After a few weeks of intense study the MEDSCI exam finally came yesterday. I spent the day prior to the exam trying to cram in as much as I could at the Waitakere Central Library. The funny thing was that there were two others sitting nearby who were studying the same thing as me! There were a few distractions that day though. I caught up with Matthew, an old friend from Rutherford College who I haven't seen since 2006 (he was in Rutherford Idol! lol) He's been traveling all over the place and is now studying to become a counsellor.
When the hunger finally set in I wandered over to the takeaways (our favourite takeaways!) to buy some chips and ate them at Westcity while trying to revise on vision! It just happened to be about 3pm when all those school kids had just finished school. Just as I was heading back to the library, I caught up with my cousins Janice and Korina who were still in their Henderson High uniforms, eating chips bought from the same takeaways!!
I spent that night cramming and cramming before waking up slightly late in the morning and missed the bus I had originally intended to catch. Fortunately Hamish and I caught the next bus which got us into the city an hour before the exam. I spent most of that time doing some last minute study in the library before heading towards what I thought was the Human Sciences Building (where my exam room would be) fifteen minutes before my exam. I got there, looking for lecture theatre HSB1, but when I saw all the lecture theatres labelled with BIO or something like that I went back outside and realised I was in the Biological Sciences Building! I found a nearby security guard who pointed me in the right direction and I managed to cross the road and find my exam room just in time!
The exam itself was...so so...not too sure how I did. Probably not too well but we'll see! Due to the reflection of the light I didn't see that they had written up the times on the white board. I must've gotten something mixed up when I looked at the watch because I found myself finishing about half an hour to an hour before I was supposed to (that's after I was rushing and rushing!!).
I caught up with Kat and Melissa and Aneesya's friend Dominica afterwards who was in the same exam room as me and wandered outside for a talk until I caught up with Hamish. Hamish and I then strolled off to Grafton and the first thing I did was return the Principles of Anatomy and Physiology book! I've had enough of that book for one year!!!
So that's one down, another three more to go, with ECON151G on Monday and POPLHLTH101 and HLTHPSY122 on Thursday. I actually only discovered those two exams were on Thursday, not Wednesday, as I had always thought 1st November was on the Wednesday for some reason!
Friday 26 October 2007
Saturday 20 October 2007
A Good Way to End It
There is still almost a week before my first exam and I'm already tired of studying, having done about six-seven hours a day in the library this week! I don't even know if I've remembered everything I've studied! It's been a week filled with review lectures thank goodness!!! No new content! That is a definite relief.
I had my last lab on Thursday which was based on ventilation. I ended up parting with $2 to hire a lab coat because I didn't think I would need it for this lab. My lab partner Sheena and I joined with the pair behind us Abbas and Rita and went around trying all the various ventilation equipment. We had to blow into this thing and breathe into that. It was really funny watching other people do it! At the end of the lab the lab tutors ran a little competition to see who had the largest vital capacity (I think it was that??) and the best guy could exhale 7 litres while the best girl could exhale around 5 litres!! My best was only about 4.5 litres! How shameful is that! I must not be all that fit!
After, Sheena and I took a few photos with the lab tutors. I was about to leave when I realised I didn't have my glasses on and that they were still in the pocket of the lab coat I returned! It was not till we left that I realised how sorta sad it was, being the last ever MEDSCI lab, and possibly the last lab in anything I do, unless I quit Health Science!
On Friday morning it was our last ever MEDSCI lecture. I was with Henry and we all had to fill out evaluation forms. It was funny because I could see what some people in the row in front of me wrote:
What did you like about this course?
"Colin Quilter"
Colin even told us about how he's been teaching at Auckland University for about 25 years now and he once got a comment on how much better looking is legs were to his female colleague! To read about my own Colin Quilter experience, see my previous post ;)
I then had my final MEDSCI study group, and it must've been this study group that made me realise how cool it was and how much I'd miss it! Andy, our uber-cool MEDSCI study group co-ordinator and tutor (even though he's a 1st year like the rest of us!) had organised a MEDSCI bingo game to help us revise in a fun way. Every time someone got three or four in a row we would get a piece of chocolate, and whoever got a complete row and called out
"MEDSCI [insert MEDSCI related word here]"
would win one of four prizes. The first game which was based on the reproduction topic was won by this guy Paul, who I got to meet at the study group that day. I came second and got the second yet-to-be-revealed prize. The next game was based on the respiratory system, and because Paul, some girl sitting in front of us and I had the same bingo card, we, along with three others, called out bingo! We then had to have a tie-breaker, and after accusations of cheating, I got disqualified (What? Me? Cheating? I swear that MEDSCI course guide under the table wasn't mine...!) and the two girls in front of us got the remaining two prizes.
The prizes were then revealed. One of them was a boogey prize. I ended up getting some peal milk tea (thanks Andy!!!! :D), while the girls got bars of chocolate, and poor old Paul got the plastic cup with tissue in it (yep that's the boogey prize!).
It was a great way to end the semester and the year, and I met some cool new people such as Paul and this other girl...I think her name is Tiffany...but it's a shame I didn't get to meet the people in the study group a lot earlier so I could get to know them a lot better. I admit that when I'm in an environment where I feel dumb (such as MEDSCI study group) I tend to shut my mouth for fear of saying something stupid, but playing games yesterday was a good way to socialise. Now it's the end of the year though and most of these people are likely to quit Health Science while I'm likely to end up sticking with it! That reminds me I've still got to get email addresses and numbers from my uni friends before it's all over (which I should've done a lot earlier in the year...what a procrastinator..)!
I decided to go home early due to some really loud music from the uni quad travelling through the library walls. Later that night I went to Rutherford College to perform with Aonghas yet again at this music concert organised by the school teacher Ms Faaea to fundraise for new musical instruments. The cause was even advertised in the Western Leader! As opposed to the formality of the Studio Shows, this one was more of a casual show since most of the acts were bands. It felt a lot different when we got out on stage and performed Bohemian Rhapsody. Aonghas got off to a great start by announcing:
"Good evening my name is Calum...I mean Aonghas"
but after that it was pretty fun when everyone sang along to us playing. My mum wasn't much of a fan of the rock music that followed though, and so wasn't our neighbour who she brought along (which we never knew either!) but according to her it was an 'interesting experience.'
So, another academic year over. Exams are fast approaching, and I'm only just starting to realise this! I may not see some of my friends or be in any of their classes again!!! No time to be sad though, it's all about study study study...
I had my last lab on Thursday which was based on ventilation. I ended up parting with $2 to hire a lab coat because I didn't think I would need it for this lab. My lab partner Sheena and I joined with the pair behind us Abbas and Rita and went around trying all the various ventilation equipment. We had to blow into this thing and breathe into that. It was really funny watching other people do it! At the end of the lab the lab tutors ran a little competition to see who had the largest vital capacity (I think it was that??) and the best guy could exhale 7 litres while the best girl could exhale around 5 litres!! My best was only about 4.5 litres! How shameful is that! I must not be all that fit!
After, Sheena and I took a few photos with the lab tutors. I was about to leave when I realised I didn't have my glasses on and that they were still in the pocket of the lab coat I returned! It was not till we left that I realised how sorta sad it was, being the last ever MEDSCI lab, and possibly the last lab in anything I do, unless I quit Health Science!
On Friday morning it was our last ever MEDSCI lecture. I was with Henry and we all had to fill out evaluation forms. It was funny because I could see what some people in the row in front of me wrote:
What did you like about this course?
"Colin Quilter"
Colin even told us about how he's been teaching at Auckland University for about 25 years now and he once got a comment on how much better looking is legs were to his female colleague! To read about my own Colin Quilter experience, see my previous post ;)
I then had my final MEDSCI study group, and it must've been this study group that made me realise how cool it was and how much I'd miss it! Andy, our uber-cool MEDSCI study group co-ordinator and tutor (even though he's a 1st year like the rest of us!) had organised a MEDSCI bingo game to help us revise in a fun way. Every time someone got three or four in a row we would get a piece of chocolate, and whoever got a complete row and called out
"MEDSCI [insert MEDSCI related word here]"
would win one of four prizes. The first game which was based on the reproduction topic was won by this guy Paul, who I got to meet at the study group that day. I came second and got the second yet-to-be-revealed prize. The next game was based on the respiratory system, and because Paul, some girl sitting in front of us and I had the same bingo card, we, along with three others, called out bingo! We then had to have a tie-breaker, and after accusations of cheating, I got disqualified (What? Me? Cheating? I swear that MEDSCI course guide under the table wasn't mine...!) and the two girls in front of us got the remaining two prizes.
The prizes were then revealed. One of them was a boogey prize. I ended up getting some peal milk tea (thanks Andy!!!! :D), while the girls got bars of chocolate, and poor old Paul got the plastic cup with tissue in it (yep that's the boogey prize!).
It was a great way to end the semester and the year, and I met some cool new people such as Paul and this other girl...I think her name is Tiffany...but it's a shame I didn't get to meet the people in the study group a lot earlier so I could get to know them a lot better. I admit that when I'm in an environment where I feel dumb (such as MEDSCI study group) I tend to shut my mouth for fear of saying something stupid, but playing games yesterday was a good way to socialise. Now it's the end of the year though and most of these people are likely to quit Health Science while I'm likely to end up sticking with it! That reminds me I've still got to get email addresses and numbers from my uni friends before it's all over (which I should've done a lot earlier in the year...what a procrastinator..)!
I decided to go home early due to some really loud music from the uni quad travelling through the library walls. Later that night I went to Rutherford College to perform with Aonghas yet again at this music concert organised by the school teacher Ms Faaea to fundraise for new musical instruments. The cause was even advertised in the Western Leader! As opposed to the formality of the Studio Shows, this one was more of a casual show since most of the acts were bands. It felt a lot different when we got out on stage and performed Bohemian Rhapsody. Aonghas got off to a great start by announcing:
"Good evening my name is Calum...I mean Aonghas"
but after that it was pretty fun when everyone sang along to us playing. My mum wasn't much of a fan of the rock music that followed though, and so wasn't our neighbour who she brought along (which we never knew either!) but according to her it was an 'interesting experience.'
So, another academic year over. Exams are fast approaching, and I'm only just starting to realise this! I may not see some of my friends or be in any of their classes again!!! No time to be sad though, it's all about study study study...
EXCLUSIVE - Calum Gets Photo Taken with The Legend!
Yesterday I was extremely fortunate to get a photo taken with the one and only legendary MEDSCI lecturer Mr Colin Quilter! Fan clubs and shrines have formed on various social networking websites such as Bebo and Facebook, with people sharing their own experiences with the best lecturer in the world:
"Colinn drool drool"
"Saw the man himself on his bike this morning. My hearts a-fluttering just thinking bout it... :P"
"heehee, i kinda zoned out and stopped listening to the actual words...let his voice wash over me like a soothing lullaby instead :P"
"i love colin so much that whenever i hear someone mention any colin, i immediately think they're talking about Mr Quilter himself, and i get all excited , saying "yeah hes sooooooo cooooool aye!!!" and then make a dork out of my self when i realise they're talking about some american engineering student or taiwanese commerce student or something . haha
i followed him down towards ponsonby once, but then he biked too fast and i lost him. booooohoooo"
"I was lost at Grafton the other day and then I saw the Big Col chaining his bike up outside and I was going to follow him cos I knew HE'd know where he was going but then i thought I might scare him and that he'd think I'm a retard for getting lost on the way to my SIXTH lab.."
(From the 'Shrine to Colin Quilter' Group on Facebook)
As soon as our final MEDSCI lecture was over for the day, I dashed down the stairs to the lectern where Colin was sorting his things out, grabbed a nearby friend, and got a photo taken with him! The perfect wallpaper for my computer!!!
"Colinn drool drool"
"Saw the man himself on his bike this morning. My hearts a-fluttering just thinking bout it... :P"
"heehee, i kinda zoned out and stopped listening to the actual words...let his voice wash over me like a soothing lullaby instead :P"
"i love colin so much that whenever i hear someone mention any colin, i immediately think they're talking about Mr Quilter himself, and i get all excited , saying "yeah hes sooooooo cooooool aye!!!" and then make a dork out of my self when i realise they're talking about some american engineering student or taiwanese commerce student or something . haha
i followed him down towards ponsonby once, but then he biked too fast and i lost him. booooohoooo"
"I was lost at Grafton the other day and then I saw the Big Col chaining his bike up outside and I was going to follow him cos I knew HE'd know where he was going but then i thought I might scare him and that he'd think I'm a retard for getting lost on the way to my SIXTH lab.."
(From the 'Shrine to Colin Quilter' Group on Facebook)
As soon as our final MEDSCI lecture was over for the day, I dashed down the stairs to the lectern where Colin was sorting his things out, grabbed a nearby friend, and got a photo taken with him! The perfect wallpaper for my computer!!!
Thursday 18 October 2007
A Tale Behind the Name
There is actually an interesting story behind the name Te Urewera (the area where the police anti-terrorist raids were carried out) -
Apparently Te Urewera means 'The Burnt Penis', and is named for the tale of a Maori chief who rolled over in his sleep while lying too close to the fire... ( Wikipedia)
Dr Sharples should really be restraining himself from further inflaming the situation. The police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they didn't act and something were to happen in the not-to-distant future, we would all be accusing the police of not acting early. When they do take precursory steps, all these people jump up and down criticizing the police for arresting all these people and so on. How can you defend people who possess illegal firearms? I'm sure having illegal firearms isn't legal in this country, therefore the police have a right to arrest those who do.
People have also been criticizing the armed offenders of wearing black balaclavas and looking scary. So the guys in the bushes can wear what they want and look intimidating, while our armed offenders must act friendly and passive?
I heard the guys in the bushes bought some of their gear from a store selling surplus army gear/equipment in Auckland, and it just so happens that while I was on a bus to the city yesterday I saw this shop down K' Road with a sign saying
'Surplus Army Gear'
Maybe that's where they purchased their gear! Or it may just be a little more openly available than I would have thought..
Apparently Te Urewera means 'The Burnt Penis', and is named for the tale of a Maori chief who rolled over in his sleep while lying too close to the fire... ( Wikipedia)
Dr Sharples should really be restraining himself from further inflaming the situation. The police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they didn't act and something were to happen in the not-to-distant future, we would all be accusing the police of not acting early. When they do take precursory steps, all these people jump up and down criticizing the police for arresting all these people and so on. How can you defend people who possess illegal firearms? I'm sure having illegal firearms isn't legal in this country, therefore the police have a right to arrest those who do.
People have also been criticizing the armed offenders of wearing black balaclavas and looking scary. So the guys in the bushes can wear what they want and look intimidating, while our armed offenders must act friendly and passive?
I heard the guys in the bushes bought some of their gear from a store selling surplus army gear/equipment in Auckland, and it just so happens that while I was on a bus to the city yesterday I saw this shop down K' Road with a sign saying
'Surplus Army Gear'
Maybe that's where they purchased their gear! Or it may just be a little more openly available than I would have thought..
Wednesday 17 October 2007
Interesting Facts from Psychology Book
Here are a few interesting facts I found while doing some health psychology study during the past week:
Men who understand others well which means being able to read their emotions are likely to be more socially successful and compete more successfully for females. Thus males may have pressures both to feel and not to feel...
Men inhibit expressions of fear and sadness more often whereas women are more likely to inhibit expressions of anger. How much gender differences in regulation of anger are not entirely clear though. Recent research has found that women express as much anger as men but only if the target of their anger is not present.
Females are more cognitively complex (the reason behind their attitudes are more logical and specific) than males but men and women in close relationships have similar cognitive complexity. We are drawn to people who are at the same level of cognitive complexity to us.
Research consistently finds that when people feel and act attractive, others are more likely to see them that way.
- From Psychology : Australian and New Zealand edition by Drew Westen, Lorelle Burton, Robin Kowalski
Men who understand others well which means being able to read their emotions are likely to be more socially successful and compete more successfully for females. Thus males may have pressures both to feel and not to feel...
Men inhibit expressions of fear and sadness more often whereas women are more likely to inhibit expressions of anger. How much gender differences in regulation of anger are not entirely clear though. Recent research has found that women express as much anger as men but only if the target of their anger is not present.
Females are more cognitively complex (the reason behind their attitudes are more logical and specific) than males but men and women in close relationships have similar cognitive complexity. We are drawn to people who are at the same level of cognitive complexity to us.
Research consistently finds that when people feel and act attractive, others are more likely to see them that way.
- From Psychology : Australian and New Zealand edition by Drew Westen, Lorelle Burton, Robin Kowalski
Monday 15 October 2007
Nope
I've been reading a chapter on cognition memory all night as part of my health psychology study, about how we have sensory register, short term memory, long term memory, so on and so on and so on...Seems as though I only have short term memory! I'm not too sure how long I'll remember it all though.
There have been an interesting selection of movies broadcast on TV this weekend. Last night there was 'Death to Smoochy' which was about some crazy guy who lost his kids TV show to some hippie who created this character called Smoochy, and 'The Girl Next Door'.
I watched The Girl Next Door with considerable interest, seeing as it is something I could vaguely relate to. Unfortunately it didn't even come close! The geeky guy who had ambitions of one day becoming the US president witnessed his new hot neighbour undressing through the window, and from there things developed, until he found out she was a porn star! Nope, can't relate to that!
There have been an interesting selection of movies broadcast on TV this weekend. Last night there was 'Death to Smoochy' which was about some crazy guy who lost his kids TV show to some hippie who created this character called Smoochy, and 'The Girl Next Door'.
I watched The Girl Next Door with considerable interest, seeing as it is something I could vaguely relate to. Unfortunately it didn't even come close! The geeky guy who had ambitions of one day becoming the US president witnessed his new hot neighbour undressing through the window, and from there things developed, until he found out she was a porn star! Nope, can't relate to that!
Saturday 13 October 2007
Coming Close
Exams are just about a week and a half away now, and after realising how badly I have to do (I actually mean how well) I've been trying to get back into full study mode. I had one of my most productive days yesterday managing to study for several hours straight, covering a grand total of....four lectures (in-depth though!!) before I went to the KiwiAsian Club AGM.
I actually saw the boyfriends of two of my friends for the first time yesterday...I think! I saw Josefia (this girl from my school last year) walking by holding hands with her boyfriend. I haven't actually talked to her in ages!! I heard she's doing well though so that's good! I also saw the boyfriend of another friend, but I won't disclose who because I don't know if I'm allowed to...
Anyway at the KiwiAsian Club AGM there were video presentations and slideshows of photos of club events over the past year. Of course yours truly didn't feature in any of them as he only took part in a grand total of two events! After that though, the seven 'P-Execs' - members vying for positions in the club executive had to give speeches one by one, followed by questions from the floor. Our very own Melissa and Kat did their speeches, along with a few others. I only really knew five of the people - Kat, Melissa, Mark, Le-yo and Bettina. They all gave pretty good speeches, but then the questions from the floor were dominated by this row of people who seemed intent on trapping our poor P-Execs! They were asking all these petty questions, with the relevance of some of them being questionably trivial! When Kat was about to face question time, I had an easy question prepared for her just in case she needed respite:
"How well do you think you will manage to juggle both the workload of being a KAC executive and a busy fine arts student?"
OK that would have probably taken a dig at her being a fine arts student (she gets a couple days off a week! How unfair! I'd need that at the very least to recover from three days of Health Science classes!!!) Anyway she didn't need it as she wiped the floor clean with those question-askers!
The voting forms were then handed out. We were allowed to vote for four people and four people ONLY. I was having trouble deciding who I would vote for, as I had promised five people I would vote for them! So the next best thing...vote for all of them!! That obviously meant my voting form was deemed invalid, but oh well at least I kept my word!
In the end Marcus, Kat, Bettina and Danny got elected. Congratulations guys, even to those guy I don't even know! I voted for you all!
On the topic of voting, who here has actually voted in the local body elections? I know I'm a keen follower of NZ politics and a bit of local politics to a certain degree. This has also been my first chance to exercise my democratic right, but for some reason I just couldn't be bothered. The little booklet they send out to you with the voting form containing paragraphs about each of the candidates isn't that substantial. Each of the candidates just talk about their background and what they've done for the community, but not really much in terms of what they stand for or what they'll try and achieve if elected. The issues that seem to have been mentioned by a few candidates this time around though seem to have been paid parking in the Henderson CBD and rate increases.
According to a NZ Herald poll though, incumbent mayor Bob Harvey is about ten percentage points ahead of the second-highest polling candidate John Tamihere, and I doubt that is likely to change. And here I was thinking about voting for poor Peter Chan, just because he's Chinese...but then that would be a silly way for me to make use of my vote...
I actually saw the boyfriends of two of my friends for the first time yesterday...I think! I saw Josefia (this girl from my school last year) walking by holding hands with her boyfriend. I haven't actually talked to her in ages!! I heard she's doing well though so that's good! I also saw the boyfriend of another friend, but I won't disclose who because I don't know if I'm allowed to...
Anyway at the KiwiAsian Club AGM there were video presentations and slideshows of photos of club events over the past year. Of course yours truly didn't feature in any of them as he only took part in a grand total of two events! After that though, the seven 'P-Execs' - members vying for positions in the club executive had to give speeches one by one, followed by questions from the floor. Our very own Melissa and Kat did their speeches, along with a few others. I only really knew five of the people - Kat, Melissa, Mark, Le-yo and Bettina. They all gave pretty good speeches, but then the questions from the floor were dominated by this row of people who seemed intent on trapping our poor P-Execs! They were asking all these petty questions, with the relevance of some of them being questionably trivial! When Kat was about to face question time, I had an easy question prepared for her just in case she needed respite:
"How well do you think you will manage to juggle both the workload of being a KAC executive and a busy fine arts student?"
OK that would have probably taken a dig at her being a fine arts student (she gets a couple days off a week! How unfair! I'd need that at the very least to recover from three days of Health Science classes!!!) Anyway she didn't need it as she wiped the floor clean with those question-askers!
The voting forms were then handed out. We were allowed to vote for four people and four people ONLY. I was having trouble deciding who I would vote for, as I had promised five people I would vote for them! So the next best thing...vote for all of them!! That obviously meant my voting form was deemed invalid, but oh well at least I kept my word!
In the end Marcus, Kat, Bettina and Danny got elected. Congratulations guys, even to those guy I don't even know! I voted for you all!
On the topic of voting, who here has actually voted in the local body elections? I know I'm a keen follower of NZ politics and a bit of local politics to a certain degree. This has also been my first chance to exercise my democratic right, but for some reason I just couldn't be bothered. The little booklet they send out to you with the voting form containing paragraphs about each of the candidates isn't that substantial. Each of the candidates just talk about their background and what they've done for the community, but not really much in terms of what they stand for or what they'll try and achieve if elected. The issues that seem to have been mentioned by a few candidates this time around though seem to have been paid parking in the Henderson CBD and rate increases.
According to a NZ Herald poll though, incumbent mayor Bob Harvey is about ten percentage points ahead of the second-highest polling candidate John Tamihere, and I doubt that is likely to change. And here I was thinking about voting for poor Peter Chan, just because he's Chinese...but then that would be a silly way for me to make use of my vote...
Sunday 7 October 2007
What a SAD Day
The All Blacks lost!!! I'm so depressed I even skipped church because I was so sad! I can't believe it! Now I know how the Aussies must've felt earlier this morning!
Who wants to go French hunting with me? haha
Who wants to go French hunting with me? haha
Jacqueline's Birthday Get-Together
Tonight a 'sausage-fest' gathered to celebrate Jacqueline's birthday! Well not quite a complete sausage-fest, as there were one or two girls including Jacqueline, but most of us guys went over to Gengy's for a buffet dinner and then Spooker's for some..after-dinner entertainment!
Initially, my mum was worried when I told her that I would be going all the way to South Auckland. Because Jacqueline would be giving me a ride, she kept going on...
"Has she got her full?"
"Has she ever driven to South Auckland before?"
"It's dangerous at night, especially when you're driving to a faraway place like South Auckland"
I kept reassuring her that I trusted my friends!
Anyway I eventually persuaded my mum to let me go. I went over to Shen's house to wait for Jacqueline to pick us up. When she eventually arrived, TJ and Michael were behind her in their 'souped up' car. We went over to pick Nick up before we went to Gengy's in South Auckland....oh and don't forget a few wrong turns along the way!
We got there and got into eating! The whole process was a little different to what I had experienced before. You had to pick your own raw food and put it in this little bowl. Then you handed it to these cooks who put it on this big stove/grill thing and they diced it and cooked it there on the spot. They would then hand it back to you so you could add rice or whatever to it afterwards.
The first time I went to choose my food I didn't know this, and I was looking at the different options, a little confused as to why everything looked uncooked! My first plate was therefore full of vegetables! The following plates contained heaps of meat though!
I had an interesting and intellectual discussion with Nick tonight about politics and issues amongst other things which was pretty refreshing!
After we had had enough rice and meat, we had some pancakes with ice-cream, before we sang happy birthday to Jacqueline and let her cut the cake! I don't think too many people actually ate the cake since they were already so full!
We then jumped into cars to head off to Spooker's. I jumped into the car with Micheal, TJ and Ben which was pretty loud (I think it had turbo and these huge subs, like a boy-racer sorta car?). We just went driving around in circles, in between times when Micheal jumped out of his car to chase cats! They then pulled into this car park of a motel. I think all the people in the motel rooms must've heard the car because these people were coming outside and looking out over their balconies at us! Eventually Geoff, one of Jacqueline's friends, returned from having gotten changed into different clothes and so we followed him out, while Gavin, Issac and Shen in the other car followed us.
The drive there was really long and dark!! We eventually got there but had to wait a while for Jacqueline who went to pick up Teresa. Spooker's is located at this former mental hospital. They've jazzed it up a bit and have all these zombies and weird people who try to scare you. After hearing stories that you can wet your pants, the guys were busting to go to the toilet! While we were standing there, you could hear all these people screaming from inside the building! We were all testing our torches for the forest as well, as we were required to have a torch for every four people.
Micheal kept creeping up to me and trying to scare me, making me jump! I don't know how he managed to keep doing that to me for so many times! Inside the haunted house and the forest it was a different story though!
At Spooker's the birthday person gets to wear a fluorescent bib and they get to be scared even more than the others, and so as soon as we found this out, we all got Jacqueline to wear it, and this really freaked her out!!!
When we went into the haunted house Jacqueline, Teresa, Gavin, Issac, Shen and I were in one group, and it was really funny. Jacqueline and Teresa were screaming and shrieking and grabbing onto Shen who did really well to look after the girls! We went into this area where these freaky army guys with guns (not real ones of course!) made us line up and face the wall, then told us guys to do press-ups one-by-one. When I got down and did mine, the guy kept telling me I only did two! I did another one and he would just say
TWO!!! TWO!!! TWO!!! GET UP! YOU'RE WASTING MY TIME!!!!
Gavin and I got ahead of the group so we sneaked around the corner and managed to scare the others! There were also these little side rooms, such as this dentist's room where this freaky dentist guy grabbed Shen first and put him in the operating chair, before chucking him out and grabbing Ben. There were also these guys with chainsaws who crept up behind us, old ladies with fake blood smearing it on people's faces and screaming girls!
We went into the forest next. We remained in the same group, and this time we had to rely on torches to find our path. There were these ghoulish people who jumped out from behind the bushes, causing Jacqueline and Teresa to scream!! The sign if you were too scared and wanted to be left alone was to shout out STOP and hold your hand out, and they definitely did that a few times! I even managed to scare them a few times by suddenly turning around and shouting out loud at them!
A funny part was when we had to walk into this shed and these dead-looking people were calling out
"Jaaaaaaackkkkiieeeeee....Jaaaaaccccckkkkiiieeeee.... Which one's Jackie?????"
The girls all pointed out to Issac, and then they went
"Teeerrreeeeeessssaaaa.......Teeerrrrreeeeeeessaaa...."
They then said I was Teresa and one of those people came up to me and kissed me!!
I don't think anyone quite wet their pants in the end but I'm sure a few of the guys....well especially the girls...got heaps of frights! I was told by Teresa that I had the biggest balls which kinda makes up for constantly being jumpy when Michael kept scaring me at the beginning! While a few of the others went off clubbing (I was thinking of just going for an hour but I had dressed in my worst clothes for fear of getting them stained with the fake blood!), I caught a ride home with Michael and TJ, and experienced my first drag race...of sorts! They were travelling down the motorway when this Asian-driven car was alongside them. When the guys speed past the Asian, the Asian started speeding up! Then on the other side of us these Pacific Islanders in their car started trying to race us! We fortunately slowed down as we came up to another car in front of us!
Thank goodness I made it home alive! Anyway it was a pretty fun night and now I've just got to get my birthday present for Jacqueline sorted so I can give it to her on Tuesday (her actual birthday!!!).
Initially, my mum was worried when I told her that I would be going all the way to South Auckland. Because Jacqueline would be giving me a ride, she kept going on...
"Has she got her full?"
"Has she ever driven to South Auckland before?"
"It's dangerous at night, especially when you're driving to a faraway place like South Auckland"
I kept reassuring her that I trusted my friends!
Anyway I eventually persuaded my mum to let me go. I went over to Shen's house to wait for Jacqueline to pick us up. When she eventually arrived, TJ and Michael were behind her in their 'souped up' car. We went over to pick Nick up before we went to Gengy's in South Auckland....oh and don't forget a few wrong turns along the way!
We got there and got into eating! The whole process was a little different to what I had experienced before. You had to pick your own raw food and put it in this little bowl. Then you handed it to these cooks who put it on this big stove/grill thing and they diced it and cooked it there on the spot. They would then hand it back to you so you could add rice or whatever to it afterwards.
The first time I went to choose my food I didn't know this, and I was looking at the different options, a little confused as to why everything looked uncooked! My first plate was therefore full of vegetables! The following plates contained heaps of meat though!
I had an interesting and intellectual discussion with Nick tonight about politics and issues amongst other things which was pretty refreshing!
After we had had enough rice and meat, we had some pancakes with ice-cream, before we sang happy birthday to Jacqueline and let her cut the cake! I don't think too many people actually ate the cake since they were already so full!
We then jumped into cars to head off to Spooker's. I jumped into the car with Micheal, TJ and Ben which was pretty loud (I think it had turbo and these huge subs, like a boy-racer sorta car?). We just went driving around in circles, in between times when Micheal jumped out of his car to chase cats! They then pulled into this car park of a motel. I think all the people in the motel rooms must've heard the car because these people were coming outside and looking out over their balconies at us! Eventually Geoff, one of Jacqueline's friends, returned from having gotten changed into different clothes and so we followed him out, while Gavin, Issac and Shen in the other car followed us.
The drive there was really long and dark!! We eventually got there but had to wait a while for Jacqueline who went to pick up Teresa. Spooker's is located at this former mental hospital. They've jazzed it up a bit and have all these zombies and weird people who try to scare you. After hearing stories that you can wet your pants, the guys were busting to go to the toilet! While we were standing there, you could hear all these people screaming from inside the building! We were all testing our torches for the forest as well, as we were required to have a torch for every four people.
Micheal kept creeping up to me and trying to scare me, making me jump! I don't know how he managed to keep doing that to me for so many times! Inside the haunted house and the forest it was a different story though!
At Spooker's the birthday person gets to wear a fluorescent bib and they get to be scared even more than the others, and so as soon as we found this out, we all got Jacqueline to wear it, and this really freaked her out!!!
When we went into the haunted house Jacqueline, Teresa, Gavin, Issac, Shen and I were in one group, and it was really funny. Jacqueline and Teresa were screaming and shrieking and grabbing onto Shen who did really well to look after the girls! We went into this area where these freaky army guys with guns (not real ones of course!) made us line up and face the wall, then told us guys to do press-ups one-by-one. When I got down and did mine, the guy kept telling me I only did two! I did another one and he would just say
TWO!!! TWO!!! TWO!!! GET UP! YOU'RE WASTING MY TIME!!!!
Gavin and I got ahead of the group so we sneaked around the corner and managed to scare the others! There were also these little side rooms, such as this dentist's room where this freaky dentist guy grabbed Shen first and put him in the operating chair, before chucking him out and grabbing Ben. There were also these guys with chainsaws who crept up behind us, old ladies with fake blood smearing it on people's faces and screaming girls!
We went into the forest next. We remained in the same group, and this time we had to rely on torches to find our path. There were these ghoulish people who jumped out from behind the bushes, causing Jacqueline and Teresa to scream!! The sign if you were too scared and wanted to be left alone was to shout out STOP and hold your hand out, and they definitely did that a few times! I even managed to scare them a few times by suddenly turning around and shouting out loud at them!
A funny part was when we had to walk into this shed and these dead-looking people were calling out
"Jaaaaaaackkkkiieeeeee....Jaaaaaccccckkkkiiieeeee.... Which one's Jackie?????"
The girls all pointed out to Issac, and then they went
"Teeerrreeeeeessssaaaa.......Teeerrrrreeeeeeessaaa...."
They then said I was Teresa and one of those people came up to me and kissed me!!
I don't think anyone quite wet their pants in the end but I'm sure a few of the guys....well especially the girls...got heaps of frights! I was told by Teresa that I had the biggest balls which kinda makes up for constantly being jumpy when Michael kept scaring me at the beginning! While a few of the others went off clubbing (I was thinking of just going for an hour but I had dressed in my worst clothes for fear of getting them stained with the fake blood!), I caught a ride home with Michael and TJ, and experienced my first drag race...of sorts! They were travelling down the motorway when this Asian-driven car was alongside them. When the guys speed past the Asian, the Asian started speeding up! Then on the other side of us these Pacific Islanders in their car started trying to race us! We fortunately slowed down as we came up to another car in front of us!
Thank goodness I made it home alive! Anyway it was a pretty fun night and now I've just got to get my birthday present for Jacqueline sorted so I can give it to her on Tuesday (her actual birthday!!!).
Saturday 6 October 2007
Back on Track
Well I eventually finished my essay on Wednesday morning. I about to fly out the door but when I grabbed my shoe I found the cat had vommited into it! I ended up walking around uni with shoes a few sizes too big that day!
As soon as I got to uni I decided to change my essay again and it was only at the last minute that I had my essay completed. I was going to submit it online to the Turnitin website when I discovered I was having problems! Fortunately my tutor said it didn't matter.
I went to the Dessert Club AGM later that evening where they elected people to positions. They also asked me if I wanted to take on some sort of higher role in the Dessert Club, possibly in the events team or elsewhere, so I said I'd be keen to. Next year you might see me around with the Dessert Club then!
On Thursday I went to this Student Life Christian meeting thing with Ayesha and they had this interesting speaker who told us about personality profiles. We did this activity which could determine whether your personality is PLAYFUL, PEACEFUL, POWERFUL, or PRECISE. I turned out to be peaceful!
Later that day I had my Medsci lab where we were learning about blood pressure and how to measure it. That was fun! We got to use real stethoscopes like how doctors use them, even though they hurt your ears! I decided to check Ebay to see how much they cost (you know, so I can look like a doctor haha) and they range between $40-$200+. We measured our blood pressure at rest, and then one of us had to do some exercise so we could measure blood pressure after. My lab partner Sheena got me to do the exercise so I ended up running down the road and back up, and then a quick trip to the toilet (to also put on some deodorant!). It turns out my blood pressure is normal! Phew!!
Today after my single lecture and study group with Andy and the crew, I went to watch Jenny Chen (great violinist who used to lead the Rangeview Intermediate School orchestra if any of you can remember!) before having a meeting with my scholarship mentor. That was a little depressing for me! My mentor's great, but I think I've let him down once too often. We were just looking at what I really wanted to do and what I should do next year. I just kept coming up with more and more ideas which didn't seem to narrow things down!
Afterwards I caught up with Alice for the first time in a while and went with her to her Information Systems lecture which turned out to be pretty interesting - about biometrics and other emerging technologies! Man I wish I was studying something like that..or law!
We then went to the bus stop while discussing ways of making money!!
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Race Against Time
Once again Calum is doing an all-niter, racing against time to complete an essay he should have completed weeks ago! The topic:
Outline the difference in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality rates between ethnic groups in New Zealand and discuss the possible explanations for these differences.
Believe it or not, I've found this topic really interesting to research, getting to read various medical journal articles and such. It's just having to put all these ideas together! That's what I'll be doing for the next hour or so. Let's see if I can try finish this by 3am so I can get some sleep!
Tuesday 2 October 2007
Fall Out Boy!!!!
I saw Fall Out Boy today!!!! No I didn't...I just saw people who were going to get to see Fall Out Boy. Yes...much cooler...
There were all these little teeny-boppers queue up outside Real Groovy and along down the road all waiting to meet Fall-Out Boy. Most of them were dressed up in black, while there was some people with video cameras and girls calling out to be on TV. I soon caught the bus after passing this fracas, and then it started raining so I hope those who were stuck in the queue didn't get too soaked!
I didn't get any photos of Fall Out Boy, but here is a photo of the queues at a distance (had to keep my distance - people dressed in black...especially tight black...scare me!)
There were all these little teeny-boppers queue up outside Real Groovy and along down the road all waiting to meet Fall-Out Boy. Most of them were dressed up in black, while there was some people with video cameras and girls calling out to be on TV. I soon caught the bus after passing this fracas, and then it started raining so I hope those who were stuck in the queue didn't get too soaked!
I didn't get any photos of Fall Out Boy, but here is a photo of the queues at a distance (had to keep my distance - people dressed in black...especially tight black...scare me!)
An Interesting Health Psychology Activity
We were learning about deindividuation in our health psychology tutorial today (which is a state of lowered self-awareness e.g. you feel a greater sense of anonymity when being a member of a group, and it increases as the size of the group increases). We did this activity where we each had to write down one thing we would do if we could go about it undetected. We each submitted our own thoughts anonymously, and the results are pretty interesting:
Pro-social (behaviour which would benefit others or society as a whole)
...nothing...
Anti-social (behaviour which involves a common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes)
- Humiliate someone I really hate
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Cheat in exams
- Steal a Picasso painting
- Get hold of exam papers
- Rob the biggest bank in the world
- Shoot Helen Clark and become prime minister of New Zealand
- Start match-fixing to make sports teams win
- Rob Smith & Coughey
- Steal an expensive car from a car dealer
Non-normative (weird behaviour)
- Shadow doctors at work
- Kiss girls
Neutral (Neither good or bad behaviour)
- Fly a plane
- Go into pyramids of Egypt and see treasure
- Depends on mood...might watch TV
it seems as though there are a lot of wannabe bank thieves in our health psychology class! I won't say which desire was mine...
The make-up of desired behaviours in a typical group is:
Pro-social - 9%
Anti-social - 36%
Non-normative - 19%
Neutral - 36%
So it seems as though our class fits the bill!
Pro-social (behaviour which would benefit others or society as a whole)
...nothing...
Anti-social (behaviour which involves a common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes)
- Humiliate someone I really hate
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Rob a bank
- Cheat in exams
- Steal a Picasso painting
- Get hold of exam papers
- Rob the biggest bank in the world
- Shoot Helen Clark and become prime minister of New Zealand
- Start match-fixing to make sports teams win
- Rob Smith & Coughey
- Steal an expensive car from a car dealer
Non-normative (weird behaviour)
- Shadow doctors at work
- Kiss girls
Neutral (Neither good or bad behaviour)
- Fly a plane
- Go into pyramids of Egypt and see treasure
- Depends on mood...might watch TV
it seems as though there are a lot of wannabe bank thieves in our health psychology class! I won't say which desire was mine...
The make-up of desired behaviours in a typical group is:
Pro-social - 9%
Anti-social - 36%
Non-normative - 19%
Neutral - 36%
So it seems as though our class fits the bill!
Monday 1 October 2007
What a Sick Guy!
Yesterday was the first time I had thrown up since primary school and I can tell you it wasn't fun! After that I spent the rest of the day making trips to the toilet and struggling to sleep to forget the pain.
It's funny. I was recalling everything I learnt in health psychology. As I was lying there helplessly on the couch my dad was bringing a bucket over and a tarpaulin, but I refused it, as it would encourage 'sickness behaviour'. That's when you are in an environment that encourages you to think you are sick and so you continue thinking you're sick and don't improve as fast as you could be..or something like that...
Anyway I managed to get through the day having only consumed one bowl of Chinese porridge. I also had a really good sleep in my parents' bed. My mum's pillow is the nicest! So this morning I woke up earlier than usual, with a grumbling stomach!
By the way, did anyone watch Miss Asia Beauty Pageant 2007 on CTV8 on Saturday night? Once again a bit of a struggle trying to get through it, but it was a lot better than the 2006 pageant. One thing that made this year's more interesting though was knowing one of the contestants Julie Ding! I competed against her on the accordion a couple years ago! I completely screwed that performance up and she came first in that competition...
Congratulations to her though as she came third!!!
It's funny. I was recalling everything I learnt in health psychology. As I was lying there helplessly on the couch my dad was bringing a bucket over and a tarpaulin, but I refused it, as it would encourage 'sickness behaviour'. That's when you are in an environment that encourages you to think you are sick and so you continue thinking you're sick and don't improve as fast as you could be..or something like that...
Anyway I managed to get through the day having only consumed one bowl of Chinese porridge. I also had a really good sleep in my parents' bed. My mum's pillow is the nicest! So this morning I woke up earlier than usual, with a grumbling stomach!
By the way, did anyone watch Miss Asia Beauty Pageant 2007 on CTV8 on Saturday night? Once again a bit of a struggle trying to get through it, but it was a lot better than the 2006 pageant. One thing that made this year's more interesting though was knowing one of the contestants Julie Ding! I competed against her on the accordion a couple years ago! I completely screwed that performance up and she came first in that competition...
Congratulations to her though as she came third!!!
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