So what has Calum been doing during the holidays? Absolutely nothing...OK that's not absolutely true but most of the time has been spent doing nothing but wasting time watching TV or on the internet mucking around on Facebook (surprise surprise). In fact I just recently discovered games on Facebook which I'm sure to waste a bit of time on in the coming weeks!
On Friday though I went into the city for the Dessert Club AGM which didn't turn out to be much of an AGM in the end since half the committee members were late and the original location of our meeting was closed which meant we had to have it in Albert Park! A few speeches were read before we all decided we'd go for lunch.
We had lunch at this place (the name eludes me). We ordered things like cold oysters, a mussel pot and a metre long sausage! I'm usually hesitant when it comes to eating things like oysters and mussels because my dad has instilled this fear in me, but this time I thought to myself what-the-hey I might as well try! I had a few of each, but it was only towards the end when I heard one of the committee members mention that you're not supposed to eat mussels whose shells haven't opened fully! I instantly spat the remains of my mussel out and onto my tissue. For the rest of that night and the next morning I kept on the look-out for any signs of possible sickness but fortunately it's now Monday and I still haven't thrown up!
Yesterday after church Aonghas dropped me off in the city and I met up with my friend Eliza who had invited me to attend the Auckland Symphony Orchestra concert with her as she had a spare ticket, so we caught a bus over to the shore and her dad gave us a ride to the Bruce Mason Centre where the concert was held. We met up wth her mum and her siblings and the concert began! As usual the concert was great and I especially enjoyed the movie music at the end which featured music from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! One of Eliza's friends who's really really good at the oboe and is only 16 years old performed this piece which is one of my favourites by Amici Forever called Nella Fantasia (of course instead of singing it was oboe playing!). Thanks Eliza for having me come along!
I have been doing a few other things these holidays and have started putting together a TO DO list as well. I've got to work on some Christmas music for the church's Christmas concert on Christmas Eve. I was asked if we could sort out something for ten minutes, and so I asked if we could maybe perform an accordion trio and then maybe form a string quartet/quintet along with some others from our youth group. This time since we've got a cello we'd be able to restrict it to strings rather than include random instruments like the recorder!!
Finding music is quite a task. I can only find string quartet arrangements of the more traditional carols when they want something more jazzy/contemporary frmo us! I'll probably have to end up arranging something.
Aonghas also has to put together a Leavers' DVD for his year at school similar to how we did one last year for the year 13's at Rutherford College. Aonghas has been bogged down with NCEA exams though and still has another four in the next two weeks! Therefore the task of doing a lot of the videos has once again been passed on to me. I really should get started on that...
Another thing on the TO DO list is to find a job. My mum has been telling me to try find a pharmacy-related job which was met by a less-than-enthusiastic response from me, which I will probably elaborate on in my next post!
Monday, 24 November 2008
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Jaws III
Maybe that should be Jaw. Anyway I got called to hospital for an appointment at very short notice (make it two hours notice) so they could take moulds, x-rays and photos of my jaw. They were going to enter all the data into some computer software so they can generate a 3D model of what I may look like after the surgery. They called me in two days later to redo a couple of moulds.
It turns out the new surgery date for me will be the 5th January (for now anyway unless they bump me off again). They're planning on operating on both of my jaws so that they don't have to move them as much as they would if they operated solely on my bottom jaw, and this will hopefully increase stability or something like that. It'll also mean I'll be in hospital for three-four days after surgery.
I haven't really thought much about the surgery but I guess I will the closer I get to it!
It turns out the new surgery date for me will be the 5th January (for now anyway unless they bump me off again). They're planning on operating on both of my jaws so that they don't have to move them as much as they would if they operated solely on my bottom jaw, and this will hopefully increase stability or something like that. It'll also mean I'll be in hospital for three-four days after surgery.
I haven't really thought much about the surgery but I guess I will the closer I get to it!
Monday, 17 November 2008
Three Seconds of Fame!
Tonight there was a news report on ONE News on the start of NCEA exams, and when I first saw it I thought oh not again they film Avondale flippin' College, but later on in the night I was pointed out by my friend Julia (she's Esther's sister for those of you who know her) that she appeared on ONE News for a few seconds in the background!
There she is, in the middle of that screenshot getting something out of her schoolbag!
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In other news apparently some people got into the digger that's on the construction site of Rutherford College's new social sciences building, hot-wired it and went on a joy-ride around the school before going down the road in it. Someone reported seeing a digger travelling down the road to the police and that's when the joyriders ditched the digger! When they were driving round the school they managed to slightly damage C-Block a little bit too.
The digger was then broken into a few days later but they didn't manage to drive it anywhere after the builders took away the battery!
There have been some suggestions that these joyriders were copy-catting a similar scene in Outrageous Fortune the night before where a digger got broken into!
Only in West Auckland...
There she is, in the middle of that screenshot getting something out of her schoolbag!
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In other news apparently some people got into the digger that's on the construction site of Rutherford College's new social sciences building, hot-wired it and went on a joy-ride around the school before going down the road in it. Someone reported seeing a digger travelling down the road to the police and that's when the joyriders ditched the digger! When they were driving round the school they managed to slightly damage C-Block a little bit too.
The digger was then broken into a few days later but they didn't manage to drive it anywhere after the builders took away the battery!
There have been some suggestions that these joyriders were copy-catting a similar scene in Outrageous Fortune the night before where a digger got broken into!
Only in West Auckland...
Turning Japanese
It was a Japanese bonanza yesterday at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama yesterday as everyone turned out to celebrate Japan Day! We skipped church just to attend. It didn't seem to be as big as previous years though.
When we got there there were food stalls outside and inside the building, as well as two stages, one inside and one outside. The lines of people at the food stalls were massive though! We didn't end up buying any food since it was quite expensive.
I came across a couple of my pharmacy friends Ai-Ping and Jamie and her boyfriend and then I caught up with Jacqueline, my old high school friend! We just talked for a while since she was bored (she was dragged along by her family!). It was good catching up with her since I hardly talk to many people from my old high school these days, or at least people in my year. I think they've all forgotten me after I've been spending a lot of my time in Grafton! hahaha According to Jacqueline the guys don't know where I've gotten up to and can't keep up with which degree I'm studying towards!
Anyway some of the performances were quite unique and entertaining, but that's what you'd expect from the Japanese (in a good way!). Some of the dances are pretty cool and the dancers are quite into it! I'll put up some videos.
One thing I noticed too was the number of people with dSLR (digital single-lense reflex) cameras there! dSLR's are those big fat professional cameras with those huge lenses! After outgrowing our digital camera we've been meaning to buy one but we're still at that stage of deciding which one to get. We've been Canon fanboys after having good experiences with their video cameras and scanners, and their SLR's seem quite good too, but we've heard that Nikon SLR's are quite good too, so we're still pondering! They're quite expensive too and the lenses can get quite expensive too! We're only amateurs though so we probably wouldn't spend thousands! If any of you know a lot more about SLR's feel free to share your opinions!
So back to Japan Day, we left late in the day but it was a good day. I think I learnt a bit more about Japanese culture!
When we got there there were food stalls outside and inside the building, as well as two stages, one inside and one outside. The lines of people at the food stalls were massive though! We didn't end up buying any food since it was quite expensive.
I came across a couple of my pharmacy friends Ai-Ping and Jamie and her boyfriend and then I caught up with Jacqueline, my old high school friend! We just talked for a while since she was bored (she was dragged along by her family!). It was good catching up with her since I hardly talk to many people from my old high school these days, or at least people in my year. I think they've all forgotten me after I've been spending a lot of my time in Grafton! hahaha According to Jacqueline the guys don't know where I've gotten up to and can't keep up with which degree I'm studying towards!
Anyway some of the performances were quite unique and entertaining, but that's what you'd expect from the Japanese (in a good way!). Some of the dances are pretty cool and the dancers are quite into it! I'll put up some videos.
One thing I noticed too was the number of people with dSLR (digital single-lense reflex) cameras there! dSLR's are those big fat professional cameras with those huge lenses! After outgrowing our digital camera we've been meaning to buy one but we're still at that stage of deciding which one to get. We've been Canon fanboys after having good experiences with their video cameras and scanners, and their SLR's seem quite good too, but we've heard that Nikon SLR's are quite good too, so we're still pondering! They're quite expensive too and the lenses can get quite expensive too! We're only amateurs though so we probably wouldn't spend thousands! If any of you know a lot more about SLR's feel free to share your opinions!
So back to Japan Day, we left late in the day but it was a good day. I think I learnt a bit more about Japanese culture!
Friday, 14 November 2008
The End of Another Year at Uni
I had an eight day gap between my last exam and yesterday's exam, so I ended up taking the first day off and just do nothing. The next day my mum got me to go shopping with her and so I didn't do anything for another day. The third day was Election Day of course!! I did a little studying on Saturday and Sunday but finally got started on Monday!
I can only really seem to study when I'm away from the house because of the TV, the internet and the fact that we don't have clear tables at home!
So for the past week I've been at uni drinking V (an energy drink) and studying as much as possible for the dreaded CHEM230 exam.
On Tuesday I caught up with Young-Bin and Eliza, two first year friends and went for lunch with them (which was just popcorn for me...I was being cheap that day!) when Jennifer (a friend from church) came by with her friends and noticed it was her high school friend (Eliza), science camp friend (Young-Bin) and church friend (Calum) all hanging out together! She had just finished her engineering exam and went off shortly after.
After that lunch though we went back to studying and thanks to them two I managed to get a seat at the Information Commons which is really full during exam period!
We also had dinner later in the evening with a couple of Eliza's orchestra friends who were pretty cool and entertaining! So we managed to fit in a bit of fun even amongst the study!
On Wednesday, the day before the exam, I had no popcorn but I bought one of those large 500mL cans of V and drank that for most of the day and I have to admit V has definitely been keeping me awake! I think it was a bit too much for me that day though. Towards the end of the night my mind was all over the place! I also happened to miss the 9.30pm bus that night and so had to endure sitting at the bus stop for an hour till the next bus came! That night I had all these dreams of chemical reactions and their reagents, none of which I think were entirely correct, but then again I can't even remember!
The chemistry exam was teeeerrrrible! It was really bad! Even the last stuff I covered didn't even fit in with what the questions were asking! Many of us pharmacy students came out of it not feeling too great about it, but then again some were not feeling too great about it because they thought they were going to lose ONE mark!!
I went to the toilet during the exam, and went into one of the cubicles. I could hear someone flicking through pages in the cubicle right next to me though! I was thinking maybe someone was doing a little bit of cheating...but when I came out the exam man was standing there waiting for me! I didn't realise he would come into the toilet with me!
Anyway the feeling of no more exams felt great, despite the possibility that we might have just failed! We all collected our pharmacy t-shirts from our class-rep Daniel and then a few of us wandered around looking for lunch. We ended up in a nearby Japanese restaurant where half of us had rice, the other had noodles and some others just had dumplings and octopus balls I think?
There was supposed to be a pharmacy picnic at a park near Grafton which we were planning on attending, but in the end we couldn't be bothered. The girls who were with us wanted to just Facebook (if you can use it as a verb!) and so us guys, with nothing better to do, went to play a bit of Foosball.
And that caps off another semester and another year at uni!
I can only really seem to study when I'm away from the house because of the TV, the internet and the fact that we don't have clear tables at home!
So for the past week I've been at uni drinking V (an energy drink) and studying as much as possible for the dreaded CHEM230 exam.
On Tuesday I caught up with Young-Bin and Eliza, two first year friends and went for lunch with them (which was just popcorn for me...I was being cheap that day!) when Jennifer (a friend from church) came by with her friends and noticed it was her high school friend (Eliza), science camp friend (Young-Bin) and church friend (Calum) all hanging out together! She had just finished her engineering exam and went off shortly after.
After that lunch though we went back to studying and thanks to them two I managed to get a seat at the Information Commons which is really full during exam period!
We also had dinner later in the evening with a couple of Eliza's orchestra friends who were pretty cool and entertaining! So we managed to fit in a bit of fun even amongst the study!
On Wednesday, the day before the exam, I had no popcorn but I bought one of those large 500mL cans of V and drank that for most of the day and I have to admit V has definitely been keeping me awake! I think it was a bit too much for me that day though. Towards the end of the night my mind was all over the place! I also happened to miss the 9.30pm bus that night and so had to endure sitting at the bus stop for an hour till the next bus came! That night I had all these dreams of chemical reactions and their reagents, none of which I think were entirely correct, but then again I can't even remember!
The chemistry exam was teeeerrrrible! It was really bad! Even the last stuff I covered didn't even fit in with what the questions were asking! Many of us pharmacy students came out of it not feeling too great about it, but then again some were not feeling too great about it because they thought they were going to lose ONE mark!!
I went to the toilet during the exam, and went into one of the cubicles. I could hear someone flicking through pages in the cubicle right next to me though! I was thinking maybe someone was doing a little bit of cheating...but when I came out the exam man was standing there waiting for me! I didn't realise he would come into the toilet with me!
Anyway the feeling of no more exams felt great, despite the possibility that we might have just failed! We all collected our pharmacy t-shirts from our class-rep Daniel and then a few of us wandered around looking for lunch. We ended up in a nearby Japanese restaurant where half of us had rice, the other had noodles and some others just had dumplings and octopus balls I think?
There was supposed to be a pharmacy picnic at a park near Grafton which we were planning on attending, but in the end we couldn't be bothered. The girls who were with us wanted to just Facebook (if you can use it as a verb!) and so us guys, with nothing better to do, went to play a bit of Foosball.
And that caps off another semester and another year at uni!
Sunday, 9 November 2008
The End of an Era
And that's it...Thank you Helen Clark for everything you've done for the country as prime minister, it's definitely going to feel very weird without you leading us!
As for John Key, all the best. Hopefully he does what's best for the country and doesn't let ROGER DOUGLAS get a word in!
You can probably guess I'm feeling a bit gutted right now, similar to how I felt when the All Blacks lost the world cup last year - not the result I wanted! I'm going to go have a cry in the corner and probably get depressed tomorrow morning when it truly sinks in but then I'll get over it!
Edit: For all those wondering, The Bill and Ben Party gained 0.51%, more than Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (0.36%), NZ Pacific Party (0.33%) and the Family Party (0.33%), but less than the Kiwi Party (0.56%).
At the bottom of the list is the Worker's Party (0.04%), RAM (0.02%), and the Republic of NZ Party (0.01%).
As for John Key, all the best. Hopefully he does what's best for the country and doesn't let ROGER DOUGLAS get a word in!
You can probably guess I'm feeling a bit gutted right now, similar to how I felt when the All Blacks lost the world cup last year - not the result I wanted! I'm going to go have a cry in the corner and probably get depressed tomorrow morning when it truly sinks in but then I'll get over it!
Edit: For all those wondering, The Bill and Ben Party gained 0.51%, more than Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (0.36%), NZ Pacific Party (0.33%) and the Family Party (0.33%), but less than the Kiwi Party (0.56%).
At the bottom of the list is the Worker's Party (0.04%), RAM (0.02%), and the Republic of NZ Party (0.01%).
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Fear for the Future
It really isn't looking too good and I don't even know which is worse - National on its own or National + ACT? I suppose having Peter Dunne in there will keep things closer towards the centre but he only holds one seat while ACT is likely to bring in five seats including....Roger Douglas!!
Things haven't looked too good out west. While David Cunliffe and Chris Carter are likely to win their seats Lynne Pillay is likely to be out, being about 1000 votes behind Paula Bennette of National with 81% of the vote being counted.
To make things worse the National party vote has outnumbered the Labour party vote in all three West Auckland electorates, even if it is by a hundred or so votes.
One of the weirdest things I heard on TV tonight was by an Indian guy voting for National -
"Labour's done a lot of good things for the country but it's time for a change."
He is, in Paul Henry's mind and words, a 'stupid voter'!
Things haven't looked too good out west. While David Cunliffe and Chris Carter are likely to win their seats Lynne Pillay is likely to be out, being about 1000 votes behind Paula Bennette of National with 81% of the vote being counted.
To make things worse the National party vote has outnumbered the Labour party vote in all three West Auckland electorates, even if it is by a hundred or so votes.
One of the weirdest things I heard on TV tonight was by an Indian guy voting for National -
"Labour's done a lot of good things for the country but it's time for a change."
He is, in Paul Henry's mind and words, a 'stupid voter'!
It's all On!!!
It's about twenty minutes till voting closes and the counting starts, talk about the excitement building! The election campaign has ended and we'll soon find out who will be leading our country for the next three years.
Yesterday saw a late flurry of campaigning with candidates and helpers waving banners and making a lot of noise at various intersections and round-abouts. I caught Tau Henare at the Te Atatu South round-about, while Labour supporters had the New Lynn intersection covered. I did my part by honking my horn as I went past them, only to have my mum shout at me for nearly colliding with the middle barrier!
This morning voting booths were open at the school I teach recorder, and so I taught the kids before I went to lose my voting virginity. Boy are some of those kids getting cheeky! I had one of the girls saying to me
"You're still single! Eeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!"
And before the conversation went started to be about me hitting on them (which I absolutely didn't!) I decided to completely change the topic and get them playing music!
Anyway in true Election Day spirit I conducted my own poll of 6-9 year old children (with a margin of error of...I have no idea...):
Yesterday saw a late flurry of campaigning with candidates and helpers waving banners and making a lot of noise at various intersections and round-abouts. I caught Tau Henare at the Te Atatu South round-about, while Labour supporters had the New Lynn intersection covered. I did my part by honking my horn as I went past them, only to have my mum shout at me for nearly colliding with the middle barrier!
This morning voting booths were open at the school I teach recorder, and so I taught the kids before I went to lose my voting virginity. Boy are some of those kids getting cheeky! I had one of the girls saying to me
"You're still single! Eeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!"
And before the conversation went started to be about me hitting on them (which I absolutely didn't!) I decided to completely change the topic and get them playing music!
Anyway in true Election Day spirit I conducted my own poll of 6-9 year old children (with a margin of error of...I have no idea...):
Calum's Election Day Poll of 9 - 11 Year Old Children
Labour 0
National 1
New Zealand First 0
Maori Party 1
Act 0
HUH???&% 4
Labour 0
National 1
New Zealand First 0
Maori Party 1
Act 0
HUH???&% 4
So according to these results the seats in parliament will be split 50/50 by the National and Maori Party. I'll report on the results and how accurate this poll turns out to be as results come to hand!
Finally after recorder lessons and the violin lesson, Hamish my mum and I finally got to voting. I went in and gave my two ticks to a certain political party and nearly put it in the wrong box but thanks to my mum who called out to me just in time I stopped myself and made my vote count!
Let's roll on the elections!!
Let's roll on the elections!!
Examache
Blasted exams meant I missed watching the American elections vote count and only just got out in time to hear that Obama had won! History is made and I'm stuck doing a stupid exam!
I got a week off to prepare for exams and so this time I went into uni everyday to study so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't know how much I spent on V energy drinks! It's really hard finding somewhere to study at uni as the General Library and Information Commons are so full! I also tend to get intimidated by others around me studying so intently, so I have been doing most of my study in the public library.
Actually there was one day I was on the bus thinking how great it was that I was absorbing the stuff I was reading! That was until this heavy metal guy sat across the aisle from me. His music was on so loud that he definitely wasn't the only one listening to it, the rest of us with no way to block out his sound were forced to listen to it too! Thank goodness he got off a little while later,
The distractions didn't stop that day though. I was trying to study in the public library and I happened to be close to this conference room where one woman and one man were having some sort of meeting. They didn't however realise that their room wasn't sound-proof and so they were quite loud! The man left the room for a while before returning and I was sorta looking at him. I think he must've got the clue as after that they were a lot quieter!
I've met some new people during the study period too, like this girl I randomly met in the Information Commons who seems to know everyone! I also caught up with her again a few days later in the Architecture Library which was the first time I'd ever been in there! I had no idea where it was either! We kinda whispered to each other for quite a while till we got shushed by someone (I admit it was a bit rude of us, I would hate to be trying to study around us! We really should've left the library!). I'm not too sure if I'll go there again anytime soon! haha
I had about three exams within a week starting last Saturday morning which meant I couldn't teach that morning and couldn't perform at the school's violin concert. That exam was a bit icky with all these questions on plants and sludge which I wasn't too confident on.
I admit I wasn't studying he night before that exam but instead went with my youth group to Laserforce and bowling over in North Shore. Well I needed a break!! It was the first time I had been to Laserforce and it was pretty intense for the 10-15 minutes it lasted (it felt much longer!). Our team won overall in points and I managed to score the most points, but only because I shot these targets that give you bonus points!
Bowling was quite fun too, albeit slightly frustrating! I was playing my D game and did quite badly, while Aonghas was scoring highly! The bowling alley stuffed up a few times though, like when it set the pins and a few at the back fell over. Hamish also bowled so slowly the ball didn't make it to the pins and stopped half way there in the gutter. Someone else from youth group tried bowling another ball to push that ball along, only to get her ball stuck!
We finished the night off though with a surprise car race along the motorways with our youth group leader (which we didn't expect from him, especially since he has a family and everything!). We had a guy and his younger brother in our car while the rest were in the other car. We stuck to the speed limit though...honestly!! I'm not so sure about the others though.. The funniest thing was that the boy in our car made a prayer request that following Sunday morning at children's Sunday School to
'Thank the Lord for Laserforce, bowling and the car chase at 120km per hour'
Hmm hope that's not what he told his parents!
Back to exams! My Pharmacy exam on the following Monday wasn't too bad, only that it was quite long and we only got two hours! My first three exams have all been three hours so that hasn't been too bad.
As I mentioned earlier, my Medsci exam later that week coincided with the American elections which was really disappointing! I was telling one of my pharmacy friends how we'd be missing the excitement on TV by being stuck in the exam, and she sarcastically remarked
"Yes because that's what we'd be doing if we weren't in an exam..."
Yes it would be!! That exam was slightly different with a 25 mark crossword for us to complete. Most of us flicked through the multi-choice questions and answers looking for words that would fit in! Before that exam I had been studying all morning in the public library till I could study no more by midday and decided to see how things were going on CNN on the big screen. I was sitting there when this guy came and sat next to me and started to ask me where I was from. He then went on to tell me how he was half Samoan and half Chinese and couldn't get a job and so he'd be voting Labour (don't use this against me people!!).
Anyway I have one last exam this Thursday - Chemistry, which is quite difficult, so I better get started studying!
I got a week off to prepare for exams and so this time I went into uni everyday to study so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't know how much I spent on V energy drinks! It's really hard finding somewhere to study at uni as the General Library and Information Commons are so full! I also tend to get intimidated by others around me studying so intently, so I have been doing most of my study in the public library.
Actually there was one day I was on the bus thinking how great it was that I was absorbing the stuff I was reading! That was until this heavy metal guy sat across the aisle from me. His music was on so loud that he definitely wasn't the only one listening to it, the rest of us with no way to block out his sound were forced to listen to it too! Thank goodness he got off a little while later,
The distractions didn't stop that day though. I was trying to study in the public library and I happened to be close to this conference room where one woman and one man were having some sort of meeting. They didn't however realise that their room wasn't sound-proof and so they were quite loud! The man left the room for a while before returning and I was sorta looking at him. I think he must've got the clue as after that they were a lot quieter!
I've met some new people during the study period too, like this girl I randomly met in the Information Commons who seems to know everyone! I also caught up with her again a few days later in the Architecture Library which was the first time I'd ever been in there! I had no idea where it was either! We kinda whispered to each other for quite a while till we got shushed by someone (I admit it was a bit rude of us, I would hate to be trying to study around us! We really should've left the library!). I'm not too sure if I'll go there again anytime soon! haha
I had about three exams within a week starting last Saturday morning which meant I couldn't teach that morning and couldn't perform at the school's violin concert. That exam was a bit icky with all these questions on plants and sludge which I wasn't too confident on.
I admit I wasn't studying he night before that exam but instead went with my youth group to Laserforce and bowling over in North Shore. Well I needed a break!! It was the first time I had been to Laserforce and it was pretty intense for the 10-15 minutes it lasted (it felt much longer!). Our team won overall in points and I managed to score the most points, but only because I shot these targets that give you bonus points!
Bowling was quite fun too, albeit slightly frustrating! I was playing my D game and did quite badly, while Aonghas was scoring highly! The bowling alley stuffed up a few times though, like when it set the pins and a few at the back fell over. Hamish also bowled so slowly the ball didn't make it to the pins and stopped half way there in the gutter. Someone else from youth group tried bowling another ball to push that ball along, only to get her ball stuck!
We finished the night off though with a surprise car race along the motorways with our youth group leader (which we didn't expect from him, especially since he has a family and everything!). We had a guy and his younger brother in our car while the rest were in the other car. We stuck to the speed limit though...honestly!! I'm not so sure about the others though.. The funniest thing was that the boy in our car made a prayer request that following Sunday morning at children's Sunday School to
'Thank the Lord for Laserforce, bowling and the car chase at 120km per hour'
Hmm hope that's not what he told his parents!
Back to exams! My Pharmacy exam on the following Monday wasn't too bad, only that it was quite long and we only got two hours! My first three exams have all been three hours so that hasn't been too bad.
As I mentioned earlier, my Medsci exam later that week coincided with the American elections which was really disappointing! I was telling one of my pharmacy friends how we'd be missing the excitement on TV by being stuck in the exam, and she sarcastically remarked
"Yes because that's what we'd be doing if we weren't in an exam..."
Yes it would be!! That exam was slightly different with a 25 mark crossword for us to complete. Most of us flicked through the multi-choice questions and answers looking for words that would fit in! Before that exam I had been studying all morning in the public library till I could study no more by midday and decided to see how things were going on CNN on the big screen. I was sitting there when this guy came and sat next to me and started to ask me where I was from. He then went on to tell me how he was half Samoan and half Chinese and couldn't get a job and so he'd be voting Labour (don't use this against me people!!).
Anyway I have one last exam this Thursday - Chemistry, which is quite difficult, so I better get started studying!
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Several Short Stories
Let's get this blog back up to date with a few short stories!
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We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!
It was actually the first time I had been involved in a Trade Me auction and I must say it was quite exciting, if not a little frustrating, especially when you've got someone who's on Auto-Bid! We managed to outbid them in the end and still stay below our limit.
--
I had this Pharmacy Communications Workshop which was on dealing with difficult patients. I was paired with this guy who's a mature student and likes to... how should I put this... thoroughly critique others. So we did some roleplay where I was the pharmacist and he was a patient wanting some sleeping pills. According to my piece of paper I had to explore further into the patient's feelings, but as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong and I proceeded to sell him sleeping pills. It turned out his mum had just died, and I'm supposed to figure that out?! The guy told me I smiled too much, but it's a little hard not to especially when you know it's not real and everyone else is taking it pretty seriously!
The next roleplay was me being the pharmacist (again oh yay...) and my partner being some drug-seeker. When I heard this I started cracking up laughing, which you could say is a little immature but hey. That's when my partner told me I should work with kids at Starship Hospital or something!
--
My pharmacy placement was on the same day my parents and Hamish left for Christchurch. I was placed in this pharmacy out in the wopwops of West Auckland. I came dressed up and everything only to discover it was being run by several middle-aged women. I was the only guy in the pharmacy!
There wasn't much to do in the pharmacy besides completing my workbook, which I did by midday. They gave me a few tasks such as checking off new stock against the invoice, putting them on the shelves, doing medico packs (those little packs that elderlies get which help them figure out which pills to take with each meal), and eventually when there was nothing else to do, a stock-take of how many pills they had in the dispensory. Yes...PILLS!
One of the ladies looked through the pills I had been sorting out for the medico packs when I went over to the other side to check something, and when she found I put in the wrong pill (exactly the same drug, same strength, just different colour pill) she asked me what colour it was, what colour it should be, as if I was thick! I sorta avoided her from then on!
The owner of the pharmacy, a guy who was supposed to be my supervisor, came in later in the day and was there for a few hours. He was pretty cool, oh and also was this other pharmacy technician who talked to me and helped me out throughout the day. The owner got me to do what was probably the most technical thing I did in the dispensory - pour 200mL of paracetamol into two bottles each. I can say I fortunately didn't screw that up!
Eventually the day ended, as all days do, and I got to go home. I'm not so sure if a day at a community pharmacy affected my motivation level in a positive way though. In all honesty, there were only a few patients in the pharmacy at most at one time. After midday there was hardly anyone who came in. All the pharmacist did was check off prescriptions and double-check everything, no making drugs no compounding nothing. They don't do that that often in the dispensory these days anyway.
I was left thinking - I'm spending four years studying to end up doing something like this?!
But I am appreciative of being given the opportunity to spend a day at a community pharmacy and see what pharmacists actually do though.
--
The last few weeks of uni were hectic. We had our second and third lab assessments where we got tested on . I got a PRODUCT FAILED for my second lab assessment despite just passing it percentage-wise, but to be told a product you've dispensed is FAILED doesn't do wonders for your confidence! We had to make a cream for the assessment and I did screw up a calculation afterall..
Fortunately the final assessment which is worth the most didn't go as badly and I managed to get a reasonable mark for that!
I also had a lab test for my MEDSCI pharmacology paper which wasn't too great either but I fortunately managed to pass that. I sometimes feel out of my depth with all this science stuff!
--
OK they weren't exactly several short stories but I think I've got things covered!
--
We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!
It was actually the first time I had been involved in a Trade Me auction and I must say it was quite exciting, if not a little frustrating, especially when you've got someone who's on Auto-Bid! We managed to outbid them in the end and still stay below our limit.
--
I had this Pharmacy Communications Workshop which was on dealing with difficult patients. I was paired with this guy who's a mature student and likes to... how should I put this... thoroughly critique others. So we did some roleplay where I was the pharmacist and he was a patient wanting some sleeping pills. According to my piece of paper I had to explore further into the patient's feelings, but as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong and I proceeded to sell him sleeping pills. It turned out his mum had just died, and I'm supposed to figure that out?! The guy told me I smiled too much, but it's a little hard not to especially when you know it's not real and everyone else is taking it pretty seriously!
The next roleplay was me being the pharmacist (again oh yay...) and my partner being some drug-seeker. When I heard this I started cracking up laughing, which you could say is a little immature but hey. That's when my partner told me I should work with kids at Starship Hospital or something!
--
My pharmacy placement was on the same day my parents and Hamish left for Christchurch. I was placed in this pharmacy out in the wopwops of West Auckland. I came dressed up and everything only to discover it was being run by several middle-aged women. I was the only guy in the pharmacy!
There wasn't much to do in the pharmacy besides completing my workbook, which I did by midday. They gave me a few tasks such as checking off new stock against the invoice, putting them on the shelves, doing medico packs (those little packs that elderlies get which help them figure out which pills to take with each meal), and eventually when there was nothing else to do, a stock-take of how many pills they had in the dispensory. Yes...PILLS!
One of the ladies looked through the pills I had been sorting out for the medico packs when I went over to the other side to check something, and when she found I put in the wrong pill (exactly the same drug, same strength, just different colour pill) she asked me what colour it was, what colour it should be, as if I was thick! I sorta avoided her from then on!
The owner of the pharmacy, a guy who was supposed to be my supervisor, came in later in the day and was there for a few hours. He was pretty cool, oh and also was this other pharmacy technician who talked to me and helped me out throughout the day. The owner got me to do what was probably the most technical thing I did in the dispensory - pour 200mL of paracetamol into two bottles each. I can say I fortunately didn't screw that up!
Eventually the day ended, as all days do, and I got to go home. I'm not so sure if a day at a community pharmacy affected my motivation level in a positive way though. In all honesty, there were only a few patients in the pharmacy at most at one time. After midday there was hardly anyone who came in. All the pharmacist did was check off prescriptions and double-check everything, no making drugs no compounding nothing. They don't do that that often in the dispensory these days anyway.
I was left thinking - I'm spending four years studying to end up doing something like this?!
But I am appreciative of being given the opportunity to spend a day at a community pharmacy and see what pharmacists actually do though.
--
The last few weeks of uni were hectic. We had our second and third lab assessments where we got tested on . I got a PRODUCT FAILED for my second lab assessment despite just passing it percentage-wise, but to be told a product you've dispensed is FAILED doesn't do wonders for your confidence! We had to make a cream for the assessment and I did screw up a calculation afterall..
Fortunately the final assessment which is worth the most didn't go as badly and I managed to get a reasonable mark for that!
I also had a lab test for my MEDSCI pharmacology paper which wasn't too great either but I fortunately managed to pass that. I sometimes feel out of my depth with all this science stuff!
--
OK they weren't exactly several short stories but I think I've got things covered!
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