More sun, more cider, and more s.... annoying-the-male-friend's-new-girlf

Tis apparently the last day of summer up North, and my sunburn will attest this fact for many weeks to come. The fronts and backs of my legs are nicely pink (3/4 days to tan), however that leaves a very white stripe down the side. I am adidas. I have been reeboked. Whatever. I look ridiculous.

And last night I managed to step on an upturned drawing pin. The Mother has kindly checked the vaccination records, and informed me that my tetanus has run out. Yay. So my day at the beach tomorrow is being interrupted by a GP appointment for a top up. Probably appropriate, seeing as I spent today wandering barefoot outside, with an open puncture wound.

Hopefully this run of bad luck can end tomorrow. We have a second viewing of the flat we saw on Friday night, because our other flatmate was away - another excuse to meet HOTTT property owner and reassess the place without having our moneyman over our shoulders.

Results on Tuesday! I even took my anatomy book sunbathing with me today, in the hope of prize orals! Or just cos I'm a geek. Either or.

As for the new girlf of my favourite male uni-based friend (as, of course, R is my best male friend). She is under the bizarre delusion that I have designs on her man. I don't, obviously, but it is hilarious to watch her bristle at finding him and me sunbathing together, otherwise alone.

I'm walkin' on sunshine!

Miraculously, the hangover merged with the drinking, so no aftereffects were felt this morning. It was pretty amazing to walk home at half three in the morning and see the sun peeking over the horizon though! It was ridiculously light!

I'm loving this lifestyle of lady at leisure. Spent 4 hours sat on the lawn today with a book, a bottle of cider (I never said ladies of leisure did so tee-total), and an absence of suncream. My shoulders have sizzled like a good slice of back bacon.

*pisseddd*

Hehehehe :) Uni may be over for teh year, but it's schooool night!!! Tis times like these I heart my geek glasses.

I learned to french plait my own hair!!! I have french pleated pigtails!!! Why couldny' I have learnt this ten years ago? Gah!

School tie, check.
White shirt, check.
Visible bra, gah, check.
Emo nail varnish, check.
Fluoro leg warmers, double check.

Woooo!! I havnt been oyut on a fridya night in agesss!¬

Life - going up!

The sun is shining, exams are over, the hangover is gone, and we have a viewing on a flat next week! Life is goood!

Goodbye Prozac.

You have been my friend, and my enemy. I officially sever all contact with you; we shall not even be acquaintances. You are a significant footnote in the history of my life. But this is my new decade (I just hit 20). I will go on, and your green and yellow curves will drag me no further.

1 week today, I will be me. Just me. Not chemically altered Jelly.

For a year and three months, I have been a slave to Prozac. It has been my staple breakfast. Skipped pills gave me hell in the following days. Nothing compared to the week of horrific nausea (I am reliably informed by a GP friend that I did actually go green for the first day - big thanks to that same friend for the Metaclopramide!), but still noticable and enough to put fear into my heart, fear that if one skipped pill produced that depth of low, then how would permanent absence of that life-saver be?

Time to find out. It was my New Year Resolution. It's on my 101/1001 list. I have seen my mother sink so low as to end up hospitalised, and her subsequent intense long-lasting pride at kicking the SSRI habit. My experience of depression was much milder than hers. So I know I can do this.

I have insight (in the psychological definition) into my condition. I can tell when I'm sinking. I know the triggers (bloody hormones!) and have coping strategies. Now is the right time to do this. I've had a fantastic first year at uni, proved to myself that I deserve to be a medical student, sailed into second year, and there's an awesome summer ahead of me. I have amazing friends, brilliant housemates, and the best boyfriend I could wish for. And I have God. Despite our correspondance being minimal over recent years, I know He is always there for me. Through Him I can do all things.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" Isiaiah 40:31

An aside: microwaved scones with butter = the BEST snack ever.

*celebratory exams-are-over dance*

And it's all over. Second year here I come! Conditional to results, etc...

OSPE went pretty well, aside from mistaking the trachea for a bladder - it was a VERY vague CT! I'm 99% sure I'v passed this module, just need to wait and see if I get a decent mark from it! Fingers crossed for an 18 or above...

Celebrations began as soon as the OSPE let out. Pub lunch, girly shopping under the influence :) Then a quick nap before the evening started! Quickly exceeded the previous alcohol intake record, and yet didn't feel drunk... this morning is less hungover than normal too. Oh no! Tolerance!!!

Finally on the downhill slope to summer and home now. 8 days til the parentals arrive - just need to tackle the issue of 'how on earth do I get all my stuff into the car?!'

24 hours til freedom!

Finally, the balance has tipped in favour of less exams to go than have been done!

I have super cool new shoes on the way, a fabulous new dress to celebrate in, and I think I did pretty well on today's exam! And the sun is shining!

I did kill the imaginary patient who was in DKA however. I gave him dextrose and no insulin. Although I did prevent a hyperkalaemic arrhythmia by prescribing something I'd only ever heard of from House!

1 down, 2 to go!

I think that went ok... more common sense questions than any request for factual information, but as I have been frequently told, I have no common sense. Anyway, now I've proved I can come up with five reasons, beyond low income, to explain why a mother cannot provide healthy food for her children, without using the 'she has deeply ingrained psychological issues from her own obesity and feels the need to mold her children to her own body shape. Feeding them healthily would be like suicide' line, or similar bull.

Must go relearn hormones. As if I don't have enough of them already...

15 hours....

First exam tomorrow! For some reason, I'm more scared than I was before January exams! Probably because I know I can pass these, as strange as that sounds. The stress is over whether I can get a decent mark to reflect this year. I want a distinction in at least one module, dammit! A 10 & a 16 do not reflect how I feel this year went!

Chill....

Gonna put my feet up with a new DVD (The Last Kiss), and possibly skim over models of stress.

3 days, and this will all be done with :D

2 days!!

A 9-5 library day, and on a Saturday, no less! Partially cos the flatmate had a resit so I wandered down to campus with her. And to mock her for having a Saturday exam - haha! Felt a lot better about my academic abilities after seeing how many people were resitting too.

The Fear is really settling in now, with two days to go. And now nothing is going in. Brain full.

Exam Countdown: 3 days.

The boyf has gone on a girly shopping trip with some mates to London today, so to avert my green eyes, I did a 7 hour library haul. Hopefully cracked enough info into my thick skull to pass Monday's exam, just got half of the anatomy curriculum to cover and I'm done.

One of my mates has got into Urban Exploring, in the local hospitals/asylums - we seem to have quite a few! Not sure what that says about the locals....
Anyway, the photos are beautiful! Really would love to get into it, but a criminal record for trespassing doesn't look so great on a surgical CV!

Home in 2 weeks! Can't believe that first year is over so quickly. No more halls. No more anatomy class. No more having 35 other people in the house to talk to when I can't be arsed to revise! I'm definitely gonna miss having all my friends within 100 yards... Just found another possible flat, with a roof garden! Fingers crossed our investor (slash flatmate's Dad :p ) likes the look of it too....

The Fear is here.

And shows no signs of waning.

Thankfully the library has finally succumbed to demand and agreed to an extra hour on weeknights. Although the only weeknight before exams start is... tonight. ARGH!!!

Finally got down to the anatomy lab today. I think that induced the Fear. I know NOTHING. I picked up a 'uterus', only for someone to go "ooh, a bladder!" We may only have 2 body regions to learn for this exam, but there's a pretty huge amount of stuff crammed in there! Not to mention Mr Anatomy's obsession with lymph. Bleh.

On the good side, I got my MRI results back! I've fractured the distal tubercle of my scaphoid, and longitudinally fractured my lunate. And according to the (fourth!) set of x-rays, the scaphoid injury is an old one! So much for my claim of never having broken a bone! Ah well, still get my extra time in exams :)

Anything else happened? Erm... nah. As for the outside world, I haven't seen it recently. Ask me again on Wednesday.

Bedtime!

Urgh. I was rudely awoken by an alarm clock at 6.30am (lots of rude awakenings recently. Don't people have manners? Don't people understand my need for sleep?!). Unfortunately, it was mine.

The MRI centre is 90 mins from my flat, on foot. Uphill. My toes are still bleeding. But I got a nice nap for 20 mins, with a cosy pillow, and some massive retro headphones. Great, aside from the CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK of some gigantic magnet spinning my protons (I think. A level Chem seems a long time ago). Fun, exciting new times anyway.

The other half finished his exams today, and (conditional to results) is now a second year! And promptly rang me to rub it in my face. Lovely man. Possibly our first functional phone call (yes, in over ten months of dating, 70% long distance, this is the first. Don't begrudge us our fights), with no awkward silences, no bickering about talking over each other, and it was a genuine 'I missed you and wanted to hear your voice' call, so aww *cute smushy face*

The 'after-MRI' bit of my day, like post-1030, has been... insignificant. Failed retail therapy - where have all the cool t shirts gone? Slogans, pictures, patterns? I already have a cupboard full of plain tops, dammit! Last time, I resorted to TopMan. My Grr shirt is my new favourite thing, ever.

I did come home with a ton of pick n mix sweets though, most of which got consumed instead of lunch, and left me in a hyperglycaemic haze until dinner. Which was great for my afternoon of anatomy revision. Aclands knowledge can be absorbed through the ears, bypassing the need for the mind to be switched on. My boyfriend agrees. And he's a psychologist, k?

Finally, expect death. All water outlets are being tested for Legionella this month. Suspiciously, 5 of my flatmates now have the early symptoms of Legionnaires.

Oh Library, why do you hurt me so?

I have spent eight hours locked in there already today. Stupid, stupid exams. Stupid, stupid dumb blondes who sat across the room from me all evening and whispered and giggled. How do you like Vanders, eh? Nice, eh? How do you like it shoved in that oversized food hole?

The only thing tougher than revision right now is writing a dumb cover letter for my CV, for a research project that I thought I'd already guaranteed my place on. How many times can you wax lyrical about molecular pathways in one side of A4? I'm aiming for a new world record.

Finally, MRI tomorrow morning. 9am, so no revision time wasted. Except for the fact that said hospital is not on any transport routes that I'm familiar with, and therefore is a 90 minute walk. I do not 7.30am. I like it even less when I'm outside in it.

I live in Halls. Hellhole Halls.

A Saturday fire alarm and a confiscated kitchen item should have been warning enough. Bad things do not come in twos.

Number three arrived at 4am. Grr, already.

Then add smashed windows, intruders, destruction of flat contents, and the calling of police and window-repair-men, and grr does not even partly cover it. Fortunately, it wasn't my flat, but it was 2 floors down, and with single glazing and very thin floors, it sounded like it was in my bedroom. And it was damn scary!

Cue much gossiping the next morning, considering only I and one other girl had the nerve to come out of our rooms to find out what was going on. Drunken psycho's, I believe was the conclusion...

Either way, the Ghetto has certainly told us why it deserves that nickname. Thank goodness for the new flat being in posh-trendy area :D

Going for the world record in procrastination...

Greetings Saturday. Would you mind awfully if you could just stop, and restart? Please? No? Oh. Kthxbye.

No weekend lie-ins today, due to some moron burning his breakfast. If there's gonna be a fire alarm, it would have to be on the wettest, coldest day of May, wouldn't it. Yay.
And as if that didn't put a downer on the weekend already, our toaster got confiscated. Yes, confiscated, like a Pokemon card in a primary school. It's crime? Fusing the electrical circuits of our entire floor. Oops.

I just wanna get out of halls. Like, now. Ok, so there are only three weeks left til I'm home but, gah, I just wanna stop living out of boxes! My frickin underwear lives in a box, for crying out loud! My bedside table is a box!

Is it too much to ask for real furniture? Meh, if I can survive the long (currently unemployed) summer, I get my own room, in a flat shared with ONLY two other people, with a SOFA and a BATH and a DINING TABLE THAT WILL SEAT MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE! Oh, and a real cooker (damn you, Baby Belling. Just die already!). Plus... the bonus of only buying a 2 bed house, to be occupied by 3 people is [drum roll] we have to convert the lounge into bedroom number 3. Which means (a) bigger room, (b) bay window, and (c) antique Victorian tiled fireplace!

I'm so psyched! Proper bookshelves, and a chest of drawers, and a comfy desk chair... Gah, furniture freak.

Finally (and then I promise I'll go study. Or go to the shop to stock up on Nutella. Oh, there's no point. I have no toast to schmear it on. Today SUCKS), I'm trying to order my steth for the start of second year, and have no idea which colour to buy. Yeh, life changing decision. There're all dark and murky! Except the fluoro orange, which just looks bizarre, the baby blue and pink, which look like you already picked out Paeds as your specialty, and bubblegum pink. If it had actually been BRIGHT pink, it'd be dangling round my neck already. However, it's just kind of a normal pink with a sheen to it?

5'll make you feel alright!

I am so ridiculously sick to the back teeth of '5 things' on Facebook!!! I use FB to catch up with goss from old school mates, stalk people I'd rather not talk to, and keep up to date on who's going out with who. I do not care if you have an empty beer can within arm's reach, and four other boring and ordinary items. Equally, it's not gonna make my day to discover that you have hand picked the 5 most bizarre items in you house to sit next to before filling that quiz out.

And if you can't beat them....

1. A plastic skull - gained using the best of medical communication and informed consent while celebrating the closure of the Union. I also have a yellow pool ball from that evening. The table itself wouldn't fit down the stairs...

2. A wine glass. Empty, obv.

3. Half a billion padded envelopes. I'm trying to save enough to pad my room. Cheaper heating bills....

4. The Anatomy Colouring Book. Cos colouring is the new studying.

5. A stretchy rubber ball that looks like a lion, complete with stretchy tufts of mane. My mother sent it, for stress relief. Erm, thanks.

[If anyone doesn't get the title, I refer you to popular 90's music]

Rambles.

Firstly, since when did Jaffa cakes get to one-mouthful-cake-gone size?? I want damn face-sized jaffa cakes! Same with Wagon Wheels. I could go on all day about food that has shrunk (don't get me started on Creme Eggs).

Secondly, library hours have been cut thanks to the dumb 2 mile round trip UP a hill and DOWN a hill each way. Thanks, stretched-a-little-too-far calf muscle. You HURT. And you coincide with my regular i-should-really-get-my-ballet-pumps-out flights of fancy. Plie with pulled calf? Nu-uh. Gah. And ibuprofen isn't helping. Greetings, superstrong cocodamol. You come with peace...

Ohmigosh there's only 9 days til exams start and I know NOTHING. Like, I spent 4 hours in the library today. Studying. Interspersed with sitting on the stairs eating Monster Munch (no retro snacks near the books!), texting R about... well, nothing, and fielding phone calls from people dying to offer me summer employment. Ok, I stretch the truth a little. There was one measly phone call. Offering me an interview for next week.

Yay!

I am 420 miles from the coffee house that wants to interview me. And unable to leave town because of revision, and MRI's and stuff.

Nay.

So, I offered to interview in June, when I'm back, and they did the whole letting-you-down-gently thing of 'well we're interviewing for 3 spots next week, so if some of those don't work out we'll get in touch, and we'll keep hold of your CV just in case'. Woo. Cross them off my list for this summer.

Ah well. I have the last-resort of begging R's Dad (hereby known as FIL - Father in Law, despite the lack of, you know, marriage or anything) for work. I'm not sure what sane business owner would employ a little 20 year old girl (that still sounds so weird. No 'teen' anymore) to lug around 21ft metal poles and shizz, but ya never know.

Dumb, Dumber, and Jelly.

All I learnt today is that Lucozade doesn't make good flower water. You'd think that would be obvious from the photosynthesis equation, but I tried anyway.

And, 5 hours after I switched on the computer, plus 2 powercuts which hall staff were less than hasty in dealing with, all I have done is read like 2 years of Michelle Au's blog (I love her cartoons) and try to figure out how to make two pennies into a pair of earrings.

Productive, no. I promise after I make another batch of food for the freezer (since Morrison's stopped making the two veggie ready meals that were providing 90% of my week's sustenance, I'm forcing myself to make curry,and chilli, and pasta bake, to freeze in perfect one person portions), I will go to the library.

Ooh, and put away those freshly laundered tshirts. And alphabetise my DVDs. Maybe watch the end of The Prince And Me (don't judge me - it was a birthday gift, and I happen to like Julia Stiles).

Bleh, procrastination. You may be more fun than Haematology today, but you will bite me on the (sizeable) ass in 11 days when exams start AND I REALISE I KNOW NOTHING.

Btw... the earring thing. Seems you need a drill with a fine bit. And even then I can only find instructions if you hammer the penny flat first, which would ruin the print. Or whatever a coin design is called. Minting? Funky shield thing? Meh.

PhD in Tea Making, coming right up!

Ohmigosh crazy days. Not only did PhD boy seem to like the idea of a tea-lady for the summer, his supervisor is ok with it too! Just got to send off the CV and I'm in!

Just gotta send the boyf skulking into the uni halls to find out what PhD boy is like... hot, I hope :p

I'm so excited!!! And I did six hours in the library today, so go me! Haematology is actually pretty straightforward. And fun - all those cascades and factors! I like nitty bitty details :D

Best start learning my factors in bone healing :D

Jelly-shaped Lab Rats

I may be another step closer to being published! Well, published dead last, in the capacity of 'my contribution was making tea and supplying biscuits'. Just emailed a guy at the uni back home to see if I can get involved in his project this summer - and it's Ortho-related! So, fingers crossed, I may have an ACL audit, and this!

UKFPO - I am so gonna batter you with how many points I can accumulate :D

Ode to Library

Oh library, how I love you,
Hallowed shelves, I need you,
Big long desks, I like you,
To bash my head against.

That place will be the death of me. And seemingly I can cross Poet off my list of 'career options when Medicine doesn't work out'.

How geeky is it that I have a routine set out? Not that I manage a 9am start more than once a week, but high aims and all that mumbo...

9am: my grand entrance. Perfected card swipe, not wasting a second of studying time.
9.02: Find my floor. Find my desk (it has a light! Great for myopic morons like me).
1pm: Depart.

6pm: Re-enter, twice fed.
6.02pm: Grr at all the chatty people who still remain for the afternoon.
7.30pm: Peace.
8pm: Facebook break!
8.15pm: Curse the math geek who does not understand the concept of whispering.
9.30pm: Curse the tannoy system.
9.45pm: Curse the tannoy system (louder)
9.53pm: Depart. Risk life and limb walking alone through the park. No one would dare touch a girl carrying Rang & Dale's Pharmacology!

2/250 (and Stage Success at last!)

Book 2! Already! I'm so on a roll! Probably to make up for the zero books I will read once there are no exams to procrastinate about...

Handle With Care - Jodi Picoult
Bleh - there is no point in me writing anything - I loved it! Gonna start again now :)

And I just discovered that My Sister's Keeper is coming out as a movie this summer! I'm so psyched! It's like my favourite book ever!!! And with Cameron Diaz in it, I can even drag R along...

To add to my 'woo'ness, I did my first assessed presentation today! And really enjoyed it - well, while I was up there. Once I'd finished, and had to answer questions, it wasn't so great, but that'll teach me for asking nitpicking questions about the other presentations! Should point out it was a GROUP effort, and a GROUP success, and I love my GROUP to bits (however much I could have strangled each and every one of them with my bare hands only a week ago).

I am 1/250 of the way through 1 item on my list.

101/1001 is off the ground :D Well, one point is... books!

1/250. The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger

I've seen the film twice, loved it equally both times. And I adore Lauren Weisberger's work - I read Chasing Harry Winston in a tiny airport in Germany when my flight was delayed for several hours, without putting it down. Prada is different, but you can hear the same voice resonating through it. Andy is less likeable than in the film, but I guess that could be Anne Hathaway's talent more than anything else! Lots of name dropping, fairly predictable, but kept moving at a good pace.

The boyf has bought me some classics for my birthday, so no light bedtime reading for a while now, with them and the revision material!

101/1001

Saw Project Zero over at Lily's and figured it'd be a great procrastination idea :D I figure 1001 days will run into my 4rd year,so some of the 'whoah - big ambition' ideas won't look so scary then...I have til February 4th, 2012!

1. Cut spending to under £50/week.
2. Start horse-riding again.
3. Join a university club or society.
4. Go to at least one surgical skills workshop.
5. Get a paper published.
6. Assist in theatre.
7. Get under 9 stone again! And stay there....
8. Get engaged.
9. Dye my hair (first time for everything!)
10. Own a piece of jewellery that costs over £100 (not inc engagement ring).
11. Figure out why I want to do Ortho.
12. Learn to love my body.
13. Go skiing.
14. Read at least 250 new books (fiction!).
15. Own at least five items of furniture.
16. Blog at least once a week.
17. Make financial plans for the future, including investing my savings.
18. Learn to organise my bills.
19. Learn to tile a wall.
20. Learn basic plumbing.
21. Learn how to fix the 'lectrix.
22. Learn to fix a car.
23. Become proficient at woodwork.
24. Cook a three course meal, from scratch.
25. Cook Christmas dinner for at least four people.
26. Visit Rome.
27. Visit Prague.
28. Visit Paris.
29. Go to Asia.
30. Go on an impromptu road trip.
31. Watch the ballet.
32. See a musical in the West End.
33. Give blood.
34. Sign up for the Marrow Register.
35. Watch the sun rise with someone I love.
36. See the stars, and be able to name some.
37. Decorate my new bedroom.
38. Move my favourite things from my parents' house to my new flat.
39. Not cry for a month.
40. Not seriously injure myself more than once per academic year.
41. Take up Ballet again.
42. Exercise at least once a week.
43. Paint my big canvas.
44. Have a professional photo shoot of me and R together.
45. Be a research guinea-pig.
46. Have a place on an intercalated program applicable to my career plans.
47. Find my style.
48. Re-do therapy. Myself. No CPN's up here...
49. Visit Edinburgh.
50. Dance in the Uni Dance Soc Showcase.
51. Cannulate.
52. Recycle all recycleable rubbish.
53. Ride a roller-coaster. A real one. At Alton Towers.
54. Swim in the sea at night.
55. Steal a road sign (preferably 'man putting up umbrella').
56. Attend an Aberdeen FC Vs Celtic game at Pittodrie
57. Ask a stranger where they bought their shoes.
58. Get a credit card, and use it responsibly.
59. Have a joint bank account.
60. Make friends with my neighbours.
61. Be in two countries at once.
62. Go to a Ceilidh.
63. Own a pet.
64. Declutter my wardrobe.
65. Attend a uni ball.
66. Tend a garden.
67. Find the study style that suits me.
68. Get a 20 at least once a semester.
69. Have sex outdoors.
70. Stop buying greetings cards - make my own.
71. Make up with Hannah.
72. Visit Sweden.
73. Climb a munro.
74. Come off Prozac.
75. Meet a giraffe.
76. Ride in an ambulance.
77. Witness trauma treatment on-scene.
78. Ride in a helicopter.
79. Work at the London Olympics.
80. Have a job in uni town.
81. Make a curry from scratch.
82. Have a professional bra-fitting.
83. Wear heels to uni.
84. Talk to my lil bro at least once a week - and not just to say 'is mum/dad in?'
85. Find a new favourite author (sorry, Ms Picoult...)
86. Work as a barmaid /waitress.
87. Work as a check-out girl.
88. Work as a secretary.
89. Work as a manual labourer.
90. Buy new heels without feeling guilty.
91. Replace the lop-sided ponytail with a new look.
92. Celebrate New Year in a different country.
93. Save a life.
94. Write a will.
95. Study first, procrastinate later.
96. Have a FaceBook free fortnight.
97. Go to the cinema alone.
98. Buy/sell on eBay.
99. Shop vintage.
100. Love, don't begrudge.
101. Write a new 101/1001 list...