A special kind of irony . . .

I am finding study quite stressful at the moment and with all of the gastric chaos that ensues when I get stressed, my doctor has put me on Somac (pantoprazole - proton-pump inhibitor). The irony is that we are currently studying gastro and proton-pump inhibitors. Which is contributing to my stress . . .

Discipline

I need to develop a little discipline. Be it food, television or other silly distractions, I have been not quite as on-track with study as I would like.

My aim this year is to pass comfortably and stay sane. I think that people with better time-management skills tend to have more time to enjoy themselves. Taking one hour to study something that a master-procrastinator would take three hours to learn leaves you with more time for the better things in life. (At least, this is what I am telling myself to help make it seem better.)

Speaking of the better things, I have finally gotten around to cooking from recipe books again. I haven't done that since uni started, and last night I remembered how much I really missed it. It was really good.

I am attempting to impose a zero-television policy for myself for the next month and see how I go. Exercise and study is in, and tv is out. I have a huge pile of books sitting on my bedside table that I want to get through. Wish me luck.

Nap time

Why am I finding uni so boring at the moment?

Having worked so darn hard to get in, currently lectures make me sleepy. The background information is interesting to look at, but sitting down and learning it is awful.

Am I doing the right thing? Should I even be here? That question is easy to answer. My old job was even more boring than sitting down and learning basic science. I'm not going back to it.

I probably need to try to put it into context and see that even though the little part is quite dull, and having to memorise it is also not very exciting, it should help me become a better doctor in the long-run.

So for now I just have to endure the pain, push through it and look forward to the time when we will be concentrating more on the disease processes rather than just the basics.

I just wish I didn't feel so damn sleepy.

Everybody needs good neighbours . . .

Damn it! I hate getting new neighbours! Just when I am comfortable with the old ones, they seem to leave and we get new ones moving in.

Previously our next-door neighbour was a retired lady in her 70's who took fabulous care of her garden, was home most of the time, had a big dog, was NICE, and never made any noise. When we went away, she would offer to feed our cats. She was the Perfect Neighbour.

Unfortunately, being alone and in her 70's meant that her house and garden was becoming too much work. She sold her house and moved out. On the weekend, our new neighbours moved in.

I'm scared.

They are a young couple in their early 20's. It is the first home that they have bought. They moved themselves in on Sunday, carting heavy furniture right up until 9pm that night.

They were very loud while carrying the furniture. It was educational. I learnt some new words. Yes, I know it sounds precious. But I have had BAD neighbour experiences before.

Like the two young females who lived above us when we were living in an apartment. They would smoke pot well into the night while playing dreadful music, and our deck would be covered in the ash and beer drippings. One morning we found a lacy black teddy had been thrown over their deck onto ours. I did the neighbourly thing and hung it on their front door.

I'm still hopeful about our new neighbours. If they are a young couple and have bought the house, they are probably both going to be working while paying off their super-sized mortgage. (We can truly sympathise with them there.) They will probably both be working. Which hopefully means sensible bed-times and no mid-week parties. Yes, I'm precious.

We might even share the same cranky disdain for the children who live in the house over the back of both of our yards. These children like to wait until 9pm at night when it is VERY hot and we are lying in bed dying while trying to sleep in the heat. Then, they all run SCREAMING to their backyard pool and jump in and out for at least an hour, while screaming and saying things like, "Wow, it's so hot! This pool is great! Why is the crazy cat lady over the back waving a broomstick at us and screaming?"

Yes, there is hope yet. And if I don't know anything about them by next week, I'm sure I can ask our neighbour from across the road, who fancies herself as an amateur spy/private investigator/CIA operative and watches every move of every resident on the street. I love my neighbours.

Rant time

I'm mildly annoyed. One of the things I learned in previous studies is to keep on track with study by looking at past exams from time to time to see if I am covering the material in a way so that my study should be reflected in my ability to answer the exams.

There is nothing worse than spending an excessive amount of time studying for an exam that you don't do well in. I firmly believe that you should be rewarded for the hard work you do. I'm not a "gunner" - I'm happy to help everybody else who needs it, too. I hate seeing other people who have worked their arses off not do so well.

This morning I printed out the exam questions that we are supposed to be able to cover after having studied what we learned this week. Unfortunately there seems to be little of the finely-detailed science, and a lot of the social-impact type questions that were:
1) not given much time in lectures OR PBL; and/or
2) not even provided in lecture notes because they were supposed to be "sensitive material".

I would love to be able to write on an exam paper that I couldn't answer the question as the material was "sensitive". How the hell are we supposed to study something if they won't even give us the information? Bollocks to the fact that it is "sensitive", if we are supposed to learn it then give it to us!

If they can't even give us the information, then it is grossly unfair that we could be examined on it. It is a giant farce.

Why is it so?

Why is it that the fastest temporary cure known to man for any kind of niggling pain is to go to the doctor?

You can be sore for weeks and do everything possible to alleviate the pain, and it won't go away. However, the day you have your doctor's appointment, not only is the pain gone but you can't quite work out where it was to begin with.

Then, in the car on the way home, it rears it's ugly sleepy little head, as if to say, "Hello! I'm awake again! Did I miss anything?"

Cheeky. Little. &*)&&^*()%.

I always tell patients not to worry, because if there is anything there it probably will still be there even if the pain has temporarily taken a holiday. However, I can completely empathise with just how silly it makes you feel when this happens.

If you go to the doctor and this happens, don't worry. The exact same thing has probably happened to them, too.

Procrastination 101

Your Simpsons personality is.... Dr. Hibbert

Horoscope: In an ironic turn of events, you the doctor will be sent to the hospital, due to being poisoned by an ice cube containing a fly. Although they won't do anything to make you feel better, they will be able to tell you exactly how sick you are. Fortunately, three months later, you will be miraculously cured by the ingestion of a single lollipop (the only known cure).

To find out which Simpsons character matches your personality, go to:

The Official* Simpsons Personality Quiz