If you noticed, my posts tend to be despairing lately. Hormones [driven by Subconscious] are
that bad.Anyways it has been yet another eventful week, though not as eventful as the most eventful week in my AUSMAT life (repetitions are awesome). For some reasons I got my supply of BloggerBooster pills back, and decided that it would be best to post weekly entries that summarise the whole seven days than waiting for 'eventful' things to happen. I doubt I can make it, but yeah, we'll see. Won't be as awesomely frequent (and overly popular) as
Bie's, but at least I can try to revive my vegetative blog. Vegetative, as in PVS.
I had my Maths statistics quiz this week. When you're in AUSMAT it's natural to have quizzes or tests every week. Thanks to my tendency to doze off in
every class I attend, I couldn't really take note of what I've learnt about normal distribution. And being me, I didn't put any extra effort to ensure that I really understand the topic ("ala, statistics senang je kot, apela sangat, dulu aku selalu dapat full mark ape"). So the consequences are nasty. I prefer not to disclose the results here, but suffice to say that I need to stop being overtly confident about my capabilities in statistics after this. And maybe try to gobble down more stimulants. People should make arguments about legalising amphetamines rather than maryjanes (for the uninitiated: marijuana). No, I don't take any of those.
DMT in my brain is sufficient.
I also received the results of my Otago interview (forgot to blog about it). Alhamdulillah, I passed it. Was dang worried about it before, mainly because I am skeptical of my ability during the interview with Dr. Brunton and [immensely gorgeous Dean of Pharmacy] Prof. Duffull. When you have difficulties pronouncing simple words and have lack of coherence during verbal communications, you definitely have all the rights to be paranoid when it comes to interviews. But I prayed, and let God determine what's best for me. And thank God I managed to pass. Anywho, passing the interview only means that I have passed the first stage. There will be two more stages to come; the dreaded SACE exam and Health Sciences First Year ("If you don't take Physics during your Year 12, you will find PHSI 191 Biological Physics very challenging" - Ms. Carol). Hope I am able to make it through all of them, for the sake of my parents (not to forget taxpayers :P). It is sad to know that some of my friends did not pass the interview, but I believe that they will get something even better after this (like what happened to my batchmates after
SPM - those who did not get straight A1's are the ones who leave Malaysia first; those who do are stuck in INTEC for 1.5 years to 2 years lol). And oh, giving false hope is BAD. Leana, fight for your rights, they need to find a place for you to study, it's their fault anyway.
Malay In-Depth Studies presentation was disappointing. You'd think I can do waaaaaay better since Malay is my first language. But I didn't, apparently. Bad communication skills are terrible. Did something about stigma and discrimination among schizophrenia patients, and made a very good job in portraying a schizophrenia patient in front of my classmates (through obvious agitation and actions suggesting 'stage fright'). Brilliant indeed. Of course I can talk, but I don't know how to organize my points when talking. Everything became jumbled up as soon as I start talking. It's depressing.
On a lighter note, I graduated! It's freaky to graduate before the big SACE exam, but INTEC decided that we can graduate with MEP and Russian students in a single ceremony (don't know why) so there we go, the AUSMAT graduating class of 2010 :D
Aaand I just finished reading a new book - A Case of Need by my beloved J. Michael Crichton, M.D. (RIP), the director of the medical series ER, director of awesome movies such as Jurassic Park and Twister, and author of numerous medical/scientific thrillers. I am always a fan of Crichton; I knew him through The Andromeda Strain, that epic novel illustrating the horrors of disease-yielding supermicrobes. Being a person obsessed with diseases and medicines and the sciences, Crichton's novels are my absolute cup of tea. He had visions of the future that are vivid and highly realistic, which are portrayed through his writings (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Next, Prey, among others). I always love how he included charts and graphs and images to further illustrate the issues he was featuring in his novels. And I love how he was able to blend medical or scientific facts with intense plots seamlessly, without appearing too tacky or being 'I-wanna-explain-everything-because-you-guys-are-morons'. It's a pity that he died in 2008 though; never once did I ever feel disappointed reading his novels. A Case of Need features issues concerning abortion; a quest of a pathologist to find the person behind a fatal medical malpractice. Reading the novel is like reading an immensely interesting medical textbook; he included lots of new informations embedded within descriptions of fast-paced actions. The fact that he wrote the novel shortly after he finished his medical internship (in 1968!) is just plain awesome. Five stars for classic Crichton. Gotta buy more of his medical thrillers - I heard that The Terminal Man is also great.
Ha, epic post is epic. Datin Minda asks us to write a journal to improve our writing skills, but since I am not very keen on keeping journals and updating regularly, I think writing in my blog will do. So there, till next week. I'll have my ESLS tutorials next week, and another Chemistry quiz. Ah...AUSMAT. You gotta love it. Till next time.
