Another Pair Of Eyes

Español

I do not speak spanish, and my exam is tomorrow. Yes, on a Saturday, the world is rubbish. Anyway, this is basically a post of regret – the Spanish course I have done is easy and under other circumstances I’d've enjoyed it, learnt it well, probably continued it and actually ended up speaking spanish well enough to get by in a spanish speaking country. I have not done any of these things, because in the end when I weigh up my workload spanish always loses out to medicine, because medicine is quite simply more important. From that stance the quality of my spanish goes rapidly downhill and thus the enjoyment wanes in proportion.

Yes, it is entirely my fault, but I just think it’s a shame that it is. I’m aiming for a solid 40%, which I am currently over with coursework etc, so I don’t need to do well to pass. Flipside, I hate doing things badly when I know full well that I could have aced the whole course if I’d put in a bit of effort.

Shame on me.

To make myself feel better, here is something cheery I found on the internet.

Blood

Today I put a needle in a living someone and took blood. Three bottles. Successfully.

Twice.

Woooo! Actual useful skills, here we come!

Mmmm, blood.

Living

Life at the moment can only be described by the phrase ‘crazy busy’. I, on the other hand, do not seem to be as crazy busy as I need to be. Sure, I’m writing a couple of A4 pages of notes a day, and I’m out the door at 8am and back through it somewhere around 3 every day, but I’m just not as busy as I should be, and I know it. I’ve got a LOT to learn this year, and I’m not even kidding – our exams at the end of the year are the most serious we’ll get before membership exams in however-many-years time. Even finals pale in comparison, or so I’m told. The Intermediates are synoptic; they can contain anything we’ve learnt in the first three years from molecular cell biology and theoretical physiology through to hands-on clinical skills and diagnostic knowledge. It’s a lot to know, to link together and hold on to when more learning threatens to tear the older stuff away.

I could go on and on about all the stuff I have to learn, but I won’t because it’s boring.* Instead, I shall leave it with a pictorial representation of how much there is for me to know. I need to know, basically, the information on every single page of every single on of these texts:

There’s a bit of overlap, but that’s basically it. The top one I need to know at the drop of a hat, the others need just a working grasp of their contents. Should be interesting.

That, of course, is not the only aspect of living at the moment. There’s the social side of things, which currently is adequate but far from perfect. D and I are no longer together, due to circumstances beyond our control resulting in her being a good three hours away on a constant basis for the forseeable future. I’m sure given the opportunity to have a solid basis the whole LTR thing might have worked, but seeing as we’d only really been together for a month and a half when the challenge presented itself we decided to let things lie rather than risk seeing them fade into obscurity. Life is full of fun surprises. No doubt.

Anyway, I’ve written enough and I’m tired and I’ve got a load of washing to take out and a lot of Spanish to do. Basically got to sit down and learn the whole module. Terrific.

If I’m not about much, the above is all why!

Hasta luego.

*the going on about it, rather than the actual stuff which is brilliant.

Monolith

Yes.

Avatar

Wow. Prepare for a nauseating splurge of positivity.

Words fail me, really. That was the most beautiful, mesmerising, thunderously awesome piece of cinema I’ve seen for years. Yes, the film is merely ‘good’ but as an experience I think it is fantastic. I don’t know whether it’s an artefact of 3D providing increased immersion or whether it was just well thought out characters, but I really found myself rooting for the Na’vi, and actually caring whether they lived or died. At one point I even caught myself think ‘please don’t die.’, which is probably a first for me.*

Did I mention that it was actually beautiful? As in heartstoppingly beautiful? Everything in it has been lovingly rendered, and it shows. ‘Polished’ is inadequate. The Na’vi are brilliantly done, and at times it’s hard to believe there is are any humans behind them at all and that the whole thing isn’t just CGI. In fact, the whole world has been incredibly well thought out; the animals and plants are all believable and ‘fit’ in a way which very much implies that they are of the same ecosystem.

It’s a long film, but it doesn’t feel like one. Even those of you who aren’t fussed should go and take a look, because I truly believe that this is a game-changer for cinema. The world of film is notably different now, which sounds dramatic but having watched the flagship of 3D I think that the end of 2D cinema is in sight, and I’d imagine you’ll be hard-pressed to find a 2D cinema screen near you inside of the next 5 years.

*Although, I do generally find it quite easy to get very involved in films, so take that at face value.

Monday

Tomorrow, every single person on every single course (or evening class!) in the university has a day off. As does anyone working in any university office, café, sports facility, bar etc. People will be having fun.

Unless you’re a 3rd year medical student. We do not get the day off.

Hmph.

Copycat

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Was academically insufficient, although I still passed. This has hopefully been rectified.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Mine last year were a bit vague, but on the whole I managed to stick to them. There were a few blips along the way: not a perfect record.

3. Did someone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not anyone close to me, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
Greenland (and on the way there, Iceland, although I’m not sure that counts!) and Wales.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Knowledge in ridiculous quantities, and more than that, a good mark out of my intermediates. And a decent research project!

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2nd of November, because that’s when I went for drinks with someone for the first time. Sadly eclipsed now, and not by human choice on either side.

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Probably an A and 90% for psychiatry earlier this year.

9. What was your biggest failure(s)?
Exams at the end of last year. Not good.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Broken hand, broken toe. Former a DRI, the latter a corridor-football injury…

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Bacon and chipolatas for the christmas meal we cooked, which turned out to be one of the best nights of the year.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
No-one bar my own on occasion.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Aside from the obvious living costs, I suspect!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Growing stuff, and moreso than ever, medicine.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or Sadder? Happier. I’m actually doing medicine now, actually achieving stuff, learning stuff, and it’s useful and it’s fantastic.

ii. Thinner or fatter? About the same according to the scales in the gym, but I feel fatter…

iii. Richer or Poorer? Poorer. Overdraft win.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Work! But really…not a lot.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
No idea…procrastination? Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could actually concentrate whenever you wanted to?

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
That’s a year away, but I’d imagine en famille. Christmas dinner etc. Hopefully bring someone back this christmas, but who knows.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?

No, but I’d've liked to.
23. How many one-night stands?
More than none.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Spooks! and now that it’s finished…Hustle!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don’t hate anyone, really. Hate it too strong a word.

26. What was the best book you read?
No idea, I only tend to read textbooks now and don’t often read for pleasure, but I enjoyed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, even though it was basically extremely light reading. The Eyre Affair is always a good one as well.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don’t think I made any myself, but possibly Caesars’ Paper Tigers? Uplifting music.

28. What did you want and get?
What does anyone want? Romance, wealth, power, knowledge…well I got a brief stint of 1 and quite a bit of the last, but not much else. And 3rd one is overrated.

29. What did you want and not get?
The ability to shoot fire out of my hands?

30. Favourite film of this year?
Probably Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. (watch it)

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
22, and I felt old! Had a joint party in the week with my housemate, and had a meal con mis padres.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being able to shoot fire out of my hands.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Fashion concept? Me? All I wear now is smart clothes, and whenever I’m not wearing shirts I’m trying to wear the most relaxing clothes I can find. Which generally means dressing gown and slippers over whatever I was wearing before. Concept: ‘old man’

34. What kept you sane?
Focus, and galaxy cake bars (on offer at 76p for 5…see 17 (ii))

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
What’s-her-face from the time travellers wife. Rachel someone? Clearly not the biggest impression ever though.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Politics just stirs me to anger these days. Dishonesty pisses me right off, people should just say it straight and deal with it rather than spinning everything. And stop fucking with the NHS, while you’re parading around meeting targets and ’streamlining spending’ people are dying.

37. Who do you miss?

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Take a guess.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Sit back, be patient, don’t screw up.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I’ll just quote a song.