Can't sleep

Cbf studying either. So so sick of my notes.

Let me tell you how med is ruining my youth and health. My room looks like a warzone and the kitchen bins are overflowing so that there's a tide of garbage gradually encroaching on the kitchen floor. Our resident cockroach population is booming. I can't remember the last time I had a fresh vegetable or fruit, slept 8 continuous hours, went to bed before 3am, or had any exercise. Today's diet consisted of instant noodles cadged from housemate Alex (who I thought was Israeli, but disappointingly isn't), fruity roll cadged from housemate Katrina (training to be a nutritionist!), Coke Zero cadged from housemate Mincho (#1 supergenius in all of med who is also cool, funny and nice so we can't even hate him) and packet pasta from my own collection. Usually not such a leech, but supplies are low. Somehow in my twisted mind procrastinating on the computer is ok cos I can start studying any moment, but going to the shops is verboten. There is no logic. On the plus side, haven't started talking to myself yet. HOWEVER, in about 9 hours....FRRREEEEEDOM! Dear god, pass my sorry ass.

Alex and I share a bathroom that connects between our rooms. Classic setup for slapstick, n'est-ce pas? A couple of days ago there was an almost-incident when I stripped off and bounded into the bathroom only to see that he had left his door open...and he was in his room! I will leave it to your sordid minds to imagine the rest of the story.

Random thought for the day: knowledge of other people's characters is never fact, it's just a hypothesis that's tested and tweaked every time you interact with them. Mostly I'm never that wrong. Even people I think are awesome never fail my ridiculously rosy image of them. There might some kinda cognitive bias there, but I think I'm open to all evidence. Then there are some peeps for whom hypotheses are totally useless!

Bella vita

I've been having a mid-exams holiday the past few days. Should probably be studying for the MCQ's on Thurs and Fri but whatever. The worst is over!

No really good stories to share (actually yes I do, coming later) but yesterday I went for a walk at the beach on my lonesome, on a whim. First day it hasn't been bucketing down for about a week and the longest exposure to the great outdoors I've had for waaaay too long. Gorgeous. Blue sky with a mild breeze, not too warm, lots of families and old people and their pets. I smiled at some babies, some dogs smiled at me. I saw strange rocky area where there were three dead birds within a five metre radius and wondered what had happened to them. Hunters? Caught up in the storms? Flu? (back away) Two were seagull size, but another was larger. I wanted to say cormorant, but names of birds, like those of trees and flowers and geological features, are things I only know in books. One of my distant life goals is to associate these names with pictures, so that when viewing the natural world I have a greater conceptual vocabulary instead of "that's a purdy...green thingy". I saw people flying, swooping in the sky on hang-gliders and some form of seated parachute and was tempted to fork out cash right then and there to feel the freedom of it.

I walked for an hour and thought what a great thing it is to have a young, healthy (if unfit) body and a clear mind, and no serious cares in the world, and the future ahead. I made plans for a reshuffling of my life once the exams are over - just how to get organised and study smarter and spend time on what's important. And I decided I love Australia, not in a flag-waving way, because borders are arbitrary and ridiculous. Just the peace and beauty of the country, a beach walk on a Saturday afternoon.

Suicide for breakfast

Today I had suicide (lectures) from 9-10 and again at 11-12, on about 2 hours' sleep from staying up all night reading Child of the Prophecy, the 3rd in a fantasy trilogy that doth murder sleep. Afterwards, I went home and was handcuffed with plastic bags by a crazy Canberran, just because she was bored. I finally had to give in and use my teeth on the plastic bag which is gross because anything in public places in our house is likely to be cockroach-tainted. Then I did laundry, braving the hip-high weeds and bees and unseen monsters lurking in our garden to hang up my clothes. Then I printed off a book and had a nap.

And today was a good day!

We're in that golden period of grace that lasts maybe a month or so, when the weather is warming up and the skies are blue and still the giant flesh-eating mosquitoes that inhabit Newie Uni haven't figured out that people are starting to wear short sleeves again. There are swarms of invisible flying things occasionally, but they're ok as long as you breathe through your shirt. You don't want invisible flying things breeding in your lungs/intestines after all.