbinders after exams (this kind of organisation is previously unheard of in...me), I am posting a photo! OBSERVE THE COLOURED RINGBINDERS. Ahem. I get a little excited about new stationery. There, Emad-ness. There is my tidy desk :D Though it now annoys me that the chair is slightly askew ¬_¬<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiiQF9v3INVHyDLwWH_T6DFqkAN_FHvA_1jd4HuPBDwUZi7cMVTkTPnK4S5Dq3dsZBfi1RYD8Qz6Ekag0ftSOkIRmvPgPG-AD5zmJ7oEoBH7fZH5zAETNGzZMjBN2skGs-wyHnzJPfnnKq/s1600/Photo0184.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiiQF9v3INVHyDLwWH_T6DFqkAN_FHvA_1jd4HuPBDwUZi7cMVTkTPnK4S5Dq3dsZBfi1RYD8Qz6Ekag0ftSOkIRmvPgPG-AD5zmJ7oEoBH7fZH5zAETNGzZMjBN2skGs-wyHnzJPfnnKq/s320/Photo0184.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570710873493498530" border="0" /></a></li></ul><ul><li>I believe there is nothing else going on in my life at the moment... so shall leave it there, since the past several...okay, all of the bullet points have been fairly nothing-y.<br /></li></ul>So yeah! I am done. When more things happen to me, I shall begin writing more exciting blog posts.<br />Over and out!<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-71063105033118565832011-01-25T21:24:00.003+00:002011-01-25T21:33:12.458+00:00And...*Breathe*IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER IT'S OVER!<br />Literally. I mean, my life could well be over as well as the exams, but one obstacle at a time. 3 weeks til results and I am determined to enjoy my life until that shadow draws near :D<br />How to start? Well, after getting ALL my work compressed into 3 massive ringbinders, which took 2 hours and absolutely did my back in, I am now ready to LIVE MY LIFE!<br />...For one day. Did I mention we get one day off before it's back to compulsory lectures on Thursday and Friday...? ¬_¬ The theiving gits.<br /><br />So how shall I spend this one evening off, of the two I've got then?<br />Well, the answer is a housemate feast, because the answer is always a feast: Domino's pizza, garlic pizza bread, potato wedges, a huge bottle of coke, and 7 dips (don't ask, we had to make it up to £30 to get £15 off).<br />Oh, and Little Miss Sunshine :D AWESOME FILM.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQp86H9Prr5XKEcUX5zO5BOrb3csjoxolmB8jCK2KwB7wrMwJOsegadoypB5mrLUAPi7xuQR_2YutKJL3FYndE0n6dxHHCqnBx9PZSG4HnJzkgyqOwA6C9oH646IVCHBeU_9IJyI6Jxhb/s1600/little_miss_sunshine_ver5.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQp86H9Prr5XKEcUX5zO5BOrb3csjoxolmB8jCK2KwB7wrMwJOsegadoypB5mrLUAPi7xuQR_2YutKJL3FYndE0n6dxHHCqnBx9PZSG4HnJzkgyqOwA6C9oH646IVCHBeU_9IJyI6Jxhb/s320/little_miss_sunshine_ver5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566239466077795122" border="0" /></a><br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Humaira/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" />Yay! So I shall see you on the other side of the food coma.<br />Hang in there, Emad-ness!<br />*waaaaaves*<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-16999268565556745832011-01-20T02:09:00.004+00:002011-01-20T03:58:10.687+00:00The 5 Stages of Grief- as applied to exams.1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Denial</span><br />Most likely phrase: "It's too early to revise, I'll just forget anything I learn now. Anyway, I deserve a damn holiday before I start."<br /><br />Characterised by sitting at a desk, surrounded by textbook-skyscrapers to create the self-delusion of intended revision, whilst lost in BBC iPlayer/Youtube.<br /><br />2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anger</span><br />Most likely phrase: "Who's idea was it for me to do this shitty degree anyway?!"<br /><br />Characterised by standing, pressed to the window of one's prison/bedroom, staring longingly at people walking outside, interspersed with bouts of rage-induced blood pressure spikes.<br /><br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bargaining</span><br />Most likely phrase: "Hello, God. Ahem...me again."<br /><br />Characterised by making large donations to charity, and grand plans to use medical degree to cure cancer/travel to third world countries and vaccinate emaciated children.<br /><br />4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Depression</span><br />Most likely phrase: "Are you going to eat that?"<br /><br />Characterised by zombie-ridden nightmares, and life falling into a cycle of eat, sleep, study, with comfort being proportional to the amount of calories that can be acquired in one sitting.<br /><br />5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Acceptance</span><br />Most likely phrase: "I heard they're looking for sales assistants at Gap."<br /><br />Characterised by high pitched, slightly manic laughing fits and a silent, premature grief at the loss of one's summer holiday to the qualifying exam.<br /><br /><br />I'd say I'm smack bang in the middle of 4. Ah, well, can't be helped. *Goes to find more Maltesers*<br /><br />*waves*<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-14998539940184250712011-01-09T02:16:00.007+00:002011-01-11T10:50:54.843+00:00Catastrophising.Yes. That time of year again. And to think, last June I thought life could not possibly get more stressful... ¬_¬ I now see that this will be an <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">elevating </span>pattern of stress over the next few years, provided I make it that far. And stress increase = not good, since my basal freak-out levels tend to be elevated anyway, and excuse the scienciness of the way I'm talking, I promise it will stop after exams.<br /><br />*DEEP CALMING BREATH AND THOUGHTS OF FREEDOM*<br />Aaaand...exhale.<br /><br />Yeah! Loving life at the moment. I have spent almost every day of the last 3 weeks of this 'holiday' confined to the bloody spare room (which I took over since it's more roomy, ahem), staring at the four walls and thinking about how I am slowly <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">melting </span>into a pile of fatness due to my only activities being eating/sitting/eating/sleeping. So to all the people out there who ask me how long I've got off from uni, and then when I say a month, raise your eyebrows and make snarky comments about how some of us work, SOD OFF.<br /><br />(Not that that's aimed at anyone in particular, seriously, I'm just inexplicably angry these days.)<br /><br />And my leg aches and I'm sure it's due to the<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"> calcium deficiency</span> coupled with my inactivity over the last four weeks... :| OSTEOPOROSIS.<br /><br />And I was listening to my heart recently (randomly, out of interest, because I am THAT damn exciting a person), and I noticed that my heart was skipping every five beats or so, and it'd been at least ten hours since I had pepsi, so it couldn't be the caffeine @_@ I get palpitations all the time, and I know you get them because of stress, but the hypochondriac in me is going a bit haywire. Which stresses me more. Which gives me more palpitations. Which scares me. Vicious cycle.<br /><br />And what PISSES ME OFF about these exams (because no, none of the above was me being pissed off) is that I've BARELY seen my family/wider family, so WHAT WAS THE POINT OF IT BEING A HOLIDAY. PISS OFF UNIVERSITY. NOBODY LIKES YOU ANYWAY. PFFFFFT.<br /><br />And what's more, despite having spent all that time stuck indoors learning shit which will undoubtedly be important at some point but which just seems pointless just yet (ions in the kidney...really?!) I can't remember any of it. Every time I spring a question on my unsuspecting brain, it just stares at me in a <span style="font-weight: bold;">dead </span>kind of way which makes me want to cry/burn things.<br /><br />So...yeah. *Restrains self from several other 'AND ANOTHER THING-'s*<br /><br />In other news! Or rather...the...three or so days I had off from medicine which has consumed my life and soul and is slowly eating away at my brain.<br /><br /><ul><li>I met up with Jenny and Bryony! That's right! <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BOTH</span>! This was awesome as it was the first reunion of our three musketeer/fellowship/thingy since before we started uni. I let out an involuntary squeal in the bus station when I saw Bryony, which startled an old man and for which I was HIGHLY embarrassed. And...yeah, it was rather lovely, being the first day in the holidays that I wasn't consumed by revision notes. Eating/reminiscing/gossiping/<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Frappe-ing</span>/window-shopping/buying colourful bangles....all made it a great day :D</li></ul><ul><li>WOLVES!! Yep, we went down to Wolves and stayed overnight, and this was just awesome :D Baby Bear has developed a habit of going <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">cross eyed</span> whenever he's eating anything (we're not sure if it's concentration...or he just loves the food so much he loses interest in keeping his eyes straight). This never gets old to watch. Aunty Em and I had a great catch-up, and she made some pretty damn amazing food @_@ Let's face it..most of the time was spent eating. :D Hasan spent the weekend being quietly stressed at all the mess, like the OCD child he is :) Bless.</li></ul><ul><li>My computer...Dug...bless his heart, started crashing and I suspected it was due to the virus issue that was never resolved, so due to the irreversible corruption, I have a new computer! Tis rather damn pretty, it has swirly patterns :D Can't think of a name...I think a female name would be better due to the prettiness, but I am oh so tempted to call it Billy... :)</li></ul><ul><li>OH I NEVER MENTIONED, The Wolves trip was more like a family road trip, due to the...well..whole family going. We had a convoy (as is custom for Asians) of four cars, and in our seven seater were the five of us and my grandparents. And my dad said I should drive @_@ Which I didn't mind- I've motorway-ed before, but just never with six other souls on my conscience. Ahem. My grandma, bless her, literally prayed the whole time I was driving, and my grandad, who was sat in front with me, dared not talk in case I get distracted and veer off the motorway. It all went fine (two<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"> near death </span>misses, one my fault, ahem) and I successfully drove for two hours before we had to stop at services and my dad offered to swap with me due to me shaking due to the near death experience that was not my fault. Ahem.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Christmas/New Years TV was a bit...awful, was it not? Apart from <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">Doctor Who</span>, obviously..but even that, I didn't like too much... It was too Russel T Davies for me. I expect Steven Moffat's stuff to be darker/eerier/less...cheesy. Still, NEW SERIES SOON...ISH :D</li></ul><ul><li>Some people need to watch Life On Mars ¬_¬</li></ul><ul><li>I WATCHED <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">INCEPTION </span>FINALLY AND IT WAS AMAZING</li></ul><ul><li>Do you see what my life has become?! @_@</li></ul><ul><li>Oh, and the highlight of the week..? <span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 204); font-weight: bold;">Colouring </span>in. Yes. And it is a sad state of affairs when I enjoy colouring in, trust me. Usually gives me a blood pressure spike since I don't have the patience. Don't get me wrong, colours are great, but once I've filled out the outlines of things, I can't be arsed with the rest. Behold, then, the awesome masterpiece that I like to call....'The GIT' (Gastrointestinal Tract. Ahem.)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPo6hFPC-gPY9x7qRigRVbadXnglq1K3cWd9JGU7XZDda_L8e8iVKVAdpvXs6MT1cJsxtr9UlxfXHMHLjsxGXIWkbvEf177MEKqMBGmh4RXMObMrl4Dp84m7VxoJBxFI56V-qlMT6C1xp/s1600/Photo0181.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPo6hFPC-gPY9x7qRigRVbadXnglq1K3cWd9JGU7XZDda_L8e8iVKVAdpvXs6MT1cJsxtr9UlxfXHMHLjsxGXIWkbvEf177MEKqMBGmh4RXMObMrl4Dp84m7VxoJBxFI56V-qlMT6C1xp/s320/Photo0181.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560727277519758418" border="0" /></a></li></ul><br /><br />Yeah...that's about all I have to say, since my brain has started calculating how much work I could've got done in this time, and it is not a good thought, so before the guilt becomes too much for me, I shall leave you and wish all of you (all...two of my readership that have exams) the bestest of luck and by that I mean not sleeping in/losing understanding of English/being crushed by an anvil/other visions that I have had as a result of my <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">catastrophising</span>. Just...yeah. I hope the mutual zombieness pays off.<br /><br />In a while! Hopefully when I'm less...just....less of a disaster. :)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-3594574263262883992010-12-13T22:11:00.008+00:002010-12-14T00:57:37.830+00:00Everything is cool, dude.If I could be bothered to look back at my last post, I might have avoided repeating myself here, since I can't for the life of me remember when I last updated it. But the tabs open now and I just do not have the mental strength. So apologies in advance for potential repetition and hello!<br />I suppose the biggest news over the last several weeks was the AWESOME SNOWFALL that drove our country to a standstill! Or did it...?<br /><br />Exhibit A: The snow in sunny West Yorkshire..<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sFgjEk2-L-SJKSoLHIxTHZpiQvadvfwEny2iCpDq9dq-7akjBKPa-lJXPDNL7RahCJcua_YDi4QmbNOoSD52cMeaY9q1_3BDpRkkUXq1Y2eVrSpj6YcRuZlMJYYB4hbn2pCi26bnuAUU/s1600/Photo0094.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sFgjEk2-L-SJKSoLHIxTHZpiQvadvfwEny2iCpDq9dq-7akjBKPa-lJXPDNL7RahCJcua_YDi4QmbNOoSD52cMeaY9q1_3BDpRkkUXq1Y2eVrSpj6YcRuZlMJYYB4hbn2pCi26bnuAUU/s320/Photo0094.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550294095437784914" border="0" /></a>Yes. Almost a foot deep, and this was when it was melting. I walked through that field and it was filling my shoes!<br /><br />Exhibit B: The pathetic dusting that Leicester received.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOvbFvXRvNaERCF4Ie2N3pAzTSklozssyg9fNE7rMXb1uZxl8bQzuTsEvVludY2Qy-SEYdeUL8pz5j6z1Tl400UfQblWYb8W_toBTC_Pv7v0ShvZh6IRV98nphFm77I1FUN-t_kqcFYj8/s1600/Photo0088.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOvbFvXRvNaERCF4Ie2N3pAzTSklozssyg9fNE7rMXb1uZxl8bQzuTsEvVludY2Qy-SEYdeUL8pz5j6z1Tl400UfQblWYb8W_toBTC_Pv7v0ShvZh6IRV98nphFm77I1FUN-t_kqcFYj8/s320/Photo0088.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550294665311595410" border="0" /></a>I mean COME ON. Just...man up, for God's sake!<br />So yes. I was more than a little annoyed at being in the only place in Britain where you couldn't make a snowman for that entire fortnight. Pfft, is all I have to say.<br /><br />In other news:<br /><ul><li>I received the most awesome parcel EVER from my aunty Em and since I'm in a picture mood, I'm just going to put in the photo I took of the contents!!</li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTEkNT82Tvog9b9gOMq56RCmDei3NyF60nnQnYCbZ6yHSJEFMqC6ZjXQlP3Cfeg0AJapE-bbBSEuMmXn3IWf6AuiKzUlh-IDKdI2ZPvsPtAdK3OBDCDICthswYT7V4nzjLVh0soDzDOay/s1600/Photo0120.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTEkNT82Tvog9b9gOMq56RCmDei3NyF60nnQnYCbZ6yHSJEFMqC6ZjXQlP3Cfeg0AJapE-bbBSEuMmXn3IWf6AuiKzUlh-IDKdI2ZPvsPtAdK3OBDCDICthswYT7V4nzjLVh0soDzDOay/s320/Photo0120.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550328220225023890" border="0" /></a>CHOCOLATE LOLLIES! And general penguin related chocolate!! And long socks! And- okay, all of it. THANK YOU AUNTY EM. It totally made my week :D<br /><br /><ul><li>Crosswords are still fun and not lame in the slightest.</li></ul><ul><li>I am in possession of the best anatomy book ever which was a rather lovely surprise. Though it says a lot that I've sunk to the kind of lows where anatomy textbooks make me happy. But they do! :D</li></ul><ul><li>I have had nutella on toast for breakfast for 6 straight weeks and am a little scared that it may be having a detrimental effect on my health but am not scared enough to stop having it just yet. It's just too awesome.</li></ul><ul><li>Ben and Jerrys half baked is amazing. Just amazing.</li></ul><ul><li>I have stopped putting the effort into cooking, despite all the fantastic recipes given to me, and have resorted to frozen dinners. I am hoping (hoping) that this is just because it's the leadup to Christmas, and that I will regain some stamina next semester.</li></ul><ul><li>I chose a module to study! Ie we get to choose a student selected module to study after christmas. Don't know what I'm getting just yet (we had to pick 4 preferences) so I shall blog about that in more detail when I know... ooh, I've never left a cliffhanger before. Exciting stuff. TUNE IN NEXT WEEK etc.</li></ul><ul><li>I really, reeeeally need to break up, but the prospect of a month of solid revision isn't too fantastic.</li></ul><ul><li>The prospect of Wolves on Christmas is far more fantastic :D</li></ul><ul><li>There is a theatre near university that I had to attend for a shitty 'question time' style debate as part of one of our modules, but the highlight of my day was seeing this poster on the wall:<br /></li></ul><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBqIgnk72q_5EmXIBhvKZPJz4f1o1lHssmcphGc3ISrioC0yNfgyuwMPlwax6TwpAI-Pj8xeJl-XbEFUu_tkayFSjKCtgPJYZAL-OVX23qkKiEtQMpHwkGbagDMhLIkErj5K5wLcEjKrq/s1600/Photo0116.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBqIgnk72q_5EmXIBhvKZPJz4f1o1lHssmcphGc3ISrioC0yNfgyuwMPlwax6TwpAI-Pj8xeJl-XbEFUu_tkayFSjKCtgPJYZAL-OVX23qkKiEtQMpHwkGbagDMhLIkErj5K5wLcEjKrq/s320/Photo0116.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550328225764910434" border="0" /></a>IT'S ELMER!! None of the other elephants appreciated his brilliant multicolouredness BUT I DO! :D Want to see it so incredibly badly but it's on the day after I break up and not even the prospect of free food could keep me from going home. The fact that it's showing at all is actually enough for me :)<br /><ul><li>2 MORE NIGHTS LEFT TIL I BREAK UP! Not mathematically inaccurate if you think about it, (though some people can't handle this), because today doesn't count, and neither does tomorrow or Wednesday because they're non-days, so...2 nights! :D My logic is flawless.</li><li>I have a (sort of) nephew! I shall be the awesome aunty who spoils him completely :D<br /></li></ul>That's about all I have to say, again with the sense that I've left out something incredibly important...but I'm sure it'll come to me.<br /><br />I leave you with further brilliance. Over and out :D<br /><br /><object width="400" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VuNIsY6JdUw?fs=1&hl=en_GB"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VuNIsY6JdUw?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="400"></embed></object>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-90844639851697630412010-11-24T23:15:00.003+00:002010-11-25T23:53:18.151+00:00Silver Lining PeopleHELLO!<br />A legitimate greeting and never-overused part of conversation.<br /><br />So I feel I should address the elephant in the room *Refrains from writing 'turns to elephant and says 'hello' *<br /><br />I know. I apologise profusely for my extreme lameness, but it seemed funny when I thought of it... *hangs head*<br /><br />Well.. I guess it's not an elephant to anyone but me, but still: So the taking part in November's National Novel Writing Month failed, since I failed to even initiate an attempt to write a novel. This was not due to laziness, more...lack of any ideas for a novel whatsoever, and also, a lack of time in which to live my life, due to some stupid uni course I'm doing ¬_¬ Pfft.<br /><br />So yeah, now that that awkward explanation is out of the way...<br /><br />Most significant event in my last fortnight: 4 DAY WEEKEND AT HOME! HELL YES.<br />Most significant addition to event: WOLVES CREW HIJACKING OUR HOUSEHOLD FOR EID.<br /><br />Yes! So the 4 day weekend was spent eating, eating, eating, eating and eating. And the quickest Eid-clothes shopping trip ever was had with my mum: we drove to Bradford, walked into a shop, saw a dress, agreed it was nice, paid for it and walked back out. THAT is how Bradford shopping trips should go. In fairness, my mum and I spent an extra half hour on the way back being lost and ending up near Huddersfield before we finally gave up and used the Sat Nav, but that doesn't matter. All the fun's in the journey anyway..<br /><br />Monday was night-before-Eid frenzy: I started out baking willingly, because I thought I should at least try to have some enthusiasm. So I told my mum I'd try it, which was a pleasant surprise for her as she is aware of the hate-hate affair that is me and baking, and let her go to pick the brother up whilst I made a start. And it started well! I made some awesome chocolate buns, decorated them to perfection... and then had a sudden stress meltdown when my chocolate brownie mixture overflowed and coated the inside of the oven. This was the end of all forced-enthusiasm. My mum walked back in half an hour later:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Humaira</span>: THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE END.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mum</span>: Erm... what?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">H</span>: I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BAKING. I DO NOT WANT TO BAKE NOW OR EVER AGAIN.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">M:</span> But you said-<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">H</span>: I WAS LYING TO MYSELF<br />I dramatically threw down my oven gloves as my mum looked around in a puzzled way, having noticed the newly chocolate-coated kitchen. I announced (again, for dramatic effect) that this was the end, and flounced (awesome word) out of the kitchen.<br /><br />I think I have a mood swing problem :/<br /><br />The day was not a total disaster due to the arrival of the wolves crew in the evening, which consisted of:<br /><ul><li>Hasan giving my knees a thoroughly good hug and telling them he had missed them.</li><li>Baby Bear...just...being adorable in various ways (in pyjamas *melts*)</li><li>Me refusing to put mehndi on anyone because I was waaaay too sleepy and just pfft.<br /></li></ul>Eid day then!<br /><ul><li>I finally resolved to carry the black and silver handbag which my aunty got me about 5 years ago- I've never in my life carried a handbag (more a satchel person..ahem), but since it's a gift and it's pretty, I had intended to carry it on at least one special occasion. The two occasions in the past where I've decided to use it were somehow jinxed, and for some reason or other I was foiled both times. So this, I thought, was the day. My clothes were black and silver, it matched, nothing could stop me!</li></ul>... Except, it seems, my complete lack of knowledge of how to be a girl. Yes. I am unaware of how to carry a handbag (it's one with a short strap), so I felt (and looked) like a complete plank. Therefore I carried it for the minute it took me to leave the house and get in the car to go to my grandmas, and the bag spent the rest of Eid lying in a corner. Yes. So that was a fail... or a win. Well...being a girl fail, but dignity win. I never want to even attempt to carry one again. Just eww. Satchels all the way!<br /><br /><ul><li>Every single Eid we say we want to go to White Rose (just for something to do), and every single Eid, talking about it is as far as we get. But this Eid, Aunty Em was here, and she said NOT THIS TIME. And so she pulled some strings (or rather, shouted at everyone to get out of their food-comas and get ready), and within an hour, nine of us girls were on the road, thoroughly overdressed and still in semi comas! The walk around White Rose lasted 45 minutes, most of which was spent in Dorothy Perkins (new favourite store EVER), in which time I acquired an AWESOME new scarf. Yay!</li></ul><ul><li>The drive back consisted of me repeatedly saying 'I'm going to miss my train', and my mum speeding. We screeched to a halt outside my house, I ran upstairs, changed my clothes and packed in seven minutes flat, then ran back down so we could rocket-ship over to my grandmas. I speed-hugged everyone in my family in under a minute, and then me, the parents and the brothers hopped into the car. It's the first time I've had a full family send-off from the station, or at all actually, and I've got to say it was an awesome end to an awesome day :D<br /></li></ul>So I've been back and working and working and working and working- *snaps out of loop* since last Tuesday. In other news:<br /><ul><li>Crosswords are awesome, and not lame in the slightest! (But only when your brain is not failing to remember that English is your first language and therefore you should probably know some of it).</li><li>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Or Harry Potter and the Death as it came up on the cinema timetable screen) is actually a decent film! I mean, I know they get better each time, but that hasn't stopped them from being shit films. Finally, however, they have made one that isn't exactly great, but has at least passed the acceptable mark! And it only took them 7 attempts ¬_¬ Gits.<br /></li><li>Some people are getting snow and this is totally not fair ¬_¬</li><li>I am a silver lining person. Yep.</li><li>I started having salad! Alongside other food, mind, I'm not being a complete herbivore. But I have taken a great liking to lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and sliced avocado.</li></ul>And that is all I have to say!<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQQhoUHvas">This</a> is awesome, and dedicated to Aunty Em, for the nostalgia :D<br />*WAAAAVES*<br />:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-65597159015644855732010-11-13T03:05:00.004+00:002010-11-14T18:08:49.606+00:00The art of properly expressing the word 'Grotesque'.So yes, hello! I am blogging due to overdue-ness, and also a desperate comment from my Aunty Em on the previous blog post, pleading with me to post another rambling mess of verbal diarrhoea. Yes, in those words. :)<br /><br />So what has been happening in life, the universe and everything? Or rather, what can I remember?<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">BIRTHDAYNESS!</span><br /></li></ul>I turned 20! This event, which has alwas been highly unlikely, and thus generally viewed with a sort of scathing disbelief, marks the end of my hellish teenage years! Nothing particularly felt different on the day (I always expect a huge life-changing feeling on my birthdays and am always slightly disappointed at the lack of internal drama), so it was hard to really 'feel' 20, until my grandma was sending the kids out of the room because the women were having some secretive discussion about marriage. My grandma sent each child out, finally looking at me and going, 'You too, H-.... actually, no, you can stay.'<br /><br />The moment was felt by everyone. It is a pivotal point in life when you're allowed to sit in on marriage related discussions that the kids shouldn't hear. *Nods*<br /><br />Some AWESOME presents were received, including (the purple/shiny) half of the stock of Dorothy Perkins, all of which I love :D Further awesomeness included a book by Michael Chabon that some randomer sent that is proving to be brilliant so far (Thank you randomer, whoever you are :) ) And a DVD set that has yet to be watched. Oh, and I should mention the many Penguin related items including a Snowcone maker in the shape of a penguin, and a HUGE very huggable penguin, who remains unnamed as of yet. I think being obsessed with things makes you very easy to buy for. THANK YOU WORLD.<br /><br />Wow. Materialism win :) Still, *warm and fuzziness*. It was nice to be home. And it feels nice to not add 'teen' to the end of my age. That was getting old. I always kind of hoped I'd be a shiny happy brand new person by the time I was twenty, which isn't really working out, but baby steps and all that.<br /><br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>2 Home Weekends in a Row.</li></ul>Is always a win! It was a last minute decision but I am definitely liking it :) And have been overfed and have definitely counteracted the weight loss that has been gradually occurring over 6 weeks. Loving that Eid is approaching and it looks like most of the family will be reunited for it, which is a win also! :D YAY (Though I lack Eid clothes...ah well)<br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Paranormal Activity</li></ul>Was watched last night, with the dad and brother. And I lost about 3 lives watching it. I ended up pulling the blanket over my head and blocking my ears for the last ten minutes because I found it far too scary. Though I can see why some people just found it laughable- it depends on how far you let your imagination run away with you. I slept with the lights on.<br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Revision</li></ul>Coming up with novel ways to remember the functional groups on amino acids is fun! :D<br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Cake</li></ul>Yes! I made cake for my mum's birthday, from scratch, and am proud, even though it looks a mess! So I have photos:<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzj9z769Sb7pO1VcDhgD0UYYMeu5a-bO4r5cmT3A4XCHJM2AqPkg8-7eqLTcj6EPbAxZW-s4HZHGyqR3ur2y5SmaA3di39-9KQfU8eatDO0KOeVh-Hg5xdrL1lSy1BG-B3sI_mSuJFazJ/s1600/Photo0027.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzj9z769Sb7pO1VcDhgD0UYYMeu5a-bO4r5cmT3A4XCHJM2AqPkg8-7eqLTcj6EPbAxZW-s4HZHGyqR3ur2y5SmaA3di39-9KQfU8eatDO0KOeVh-Hg5xdrL1lSy1BG-B3sI_mSuJFazJ/s320/Photo0027.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539459483754417234" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgakbx08oem4JY_Y-Akn9nLEw9nbJPR1HZ8HfzyOsUdTwLZQ1pDhoXNVZtsjqmoPxnNOCGmusKCFOPXc7J7jrphOhIJFIzCffC5bSPGwlGSdXCJ56TbZCGDOz4vqp4Q7DVyyZNVX7NQgPNs/s1600/Photo0028E001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgakbx08oem4JY_Y-Akn9nLEw9nbJPR1HZ8HfzyOsUdTwLZQ1pDhoXNVZtsjqmoPxnNOCGmusKCFOPXc7J7jrphOhIJFIzCffC5bSPGwlGSdXCJ56TbZCGDOz4vqp4Q7DVyyZNVX7NQgPNs/s320/Photo0028E001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539460254955933858" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Yay for untidy sandwich cake which manages to look slightly like a mushroom!!<br /><br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Random fact:</li></ul>Hypoglycaemia can be mistaken for drunkenness due to it causing confusion/disorientation, which means that junior doctors could make a potentially fatal error in not recognising that the quiet drunk who comes into A&E could be on the verge of slipping into a coma :| Ouch.<br /><br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>DAMMIT there was something else! *thinks*</li></ul><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>......*Thinks*</li><li>OH, Due Date!</li></ul>Is funny, but not as good as Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Usually I hate it when people compare two films like that, it feels unfair. But Due Date seemed to have taken certain scenes from PT&A (yes, laziness), word for word, so clearly they should've just marketed it as a remake. And since they were trying to be a remake, it's fair to say they weren't as good. I'm just hoping Robert Downey Jr doesn't go down the Will Smith road of appearing in shit films and saving them due to his presence. :| Still, watching Due Date was fun due to it being a housemate trip :D<br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>24 Hour Tech Hotlines</li></ul>Are great, and much needed when it comes to anything that involves electricity.<br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Sheltered lives.</li></ul>Apparently- no, wait, okay, I accept that I have lived in a bubble my entire life, and have no general knowledge, and even less current affairs knowledge. All the things I know tend to be specialised around things I am obsessed with. I AM HAPPY LIKE THAT. I would rather spend my time writing stories in my head and daydreaming than thinking about politics/the world. Escapism is where it's at ¬_¬ No, this was not aimed at anyone in particular. Nor was it defensive due to people continually making me feel stupid. Ahem.<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pickled Chillis.</span><br /></li></ul>Are nice with anything! As are avocados. *General food love*<br /><br />I feel that I am done here. We just can't go on like this etc :)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">See also: </span>My lack of chances of survival in a potential fight to the death, "Back the shit up!", new baby cousins, "Yeeeeeaaah", "Nasty", "Totally", "Self-loathing", Deer in headlights, Facebook Politics, Topaz birthstones, and just for the nostalgia, "It makes my heart flutter".<br /><br />Over and out! :)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-61116018480841377842010-10-26T23:18:00.001+01:002010-10-26T23:35:53.193+01:004 letters: "Big cat".... *Nonplussed silence*Yes. Doing crosswords across a distance of about 200 miles is incredibly sad, and yet fun! As demonstrated by my now-ruined refill pad, which is what happens when the other person has the actual crossword in front of them:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUJRjT5e2yKPqrdXVvfDaKMUrKWrrWqWU0Yn3cBsUmnvBoYbes7z_B_VX5ZW_zku-JQQfx7hS2SHA3jnMSQZ6UaxWziwVCgvgVCdMslcpN453CT5JAL022b9EyoF2LWFkqxZ-BNozew7G/s1600/Image0317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUJRjT5e2yKPqrdXVvfDaKMUrKWrrWqWU0Yn3cBsUmnvBoYbes7z_B_VX5ZW_zku-JQQfx7hS2SHA3jnMSQZ6UaxWziwVCgvgVCdMslcpN453CT5JAL022b9EyoF2LWFkqxZ-BNozew7G/s320/Image0317.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>So yeah! In other news, life is going... well, it's just going. Literally, seeping away. We're in week 4 already: WHAT THE HELL. <br />
I have been alternating between full on end-of-life depression and I-can't-do-this-I'm-in-the-wrong-degree, full on end-of-life stress and oh-my-god-my-brain-just-set-on-fire, and (very rarely- well, just once actually) full on manic happiness and hello-world-I'm-Tyrannosaurus-Alan-and-I'm-going-to-eat-you-for-breakfast. It was a sunny day. It had weird effects on me.<br />
<br />
Yeah. It's been a wreck month due to work overload and life deprivation, and I've realised for definite I can't do longer than fortnights because I start unconsciously rocking and talking to myself towards the end of the second week and I don't want to see what would happen to me if I tried to stay a bit longer.<br />
<br />
I have been trying to do better, though. Naturally, being a wreck in the beginning of year 2 doesn't bode well for year 3, 4, 5 and life. So I attempted to take measures to de-stress: I have officially started morning walks! Well.. on days when the weather isn't wet, because that'd be even more depressing. But still! It's nice to be alone and mentally write stories and..you know..be weird. I had another de-stress measure but have forgotten it, DAMMIT. Though I was also thinking of trying a new skill- Jamie gave me the instructions for a crochet penguin, so I'm going to teach myself crocheting :D And learning sign language would be awesome too... But that's probably unrealistic what with the lack of time to even eat these days. <br />
<br />
Did I mention I'd developed a tea addiction? I don't even like tea :| I swore I never would, but it's because I've stopped having Pepsi, and so I think my brain just susbtituted it with another addiction. :/ Fail.<br />
I shall make a list of things that have cheered me up recently in order to make this more upbeat!<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Seeing the family and the Wolves crew this weekend- Catching up with the brothers and dad, my mum falling asleep on my bed (and me almost falling off) on Friday night, chatting with Aunty Em until 4am, having very strange conversations with Hasan; the birthday party and Hasan's Toy Story cake (!!!), and just appreciating how adorable and bear-like Baby Bear is.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Making notes with my coloured pens which are AWESOME, and make notemaking so much more bearable! :D</li>
</ul><ul><li>200 mile crosswords and other sad things </li>
</ul><ul><li>....That's about it! I feel saddened by this knowledge. Still, they were damn good in themselves.</li>
</ul>I have nothing more of interest left to say. I wish I did, because you know, I like to ramble, but there's nothing. Unless I've forgotten it... That's pretty likely. My brain is frazzled.<br />
<br />
A good endpoint, I believe. My brain is frazzled. I will blog more comprehensively when I can think in a more linear fashion.<br />
<br />
OVER AND OUT before I bore even myself to death! :)<br />
*waaaaves*Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-62898858868154651892010-10-08T12:47:00.000+01:002010-10-08T12:47:59.092+01:00The Spider CrusadesSO, I have officially been here for a week and...2 days! And am going home today, hence delirious happiness, so let me sum up the past week and a bit whilst the mood is all good.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The house is quite awesome, and cosy, and little. My room has been made all homely with my own cushions and duvet, and black and white New York skyline posters, and is close to the kitchen and bathroom so I don't have to really move much at all :) Which is the best way. </li>
</ul><ul><li>My housemates are lovely, and this means I actually feel comfortable, which is amazing. Seriously, I'm so happy that I can leave my room, as opposed to last year when I used to have panic attacks about going into the kitchen (See previous blog posts for evidence of this). I didn't realise how much pressure that was putting on me last year, but the contrast now is huge. </li>
</ul><ul><li>We had a slight...spider incident. It transpired as follows (because I'm a bit addicted now to these step by step scenes)</li>
</ul><i>9:30am. <b>H</b> wakes up facing the ceiling, and sees what appears to be a massive black hand with too many fingers, crouching on aforementioned ceiling. Right above<b> H</b>. </i><br />
<br />
<i><b>H</b> has a silent heart attack. </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>Somehow, <b>H </b>slides out of bed and moves, camouflage style, out of room to go and get <b>J </b>(Housemate). </i><br />
<b>H</b><i><b>:</b> </i>I really, really need your help with something.<br />
<b>J: </b>... :| ?<br />
<b>H:</b> There is a. Huge. Spider. On my ceiling.<br />
<b>J</b>: Oh God... I'll get the broom.<br />
(It is important to note that at this point neither of us knew where the vacuum cleaner was, because we'd just moved in and couldn't find it anywhere. Hence the broom.)<br />
<br />
<i><b>J </b>enters <b>H's </b>room, brandishing broom. Sees spider.</i><br />
<i><b>J: </b></i>Holy F***<br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> Several moments of hysterical nervous chatter and in <b>J's </b>case, semi screaming, about how to do this. It is decided that <b>H </b>will leave the room, since her legs are actually shaking and the adrenaline dump has turned her to jelly, whilst <b>J </b>will attack the spider. The two girls say their last goodbyes.</i><br />
<br />
<i><b>J: </b></i>You will owe me your life for this.<br />
<i><b>H: </b></i>I will. You will be my hero.<br />
<br />
<b><i>H </i></b><i>steps out into hallway. Distant sound of <b>J </b>psyching herself up and muttering swear words.</i><br />
<br />
<i><b>J: </b>*SCREAMS AND CRASHING SOUNDS* </i>OH F***, NO! ARGH! NO! S***! ARGH! <br />
<br />
(In J's defence, she's the mildest person on the planet and I've never heard her swear before in the year that I've known her. These were very individual circumstances)<br />
<i><b>H </b>runs back into room: </i>What! What the hell happened?!<br />
<b><i>J, </i></b><i>still hysterical and screaming: </i>OH MY GOD I DID IT ITS DEAD BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS.<br />
<br />
<i>Moment of pure horror. </i><br />
<i><b>H: </b></i>You mean it's here somewhere and it's <i>Not. Dead.?!</i><br />
<i><b>J: </b></i>I...I think it's dead... It fell...? :|<br />
<b><i>H</i> </b><i>looks around at empty floor. Something huge and black shifts slowly behind the bookcase.</i><br />
<i><b>H: </b></i>Oh Shit<br />
<b>J </b><i>screams for a short while: </i>OKAY, OKAY I'm going to do it. You shift the bookcase and I'll kill it<br />
<b>H's </b><i>legs are giving out, so she leans against bed, and braces self, and shifts bookcase. The huge black thing runs out into the open.</i><br />
<i>Spider runs out into hallway like a huge black..spidery thing. <b>J </b>chases after it (it is so huge that it's actually faster than her) with the broom, the crashing sounds alternating with screams to the effect of<b>: </b></i>OH F*** NO ARGH NO ARGH KILL IT KILL IT OH NO-<br />
<i>Then.. <b>J: </b></i>It's done. Oh, god, oh, god it's done *<i>Voice actually cracks into tears</i>*<br />
<br />
<i>Both girls reunite, totally shellshocked and shaking like leaves. </i><br />
<i><b>H: </b></i>You are my hero. I owe you my life.<br />
<b>J: </b>You do. <br />
<br />
There were actually two further spider incidents the very same day- one was BIGGER than the one in my room, and was in the housemate's room, and since I owed her my life, I had to do the honours. Suffice it to say I lost another life. The next spider was found half an hour later, but was only a quarter of the size, so by then we were no longer spider amateurs. We could handle it. Seriously though, absolute terror. The house hadn't been disturbed in several months, so clearly they all came out into the open when we started shifting stuff around. No further incidents as of yet :|<br />
<br />
Continuing with my bullet points then!<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I didn't have Pepsi in a whole week, because I thought a great way to curb the addiction was to just not buy myself any. Which worked fine until I was tempted on Wednesday @_@ With a buy 1 get 1 free offer. Still, I don't actually want any more so it might just work! </li>
</ul><ul><li>Making my own food is weeeeeeeeeeeeeird. But awesome. I haven't really *cooked* anything as of yet, I've just been making sandwiches and grilling them (in my AMAZING George Foreman mini grill), or stirring sauces into pasta. But next week I shall! Yay! And Aunty Em, I shall be using those recipes *thumbs up*.</li>
</ul><ul><li>We started uni on Monday, and this semester looks like actual murder. Every module just looks horrendously hard, with waaay too much to learn and some seriously difficult stuff. My spare time for the next year has gone down the drain, but at leats I had a nice holiday where I did enough nothingness to make up for this year :) </li>
</ul><ul><li>I'm going to be 20 in less than a month! :O WHAT THE HELL, MAN.</li>
</ul> Oh yeah: I had to go to the hospital to get assigned a patient, and whilst sat in the hospital cafe, I was thinking about stereotypes, because we had a lecture on how we stereotype people the day before. And so I was trying not to judge people because, you know, that's kind of what you do when you start people watching. However, this is more difficult than one thinks, especially when people conform to their stereotype so well. There were actually tables of the different groups in the cafe:<br />
<br />
On the furthest table from me sat the Junior Doctors: All with stethoscopes round their necks, wafer-thin, rubbing their eyes, eating like they hadn't in days, and nervously chattering whilst throwing venomous glances over at the other tables. <br />
On the opposite side of the cafe sat the trainee surgeons: all in scrubs, with a faintly cut throat look in their eyes when they looked at each other. None of them were smiling, their hair was messed up from their caps, and clearly, none of them had slept. Probably ever.<br />
There was a tableof the doctors who were out of their Foundation years, and clearly training towards being consultants: all had lost their hair, or had lost most of it and then shaved their heads, despite being relatively young. All wore stripy half sleeved shirts and glasses. I mean, what was going on?!<br />
Then there was the consultants table: all in ill-fitting suits (ill fitting because they were seriously overweight), and eating with complete disregard of each other, or of the longing glances they were getting from the younger doctors.<br />
<br />
I was very amused. Clearly, the heirarchy still exists, and clearly people sometimes just grow into stereotypes, no matter how much they don't want to be pigeonholed.<br />
<br />
So that is the end of me rambling, despite feeling like there were other major things I had to write. Still. I shall include them next time when I remember them.<br />
<br />
Also, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctgfwoXkhRY">this</a> is an AWESOMELY feel good song. :D :D And he has a great voice. <br />
<br />
*WAVES*<br />
:)Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-25812873987083768422010-09-26T16:22:00.000+01:002010-09-26T16:22:25.595+01:00Relocation and all it's hellish accompaniments.Hello!<br />
This post marks the <b><span style="color: red;">dying days</span></b> of the longest, laziest holiday I've ever had, and probably ever will have. I am suitably mood-swing-y to fit the occasion.<br />
<br />
So before rushing into talking about uni, I should make a record on my blog of <b style="color: blue;">"the event"</b> which took place last week. It transpired as follows:<br />
<b>21:00</b>: I am sat on bed, and room is dark, and I realise I cannot see and should probably turn a light on.<br />
<br />
<b>21:01</b>: Illogically, I draw the blinds, sending the room into pitch darkness, before stepping down off the bed to go and switch the light on.<br />
<br />
<b>21:01</b> On stepping down off the bed, I experience the strange and not entirely pleasant sensation of stepping on an <b><span style="color: #741b47;">upturned plug</span></b>, far too forcefully.<br />
<br />
<b>21:02 </b>Remaining silent, whilst screaming very short words in my head, I limp over to the light , switch it on, and find that there is not only a hole in my sock, but a fairly deep hole in the bottom of my foot as well. Hop back over to the bed and sit down, by which time my foot has realised that it should be bleeding, and begins to do so with great <b><span style="color: lime;">enthusiasm</span></b>.<br />
<br />
<b>21:07</b>: Still sat on the bed, wondering how the hell to attract any attention, since everyone is busy, and if I try to walk I will make the laminate look like a massacre. At this point I become quite giddy (I do start laughing in a nervous, hyper manner if something's very painful) and am doing the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVkFn5lIUk"><b style="color: #b45f06;">Michael Macintyre shit-non-laugh</b></a>, at the strangeness of the situation.<br />
<br />
<b>21:10</b>: Hop in a bloodied manner over to parents' room, where mum proceeds to make horrified noises and announces that she cannot look, whilst dad tries to clean up the cut with a wet tissue, which stings like hell and makes me start crazy-laughing again. He then attaches the biggest dressing possible and tells me to go sit down and avoid plugs.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday --------->Tuesday</b>: I remain <b style="color: #cc0000;">housebound</b>, literally sat on my bed for hours and hours and hours, unable to put any kind of weight on my foot. Hop downstairs occasionally for food, but otherwise remain sat, watching The Office and Community, without which I would have gone mad. Bless them.<br />
<br />
<b>Now: </b>Have been able to walk with a slight limp since Tuesday, though it's still very obviously going to scar and hasn't healed yet. Still, I've never really been injured, so thought I'd milk the hell out of the one time I did :D Good, if not painful, stuff.<br />
<br />
Now onto <b style="color: #444444;">university packing</b>, which I was not able to proceed with until I regained the ability to walk:<br />
It basically boils down to me packing my whole life into one large <b><span style="color: purple;">purple suitcase</span></b>, another very large black sports bag, and several of those bags-for-life from various supermarkets. This took hours, since I spent too much time procrastinating and just moving stuff from one bag into another. My room was depressingly bare by yesterday.<br />
<br />
Yesterday then involved moving all said stuff into the house I shall be living in, which is very nice and small and cosy and, thank God, clean and <b><span style="color: #134f5c;">spider free </span></b>(touchwood). So I have now made my new room all homely, yay. And tomorrow I'm going for good :| Well, as long as I can stand it. So that will be fun... briefly solo living and all that. And cooking. Woo.<br />
<br />
Note: I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK.<br />
Yes, I'm having regular changes of mood between godawful dread, and a sort of nervous okay-ness. If I didn't have to encounter any <b><i>people</i></b>, it'd be fine<i>. </i>Gawd. Several months of absolute shunning the world has made me even worse with social skills, so talk about being chucked in at the deep end :| Ouch.<br />
<br />
I will of course blog again once I have <b style="color: blue;">destroyed the kitchen</b> due to my failed attempts at cooking. Woo. So standby for that (Y).<br />
And now I must proceed with my mental farewell to my chav hometown, in all her shit glory. *SIGH* <br />
Over and out!Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-59984160364244908432010-09-14T18:39:00.000+01:002010-09-14T18:39:20.610+01:00Over six weeks, more cough medicine has reached the draining board/floor than has reached my mouth.<div style="text-align: justify;">Admittedly a rather strange title, but what the hell, when a random thought occurs to you like that, your first subsequent thought is obviously, 'Now THAT shall be the title of my blog'. Or is that just me..? These things usually are :/</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, straight to the matter at hand: <b>Eid</b>! Or more excitingly, the night before Eid, because I think it's universally agreed that nothing much happens on the actual day other than eating, and planning to go out but then eating again instead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For us, the night before Eid is inevitably <b style="color: #cc0000;">VERY VERY stressful</b>. This is because my mum and brother become very enthusiastic about baking, and decide to bake everything in the recipe book, and then decorate with every kind of sprinkle under the sun. I despise baking and would rather make one simple thing and then leave the kitchen. My mum's enthusiasm for having something baked clashes with the stress of having to make fifty other things for the next day as well. This causes several rifts.<br />
It is fair to say that by one in the morning the brothers had <b><span style="color: purple;">sodded off</span></b> to bed, whilst my mother and I were at opposite ends of the kitchen with electric tension crackling between us, staring each other out with mad eyes and <b style="color: orange;">heat-induced afros.</b> The kitchen was a bomb site of dough stuck to the floor, flour strewn across all surfaces, decorative sprinkles scattered in various locations, half-marinated chicken drumsticks dripping yoghurt onto the sideboard, and burning onions. And yet, on the table between myself and my mother's forcefield of stress, sat a nice pile of baked buns/muffins/cake.<br />
I shouted that I had yet to put some <b><span style="color: #38761d;">mehndi </span></b>on my mum. She shouted that she didn't want any on. I shouted that I wasn't putting any on either then. She shouted don't be stupid. I shouted so now you're calling me stupid. And so on. In the middle of us stood my grandma, who, unable to understand the English, and the fact that my mother and I are both very hot-headed and shouting matches like this are trivial, was attempting to make peace between us, worried that we were going to start throwing heavy kitchen utensils at each other. It's all in the fun of Eid. :) Don't worry, we'd calmed down by the time we got upstairs. She even persuaded me to put some mehndi on- I could do hers the next day. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">So here is the nicest tasting thing I baked (chocolate buns with melted Galaxy chocolate chunks with chocolate frosting and chocolate buttons on top). I took the best (ie <b>chocolate</b>) aspects from several recipes and combined them. Ahem.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbO42OFsFPvgZn-_MlLmQFQOJV19QX4mxHaVJtT-oW6QVp3YIHOIGdHWc2Exq7TbqgfH5q0siT9HL-LaFAwvVsf9xA18zWrEzikuM7m16fMDnE-Ll6lUPMGSi74sdH7pQ5HBMFfnhxWWL/s1600/Image0292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbO42OFsFPvgZn-_MlLmQFQOJV19QX4mxHaVJtT-oW6QVp3YIHOIGdHWc2Exq7TbqgfH5q0siT9HL-LaFAwvVsf9xA18zWrEzikuM7m16fMDnE-Ll6lUPMGSi74sdH7pQ5HBMFfnhxWWL/s320/Image0292.jpg" /></a></div> They were pretty nice. And yes, that is the <b style="color: #45818e;">party tablecloth </b>that my mum loves to put down on Eid. (We never really grow up.) But I still vow not to bake again until next Eid. The stress kills me. <br />
<br />
Eid day itself consisted of blurry eyed sleepiness, since I'd only slept two hours, then baking again, then cooking various things, then finally changing from <b><span style="color: #666666;">bleary-eyed-floury-pyjamas-me</span></b> into <b style="color: #cc0000;">uncomfortably-jazzed-up-me</b>. On the plus side I got to wear bangles, which I have formed a strange attachment to, even if my hands are too fat to remove them without the help of hand cream :( <br />
<br />
We spent the day at my grandmas, everyone getting together and wasting no time in sitting down and eating everything that had been made. Which of course is fun until you are <b style="color: #e69138;">insulted publicly </b>by certain relatives ¬_¬ BUT we don't take these things personally. PFFT. Myself and the (NICE) cousins became so bored that we went on an acquire-ice-cream trip, which was just peachy. And the day got even slower, as everyone dropped off one by one into comas following the ingestion of more food than they'd had in the previous month altogether.<br />
<br />
And that was Eid: We went nowhere, did nothing, and were vaguely uncomfortable in our clothes, but it was still, incredibly, a lot of fun :D Wolves crew, you were bitterly missed :(<br />
<br />
Other noteworthy things, which are not Eid related (because, yes, I'm in the mood for rambling. Again.):<br />
<ul><li>I have discovered that the word '<b>Lund</b>' (The name of my <b style="color: red;">old chemistry teacher/Satan</b>) still evokes a physiological reaction in me, causing my arterioles to narrow, and my total peripheral resistance to increase, thus increasing my blood pressure (HELL YES REVISION WIN). I discovered this because the brother (who now has him- Happy fate) was complaining about him in very short, one syllable words, and as I listened I actually felt that familiar old rage within myself. I don't know what I'd do if I ever saw him again. Most likely just spontaneously combust. </li>
<li>Speaking of <b style="color: blue;">blood pressures,</b> a random man with a clipboard accosted, yes, accosted me in the street today and asked me if I wanted my blood pressure checked. Aside from the obvious, 'WHAT'RE YOU TRYING TO SAY, MATEY? DO I LOOK LIKE I NEED IT CHECKING?!' I was unsure how to respond, so threw him off by saying, 'Actually, I am able to take my own ¬_¬'. This puzzled him sufficiently to make him go away.</li>
<li>Despondent Medic is responsible for my rediscovering of <b style="color: lime;">Neil Gaiman</b> :D I've read one book of his a while back, and always intended to read more, and am now a bit hooked. Legend of an author. Thank you muchly.</li>
<li>The Emad-ness likes to wear a low hat and sunglasses and hide in his car near public buildings. I don't think I need to insinuate any more here :) Much fun was had rediscovering every good track in the universe, for <b style="color: magenta;">nostalgia </b>reasons. </li>
<li>Mark Wahlberg is the cheaper, '<b>Lidl</b>' version of Matt Damon.</li>
<li>Baby Bear looks incredibly cute with a <b><span style="color: orange;">bubble bath beard</span></b>. As does Hasan in a school uniform. *Sniff* And Aunty Em is far better at baking than any of her neices, however Delia they try to be ¬_¬ Pfft. </li>
</ul>OKAY, OKAY, I'M DONE!<br />
<b>*Waaaaaves*</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008264355028002291.post-31513793178444686472010-09-03T16:10:00.000+01:002010-09-03T16:10:45.221+01:00Not too Shabby (Recycled title, because I love that damn phrase)Hello! (Warning- this is a horrendously long post because I'm in a rambly mood)<br />
Before I go into the actual point of this post (food...obviously), I should make a record of todays events: Our mosque doesn't usually cater for women, but on the last Friday of Ramadhan they clear out a floor so the women can read Jummah. So myself, the mother, the cousin and the grandma went along. For one, it was WEIRDLY nostalgic- I used to go there every day after school until I was seven, and I remember everything looking huge. Such as the great big chasm of a staircase leading down to the mosque entrance. Now I realise it's just five small steps and a little, worn-out doorway. The Great Hall where we used to sit is just a small-ish room, and the intensely mysterious 'corridor' which I used to sneak off to explore under the pretence of going to the toilet, is just..well..the corridor to the mosque kitchen. I think I preferred my childhood outlook :)<br />
<br />
Then there were the women. My grandma knows pretty much everyone, so countless women who I do not know were randomly shaking my hand as they came by to meet her (I don't think many of them knew who I was either). Hand shaking: fine. Very nice, pleasant and over and done with very quickly. What I do NOT appreciate is situations like this:<br />
<i><b>Unknown lady</b> approaches Grandma</i>: How are you?! So nice to see you!<br />
<i><b>Humaira </b>sits, minding own business.</i><br />
<i>Without warning, <b>Humaira</b>'s head is gripped in a vice hold and turned almost 180 degrees, to breaking point of her neck.</i><br />
<i><b>Unknown lady</b>, currently breaking Humaira's neck: </i>AND WHO ARE THESE GIRLS?! <i> </i>ARE YOU [insert father's name]'S DAUGHTER?!<i><br />
</i><br />
<b><i>Humaira </i></b>(<i>mentally</i>): YES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NOT MY HEAD DO NOT DECAPITATE ME<br />
<i><b>Humaira </b>(out loud, in strangled tone):</i> YES, YES I AM.<br />
<i>Several seconds of <b>unknown lady </b>just observing, whilst maintaining her death grip, then letting go.</i><br />
<i><b>Humaira </b>whimpers in pain and curls into a ball as <b>Unknown lady </b>initiates a similar attack on the cousin, who is brain damaged following the severity of the event.</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
Yes. The joys of community.<br />
<br />
SO, back to the point! I had to blog, because *that* day finally arrived. Yes. I made food willingly! True, it was only falafels, which aren't very hard to make, but if you had observed the burnt-to-a-crisp messes that all my previous cooking attempts have become, you would understand the achievement here. <br />
The adventure, a tour de force of tears, laughs and sheer adrenaline thrills, is documented below.(Note, the excessive detail about cooking is for you, Aunty Em. Since you enjoy these things).<br />
<ul><li>13:05- wake up. Look, I'm making the most of being able to sleep in before uni starts. And I am a slob. </li>
<li>15:00- Younger brother enters room. He begins high school for the first time on Monday, and is fretting about what should go in his pencil case and what shouldn't, therefore wants me to sit with him and sort it out. Bless.</li>
<li>16:00- I decide to make falafels having seen a rather nice picture of them in my student cookbook (win!). Drive to Asda with brother (watching out for the nasty parking attendant who hounded me when I scraped my car. Brother (all 5 foot of him) promises to beat him up for me if he sees him.). Pick up ingredients and much unnecessary junk food.</li>
<li>18:00- In true Asian style, totally ignore quantities in recipe book and begin throwing together ingredients in random amounts. No self respecting Asian housewife pays any regard to ingredient quantities. If you can't guess it intuitively, according to my mum, you're not a cook. </li>
<li>19:00- Falafel are ready to fry and red onion/peppers/tomato/lettuce salad is made (hungry sigh....), and pitta breads are ready. There is a small moment of horror when I drop several falafels into the oil and they start to disintegrate. Note to future Humaira: ALWAYS BIND THEM WITH EGG.</li>
<li>19:45- Toast pitta breads on panini type grill. My finger, in a random suicide attempt, decides to toast itself as well. This was extremely painful. </li>
<li>20:00- Rather messy pitta bread toasties are complete, and finally eaten. And are not bad, and nobody dies as a result of food poisoning! Success!</li>
</ul>So yes. I am now no longer demoralised and shall endeavour to make more challenging things, that require more than simply being mashed up in a blender and fried.<br />
And because I was so proud, I took photos :D This is before they were semi destroyed by frying. (Please Note: I'm not an Arab, or a cook. Clearly I cannot do Arab food justice- I'm just glad they turned out edible).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivs-sazzO3GS9y5LNVFE3QFI_-HJ_jHhvf09KrR8zc54gm97JZohA_NAVsRovlIx4kF9aEXeRMV7P2shvcI56r5935IKpO8ETJMMcGfmT9bCeA-dVrk-8UafEP0yIlip-Mfr09YI16PSrU/s1600/Image0260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivs-sazzO3GS9y5LNVFE3QFI_-HJ_jHhvf09KrR8zc54gm97JZohA_NAVsRovlIx4kF9aEXeRMV7P2shvcI56r5935IKpO8ETJMMcGfmT9bCeA-dVrk-8UafEP0yIlip-Mfr09YI16PSrU/s320/Image0260.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVnLn4NDlzFUTsRLY3ofBeBxonR_QnzBRDzEe4gSJoVy4Nhmx8F4y2e-QckI4zB4_7k2Jgllx-7-8AfPZHebRlBhGR2Pi-JDfaZj730je6DFMrX1LXGpky8iw68hMfS_hp7vRrEZXOjRL/s1600/Image0264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVnLn4NDlzFUTsRLY3ofBeBxonR_QnzBRDzEe4gSJoVy4Nhmx8F4y2e-QckI4zB4_7k2Jgllx-7-8AfPZHebRlBhGR2Pi-JDfaZj730je6DFMrX1LXGpky8iw68hMfS_hp7vRrEZXOjRL/s320/Image0264.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Yes. Because it is the only kind of salad combination worth eating.<br />
I forgot to photo the actual finished result. Yes, that kind of absent mindedness is possible.OH! (Nope, not done yet).<br />
I had another photo to add, because the Wolves crew visited again :D Hasan feeding Baby Bear strawberry jelly:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNacE1eE-SALGJkuus8IwfymTN-mzD4qdsPavkNw05LOwIL9dtXgUFuvWhIwULD0Nh7W4qUHFyPFRCqvEbFi7C0CSgT0gWGbI0HN2T2g_0VTPBnutIYzlXxPEOAW0yZp-LcVP0o6Fo0uN/s1600/Image0258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNacE1eE-SALGJkuus8IwfymTN-mzD4qdsPavkNw05LOwIL9dtXgUFuvWhIwULD0Nh7W4qUHFyPFRCqvEbFi7C0CSgT0gWGbI0HN2T2g_0VTPBnutIYzlXxPEOAW0yZp-LcVP0o6Fo0uN/s320/Image0258.jpg" /></a></div>Okay, I think I'm done now. I should go and try to relieve my semi broken neck, and devise more recipes involving chickpeas.<br />
*WAVES*<br />
Over and out :)<br />
<ul></ul>Hummushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12160244218294151650noreply@blogger.com5