Rockclimbing!

Yesterday my uncle drove me out to the ANU to meet up with Alan, who then took me with him to go indoor rockclimbing. When we got there Alan's two friends Simon and Micah were already there waiting for us. I paid my $14 and had to take a crash course in belaying since I haven't been rockclimbing in YONKS, like, not since camp at primary school. It was pretty easy, and the main things to remember were:

• Always cloth to metal
• Keep hands in lockdown position
• Watch your climber
• Two-handed pull up, out and down
• Hands away from you

Pretty easy stuff. The woman nodded and was satisfied with my technique, gave me a belay pass and then we were off. I let Alan go first so I could practice my belaying while Micah and Simon watched me to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. I soon realised that it was almost a continuous cycle, pull up, out and down, pull up, out and down. As I struggled to keep pace with Alan and take up all the slack, Simon commented that belaying in itself is like a workout. I totally agree. @___@

In total I climbed eight times, and only had a break after the 5th one which was the hardest one I tried. There was a barrel-like sructure which jutted out of the wall half-way up, and it was so HARD. I could feel the strain on my aching muscles, and at first I was stuck underneath the barrel so I was just hanging there trying to figure out how to get over it. Eventually I figured out a route and pushing off my feet I quickly grabbed the next rock, heaved myself up to get another foothold, then pushed off again until I made it over the barrel.

Meanwhile Alan had been giving me encouragement and was trying to give me advice, but most of the time I couldn't really hear what he was saying... =/

Afterwards I clung to the wall and rested for a bit as I looked above and tried to figure out how I would make it up. I managed to get three quarters of the way up the wall but got stuck because I had moved up too slow and so didn't have enough strength in my arms to pull myself up to get a higher foothold. I was stuck there for a while,trying to pull myself up and missing the next rock, or trying to push off my feet but not getting enough force to move up. Sometimes I would lose my foothold and just be dangling by my hands (thank goodness Alan is good at belaying ahaha...). My arms were starting to cramp and my leg was shaking, I was losing so much energy and strength through all the failed attempts so I decided to try one last time to pull myself up with all my remaining might. I stretched my arm out and reached the rock but failed to find a suitable handhold before gravity kicked in and I slipped back down.

By now Alan was telling me to come down and take a break so I nodded in resignation and he lowered me back to the ground, saying: "That was pretty impressive for a beginner! You did well, not many beginners can make it over that barrel on their first try."

Needless to say, I was quite pleased and proud of my efforts -I even had a skinned elbow to show for it. Though I was slightly disappointed I hadn't managed to make it all the way to the top.

We sat outside in the cool evening breeze and Alan handed me my bottle. Alan had to help me open my bottle because my hands were so red and blistered that trying to grip onto the lid and twist was simply too painful. I gratefully gulped down my water and regretted not having bought more with me as my throat was still parched. Simon and Micah joined us for a break and asked how I was finding it. They then told us how Simon had just attempted the green course with 'The Wedge'. Basically, half-way up the wall you get to a point where there are no more green rocks, and so you have to wedge your arm into this gap between two triangles which stick out and then (somehow) boost yourself up (using the wedge), OVER the triangles and grab onto the next rock. Alan demonstrated it to me afterwards at my insistence and it looked crazy. =S

Another course I tried was one that used depressions and holes in the wall rather than rocks. Even though I managed to complete that one I found it very difficult because I was wearing my Converse so I couldn't fit my foot into most of the holes. O.o" The last one I did was climb the flexible steel ladder (I tried to climb the rope but it was too hard). The ladder is tougher than it looks, being a ladder it looks deceptively easy and simple, but once you start climbing it you realise how much it shakes and it's hard to balance. With Alan's help I discovered the trick is to keep your body straight and grabbing the bars from behind also help keep the ladder steady.

Alan was really pro, he did the barrel one HANDS ONLY! =O

Afterwards we decided to call it a day and head back (we'd climbed for around 90-120mins). Alan drove me to Belconnen so I could get Hungry Jacks for dinner and while we were waiting in line he got a ziplock bag from his car and filled it with ice from the drink dispenser. The ice felt soo good~ but my hands started to sting after a while so we took it in turns to hold it ahahaha...

Then Alan drove me home, and we saw an extremely localised storm. There were huge flashed of lightnight behind a concentrated group of stormclouds. It looked pretty cool. At first we had thought it was fireworks from the Canberra Show, but after we spotted the lightning we discarded that theory. Apparently it's a rare phenomenon that only occurs once every 20 years. The interesting thing is that while there was lots of lightning, we didn't hear any thunder or experience any rain.

Apparently it's been storming/hailing in Sydney.

A Day out in Civic (Saturday 23rd)

Woke up quite late, but just in time to receive a message from my sister who informed me that she had arrived in Canberra with her friend. I called her up and we organised to meet up at Woden Plaza in the afternoon (after she'd visited a few od her friends) where we'd catch a bus into Civic. My auntie gave me a lift to Woden on her way to pick up two ANU students and go join a free platypus-spotting evening at Tidbinbilla.

I arrived at the bus interchange at 4pm and messaged Shu to come meet me there. She arrived shortly and luckily there was already a bus picking up passengers. It was my third time on a bus (ACTION bus) in Canberra. Teehee XD

I've noticed that the newer buses are orange and green, instead of blue and orange like the original ones. The new ones also have a bike rack out in front which is a pretty cool idea since it saves space in the bus and keeps the inside of the bus cleaner. Oh and the new ones have blue lighting in the front section of the bus near the driver. I'm not quite sure why it's there, unless it functions as those UV lights they have in some toilets to prevent people from being able to find their veins and inject themselves. O.o"

It didn't take long to reach our destination and as soon as we got off the bus I made a beeline for the Jolimont Centre to book my ticket back to Sydney. There was a bit of confusion when I asked for a ticket on the 7:30 coach and was surprised when the girl answered there was no service avaliable at that time. She thought I intended to catch a coach in the morning and so offered alternatives -the 6:30 and the 7:45 which would reach Central at 9:45 and 12:15 respectively. The matter was resolved when I finally realised she was talking about morning services when she said "Your coach will depart from here at 6:30am..." "Ah!" I interrupted "I meant PM sorry..." Then she apologised and confirmed that there was indeed a 7:30 service departing in the evening. Poor girl, she was clearly exhausted. =/

Having purchased my ticket we set out for the Pancake Parlour ahahaha...We both decided to get a Swiss Mountain Malt (with Malt) and wondered which flavour to get. [Who in their right mind would get a Swiss Mountain Malt without Malt? Wouldn't it be called a Swiss Mountain in that case?? O.o"] I inquired about the 'Blue Heaven' flavoured Swiss Mountain Malt, but the waiter said that it was basically a blue sugary syrup which he heard customers say tasted like washing powder. O.o" I ended up choosing chocolate and Shu opted for vanilla. It was soo good~but it set us back $8.90 each. =S

While we sipped on our cool beverages we decided to have a quick game of chess on the raised platform. As fate would have it. I was white and Shu was black. I've never played as black against her and likewise she's never played as white against me. The both of us hadn't played chess in YEARS and I always lost to her when I was little (I was like less than 10) so I never had a chance to develop a strategy. Neither of us were playing seriously because we were both hungry, but she still ended up beating me anyway. Actually, I was the one who realised the 'check' was actually a 'checkmate'. I was so sad...the next turn I could've 'checked'!!! >_<

Well, at least I managed to capture 4 pawns -_-"

Conceeding defeat I heaved a sigh as we reset the pieces and paid for our drinks before heading off to eat dinner. I suggested Woodstock since Alan had told me that they served 'Zodiac pizzas' (basically pizzas with zodiac arrangements on them or something) which I thought sounded interesting. We had a look at the menu and I quickly scanned the zodiac section and read the following words: Cancer – Vegetarian: Mushrooms, olives, capsicum, tomato base, cheese.

"Wth? Why is Cancer a vegetarian pizza?!" I cried in dismay. Shu wasn't too impressed with hers either, Aries: Anchovies, olives, mushrooms, tomato base, cheese. We had a look at the other zodiac pizzas to see if they were all crap or if it was just ours. Some were pretty simple, others were ok, but we couldn't understand why Sagittarius was so special. Sagittarius: Four Different Tastes ¼ Capricorn, ¼ Woodstock, ¼ virgo, ¼ capsicum & oregano.

Favouritism much?? -_-"

Disappointed, I suggested we get the Pizza Supreme instead. Shu wanted to try some steak but wasn't hungry enough and neither was I. The pizza was soo salty, some bits were a bit burnt and they were also stingy with the topping. The pizza originally cost $13, and even though the guy only charged us $12 it was so not worth it.

Not quite content with our dinner we decided to return to the Pancake Parlour for dessert ehehehe...XD We ordered a Jewish Blintz which was the only other exotic crepe on the menu (Russian Blintz was the other one) and regretted it. It had a wierd taste to it, I think the combination of cream and cinnamon was too strong =S We both agreed something sweet and cold was needed to get the odd taste out of our mouths and hence we set off in search of such a thing.

In the end we dropped into Tasuke and ordered a Red Bean icecream. The inside is pretty tiny and most of the two-seater tables were either filled or reserved so we were directed to the big table which seats 6-12 people. O.o" The fact that we were only ordering one thing, to share between the two of us no less, made us feel kinda cheap. We also ordered Unagi sushi though~

They took so long to prepare our food that by the time our icecream came we no longer had the wierd aftertaste of the crepe in our mouths -which kinda defeated the whole purpose of getting icecream in the first place. Bleh. The icrecream and the sushi were good though, it seemed pretty authentic tasting and the staff were real Japs! =O

By then it was around 7:30pm and Shu had to leave to meet up with her friend so I gave her a big hug and said I'd see her at home next Friday. =)

Luckily I didn't have to wait long for a bus and it was around 7:55pm when I arrived in Woden. With nothing except my phone, my mp3, the bus timetable and $1.50 left on me I decided to get some much-needed excercise and walk home (a good 4.2km). Seeing as how the sun was only just beginning to set and how the weather was pretty good (not too sunny with a nice cool breeze!) I was pretty happy with my decision. Though I soon realised that thongs and walking on prickly, dry tufts of grass don't mix. =/
I managed to make it to Mawson shops just as the last rays of sunlight faded. I called my Uncle and told him I was currently at Mawson and intended to walk home since Aunty hadn't returned and hence couldn't come pick me up. Not that I minded, the breeze was cool and refreshing and I had my mp3 to keep me occupied. Uncle was a little concerned though, and cautioned me to only walk where there was lots of light and to be alert, so I back-tracked to the main road instead of cutting through the dark streets lined with appartments.

He called me at regular intervals just to check where I was and to make sure I was safe and hadn't gotten lost or mugged. I felt kinda bad for making him worry so I assured him I was fine and did my best to walk faster. By the time I made it onto our street I began to relax and enjoy the walk (though I was still doing my best to walk quickly in the dim light of the few street lights). The walk up the street still took a good 15mins (it's the longest street in the suburb) and I hummed to the Jay Chou songs on my mp3 while constantly gazing up at the Milky Way.

As I passed the small petrol station on the street I called uncle and told him my whereabouts. It took me around another 8mins to get home. The lights were on and I didn't bring my keys with me so I rang the doorbell. After waiting a few moments I rang the doorbell again, thinking that my uncle might not have heard it the first time. When I still sensed no activity within the house I called the home phone and heard it ring until the answering machine picked up. Slightly worried by now I tried again, hoping that nothing had happened.

Walking around the side of the house I couldn't see him in any of the rooms. I let myself in the side gate and walked carefully in the dark around the house to where the torch and spare keys were kept. I remembered my auntie telling me that if was ever locked out that I could use the keys to access the remote control for the garage inside Alan's granny flat. So, armed with the torch and keys I unlocked the back door and searched for the remote control. I found what I guessed to be the remote control by the front door of the flat, but I wasn't sure since there were so many other devices that looked like doorbells or remote controls. @__@

As I was debating whether I should push the button, I heard footsteps and the side-gate creak open. Without thinking I went to investigate who the intruder was and found to my relief that it was my uncle. I unlocked the door and joined him outside and he marveled at the fact that he had completely missed me on the street.

Yes. Unbeknownst to me my uncle had decided to set out to meet me down the street without informing me. He also used the footpath on the opposite side of the road of the house. With these factors, not to mention the lack of light outside or the wide roads, I wasn't surprised that we didn't see each other. He waved away my attempts to apologise for making him worry as we let ourselves into the house and simply said that as long as I was safe, he was happy. Still felt bad though. =/

It was such a perfect night for star-gazing and a late night walk -the streets were peaceful, the breeze was cool but not too chilly, the sky was clear, the stars were bright and the only sound that could be heard was the gentle rustling of leaves in the wind. My only regret is that I couldn't stay out longer and didn't have anywhere to go except home. *sigh*

Though I thoroughly enjoyed every step of the way =)

Night out with Alan (and Jia)

On Friday I went out for dinner with Alan and Jia at the Pancake Parlour in Civic. It's quite a cool place and the furnishings just ooze with that old English style: large, wooden-lattice type ceiling fans; wooden floors; cute little cosy booths; pictures in the style of Alice and Wonderland on the walls and in the menu; clusters of round yellow lamps; the Mirror of Mirth and the big chessboard with two simple wooden throne-like chairs on a raised platform.

After several minutes of agonising decision-making over which tantalising selection I should pick I chose the Russian Blintz -a crepe that basically tasted like a cheesecake and came with a generous scoop of vanilla icecream. My initial reaction to its yumminess manifested itself as a small delighted squeal. It was quite literally an eye-opener. XD
I sampled the Crumbled Fish Fillet that Alan and Jia ordered, and it was pretty good as well. Not as good as mine though hehehe...

After we had finished eating and devoured every morsel we left to get dessert from Gelatissimo. Jia got a single scoop in a cup whereas Alan and I opted for a double scoop in a cone. Alan got Creme Caramel with Macadamia and Caramel, and I got Creme Caramel with Veronese Chocolate. Geh. Too much over-indulgence can't be good. ^^"

We walked back to Alan's car and dropped Jia off at their place since she decided not to come out with us sightseeing. The smell of smoke was in the air and we could hear fire crackling but we couldn't see anything major so we concluded someone must be having a small bonfire in their backyard.

Alan then drove me to Mt. Ainsle to see the lights. It was incredibly breaktaking. I made a few poor attempts to capture the view but firstly my camera (which actually belongs to my brother) couldn't zoom in very far, I had no tripod to rest the camera on (hence the picture came out blurry due to being on night mode), and it doesn't have much memory space. =/ It was quite chilly so we didn't linger for long and plus Alan mentioned that it was common make-out place. O.o"

Luckily we didn't see anyone. It was mostly just other people taking photos of the view as well haha.

We drove off and stopped over at the War Memorial along the way to take a quick snapshot before resuming our course to Red Hill. As we neared the base of Red Hill, Alan said he wanted to try flooring it all the way up and asked if I minded, to which I replied no. He's a pretty safe driver and there wasn't many people on the road anyway ahaha...

Soo we sped up the hill with Alan asking if it was alright or not and then explaining that essentially you want to suddenly accelerate so that the CDs fly out (which I found quite amusing)... and then I didn't quite catch/understand the rest. He said something about his wheels not being good enough to handle turns quickly and then something about feeling the Gs. But yeah. I felt them at the start hehehe. It was fun~ =D

At the top we couldn't see much so we reasoned that I should try come back out later during the day or next time with a better camera. As Alan was driving back to Auntie's house we passed through Hughes along the same route my mum used to drive me to school at Garran after dropping my brother off at Melrose and my sister off at Deakin. I mentioned this to Alan who then offered to take me to see my primary school. So we did. =)

It was so nostalgic! I walked/ran around the whole school exclaiming when I found something new or something I remembered. As I revisited my childhood I couldn't help smiling and laughing or stop the joyful school pride bubbling up inside of me. At one point where I was racing down the front of the school to the pavement I had to bite my lip from bursting into the school song:

Standing in a lovely valley
'Neath the skies of blue,
Shines the Primary School of Garran
Clear for all to view.

Lift the chorus, speed it onward
Ever loyal be.
Listen as we sing its motto
Versatility.
Ah, good times. =)

Anyway I couldn't get over the fact that now the seniors have TWO sets of cool play equipment (one of the is like a ROPE CLIMB!!), TWO soccer fields and that they replaced the tambark under the equipment in the playground areas with a spongy green mat of what I call crappy safety-grass. Whatever happened to good old tambark? Are kids so fragile these days that when they fall off the equipment they must land on something soft? Kids these days obviously have a low pain threshold. Bleh. I couldn't get over the crappy safety-grass for ages. Neither could Alan ahahaha. I could probably rant on and on about crappy safety-grass but I probably shouldn't ehehe...

A big disappointment was The Wall -a structure that looks like a 'T' from above and we used to play nukemball with. It wasn't in very good shape, some idiots had sprayed graffiti all over it and either smashed or stolen almost all the tiles (the tiles were made by students the year the wall was erected). I tried to find the one my sister made but it was gone. =(

Then we trekked over to the far end of the school to see The Rocks. Sadly they had gotten rid of some of the gumtrees and it appears that they got rid of Big Rock and only left Small Rock. So sad...=(
By then I had run out of memory space (geh) and so with nothing I could do about it we headed home. So now I've decided that next time I come up to Canberra I HAVE have a decent camera with lots of memory space and visit the following places:

• Mt. Ainsle
• My old houses (Kambah and Fadden)
• My primary schools (Garran and Fadden)

And of course if there's time I'd like to go to:

• Tidbinbilla
• Corrin Forest
• Pine Island
• Bateman's Bay
• Questacon
• The Carillion
• Commonwealth Park/Floriade

Not necessarily in that order though. It'd be really cool if I could take all the familiar routes: the routes my mum used to drive me to take me to places (e.g. school, shops) or the walks I used to go on with my parents. I'd really like to do that someday -even if only for sentimental value. =)

Man, this makes me feel so old. Like one of those stereotypical elder figures who say with a misty look in their eye, "Back in my time when..."

Oh well, it's good to reminisce about the past sometimes. XD

I think Canberra will always hold a special place in my heart. It's where I grew up and spent a very happy and carefree childhood. I have a lot of good memories and I'll always want to come back and visit the old stomping grounds or see the sights. I could ramble on and on for ages but I won't~

For all those who dare to look down on Canberra I only have one thing to say to you:

Beware.

Orlando Furioso

On Wednesday (20th) my auntie took me with her to the Optus Theatre at the CSIRO Discovery centre to watch a screening of Orlando Furioso -an epic poem adapted to opera by Vivaldi. At first I had thought, it would be a good opportunity to experience and broaden my knowledge of sophisticated arts and 'High Culture' since I had never seen any kind of opera before.

If you ignore the fact that I was the ONLY young person there, and that I was totally ignorant of the many aspects of opera that made you appreciate it, and that sometimes it didn't have subtitles, and that the "sleepy after dinner" feeling was kicking in, then yeah, I suppose it was alright. The costume and set design weren't bad and most of the time I could figure out what was going on -and there were even some funny parts. The funny parts were made even more amusing because of the fact that they were singing opera haha.

Though I must admit during the intermission I was quite relieved to find they had supplied 5 different types of complimentary coffee. In fact I was so relieved that I burnt my tongue. Meanwhile my auntie got involved in a discussion about the operan -none of which I understood except for something about the opera being performed in the Baroque (is that spelt right?) style, and that it was rare to hear a 'something-tenor'.

The old lady sitting next to me was quite impressed with my attentiveness throughout the screening and said, "You're doing quite well to tolerate this." Aww... =)

From what I gather, the opera was filled with sorcery, Gods, plotting, cross-dressing, a mix of good and bad singing, and at some point almost every character accused their lover of being unfaithful. This is mainly because the sorceress kept using her magic to charm every good-looking guy she saw. Though of course in the end she was overthrown and everything worked out fine.

In conclusion, always check the age group of those in attendance before you go see opera.

Radiography Jokes

Random stuff I found~

You know you're a Radiographer when...

• You wash your hands before you go to the bathroom
• You've ever had a patient with a nose ring, brow ring and 12 earrings say, "I'm afraid of needles!"
• You have to leave the patient's room before you begin to laugh uncontrollably
• You believe a roll of tape can fix any problem
• You know beauty is not only skin deep....great trabeculation, nice odontoid!
• The question of the day is to B.E. or not to B.E.
• You know that a hard beam tight collimation equals adequate penetration
• You know what "pop the film" means
• You have more white cardboard than you need
• You give somebody a hug, and feel for their iliac crest
• You make comments like "the costophrenic angles are not showing when chest x-rays are shown on tv or movies.
• When you watch ER, Nip Tuck, Scrubs, Etc. you look at the viewing box in the room and know that the PA CXR is hanging upside down, along with the lateral c-spine, and the patient is in the ER because she is having a baby.Then if you say to yourself and everyone in the room, who don't care because they aren’t in the medical field, those x-rays aren’t hanging right, and that is a major HIPAA violation!!!
• You know the answer to: "But my left side does not hurt, just the right side of my chest hurts, why are you taking a picture of the left?"

Funny Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day Poems

[Got this in an email. Some are better than others -namely the last one and the fourth last one haha. ]

A local newspaper ran a competition asking for a poem with the most romantic first line, but the least romantic second line. Here are some of the entries they received:

• Love may be beautiful, love may be bliss/But I only slept with you because I was p * ssed.
• I thought that I could love no other/Until, that is, I met your brother
• Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. /But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head.
• Of loving beauty you float with grace /If only you could hide your face
• Kind, intelligent, loving, and hot /This describes everything you are not
• I want to feel your sweet embrace /But don't take that paper bag off of your face
• I love your smile, your face, and your eyes- /Damn, I'm good at telling lies!
• My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife: /Marrying you has screwed up my life
• I see your face when I am dreaming /That's why I always wake up screaming
• My love you take my breath away /What have you stepped in to smell this way?
• My feelings for you no words can tell /Except for maybe 'go to hell'
• What inspired this amorous rhyme? /Two parts vodka, one part lime....

Weekend in Sydney 15th-17th

All I remember on Friday (err..15th of Feb?) during clinical was that I was in a really good mood and the day seemed to go by quickly. Andrew, Mei and I made origami when there was nothing to do and we mucked around a lot [omg sometimes the staff call me Mei instead of Mary -_-" It's like "Oh hey Mei, uh, Mei-ry"]. I also learnt some of the abbreviations used in the workplace and found this site with a whole list of them. Here's a random selection:

• TRO - Time ran out
• TFTB - Too Fat To Breathe
• SHA - Ship His Ass (when patients refuse to be discharged).
• RT - Room Temperature (dead)
• PITA - Pain in the ass
• Peek and Shriek - open a patient surgically, discover an incurable condition, and close the incision immediately
• LOL - Little Old Lady
• Hammer - local anesthetic
• Code Yellow - urinary incontinence emergency
• 45C - patient is one chromosome short of a full set (thick)
• Thank You For This Interesting Consult - this is complete b*llsh*t
• YMRASU - Your Medical Records Are Screwed Up
• FLK - Funny Looking Kid
• WWI - Walking while intoxicated (and fell over)
• VIP - Very intoxicated person
• VBT - Very Bad Thing
• UPF - Un-Passed Fart (gaseous distended abdomen)
• Urban Outdoorsman - Homeless person
• Two beers - the number of beers every patient involved in an alcohol-related automobile accident claims to have drunk before the accident.

Anyway, my auntie picked me up after work and I hastily packed and ate a light dinner before Celine came to pick me up at 6pm. Half-way we stopped over at McDonalds and had something to eat. It was so cold outside...><

When she dropped me off it was around 10pm and I chatted with my dad and sister, organised some of my things and hopped online. My brother called and told me not to go to sleep before he got home ehehe...

Had the best sleep in AGES! Nothing beats one's own bed XD

Then the next morning my brother came in and woke me up. *sigh* Some things never change...

Met up with Angel in Parra at 11:30am and we quickly visited Lynette and Bethany at work. Unfortunately both were too busy for us to chat to, but at least we got to see them. Both looked very pro haha =) After realising we'd be late we called and smsed around to apologise. We also rang Royce who totally forgot. Gah, and he didn't even know who I was at first! -_-"

Soo Angel and I were the last to arrive at Central where Kathy, Lewis, Justina, Justina's cousin, Stephanie and William had been waiting ahaha oops... But yay! Got to see everyone again after so long keke~ Was really glad peeps still came even though I organised it kinda late and didn't have enough time to plan the outing properly...^^"

And of course, I was glad to see him. Heh. He was sporting a nice new haircut too! XD [I've missed you~ keke].

Anyway we stopped over at the Greyhound coach terminal, so I could get a ticket for Sunday, before heading off to Poporo in Market City. While deciding whether we were hungry or not someone (possibly Kathy?) noticed the CNY Performance dancers on ground level were REALLY, REALLY OLD. O.o" We couldn't tell until they looked up at us and we spotted their wrinkles and tell-tale signs of age. Bad sight. Yet kind of funny because we were wondering why on earth they were performing instead of the typical younger chinese dancing girls...

Not all of us were hungry, so while one end of the table ordered delicious looking goodies and drinks, the rest of us on the other end sat around talking and drinking cups of water. [For the record, your story was NOT scary Lewis. The only reason I lost was because you shouted so loudly and suddenly it made me jump!! Bleh -____-"]

Headed over to Galaxy World for a bit, and while the others waited in line to play Deal or No Deal, William and I had a quick go at the bball game. ^^ I think the mode we selected was "continuous", which meant that the net would move backwards or forwards depending on whether you were getting them in or not. I won, but only cos at some point William disappeared, then returned a moment later with more basketballs ahahaha... It was fun though ^^ [Were you even trying? =P ]

We returned just in time to see the people who were playing Deal or No Deal win 200 tickets. =O Then it was our go, and despite having 8 people, none of us could keep track of the cases. In the end Lewis picked a random case and started playing. Interestingly, all the cases Lewis chose to open had high amounts in them whereas the ones Kathy picked had lower values ahahaha...

We were down to the last two cases with possibilities being 2 and 3 tickets...the bank offered 2 tickets but without hesitating Lewis hit the No Deal button and the case he'd chosen was opened...

Inside was 2 tickets. -___-"

Anyway, we headed off to Greenbox Plus for two hours of karaoke plus a free drink. They didn't have enough bottles of Mount Franklin so some of us ended up with room temperature bottles. Poor Stephanie was given the bottle that had been in the display case, but luckily she managed to persuade the guy to give her a fresher one...ahaha. One of the songs wouldn't play when selected, and we spent a couple of minutes trying to work out why before we asked the guy to come check it out. He didn't know why it wasn't working either, so all we did was end up wasting our precious K time. Though, at the end, Justina managed to talk them into giving us an extra 5 mins. ^^ [Yay~ good work Justina! =D]

We met up with Jennifer and Andy who were waiting for us on the couch (looking bored and slightly tired) just outside the elevators then headed off to Capitol for sticker photos! Machine was quite crowded so we didn't get to move around a lot, and the pics were miniscule.

Still lotsa fun though. ^^v

Using Andy's money, Lewis managed to win a male turtle plushie for me and the matching female turtle plushie for William keke~ XD [omg Andy I can't believe you said "I should have centred higher." It's too early for your study-related jokes!]. It was around this time when Stephanie, Justina and her cousin had to leave, and with nothing to do for another hour and a half we decided to go K2 ehehehe...Reanna also came to join us (too bad she wasn't wearing her work clothes ahahaha). Since I'd promised, William chose the song "Perfect Interaction" and we got up and danced. Or rather, William danced and tried to show me how to dance, and I just did my best to copy whatever he was doing ahaha... [Next time go slower! I can't keep up trying to copy your movements... ^^"]

Afterwards we went to eat at Chat Thai (instead of Pancakes on the Rocks) where Lewis had kindly booked a table for 10 people. While waiting for a table I first played chopsticks with Jennifer, then "A, B, C, D" with her and Lewis. William had to leave just as we were being shown to our table. =(

I sat at the head of the table ahaha and what we ordered included Pad Siew, Green Curry, Red Curry, Emerald Duck and Fried Rice. Andy's fried rice came first, and it contained huge pieces of red chillies in it which he and Lewis decided to eat. Don't know why they did it, but it looked like utter torture, so I was like "Eat the lettuce! Eat the cucumber!" Seeing them eating the chillies reminded me of this clip on youtube. Dinner was good, a little bit on the spicy side though.

We would have played "A, B, C, D" for longer (by now it was me, Jennifer, Andy, Reanna and Lewis playing) but there were people lining up for tables and so we left for icecream -at Passionflower! I shared with Jennifer and we got a scoop of durian icecream and a scoop of lychee rose petal icecream in a cup. =) Then, somehow Jennifer decided that if Lewis ate a SCOOP of our durian icecream he wouldn't have to owe me K or 40 cents. I never agreed to those terms!! Ahh! >.<

So Lewis was trying to get some of the durian icecream while I was trying to prevent him and somehow he managed to grab Will (the turtle ehehe) off me. So Lewis was clutching Will in one hand and trying to get icecream with the other, while I was holding the icecream with one hand, and trying to get Will back with the other. Meanwhile, Jennifer just kept eating the icecream.

Now that I think about it, we must've looked like retards...O.o"

To conclude, I got Will back and Lewis didn't get any icecream muhaha... XD

While we were eating our icecream we found out that David needed help carrying some stuff from K2 to Townhall and since Andy had offered to help we all decided to lend a hand (we were going in the same direction anyway). Though in the end they only needed Andy's help. =/ Soo the rest of us walked back to Townhall just in time for Kathy and Jennifer to run for their train. The rest of us had 29mins until our train so we went into Woolies and bought stuff.

It was really funny listening to Reanna and Lewis laughing like retards the entire time, and Lewis showed us his "Finger" routine, which was basically him holding his index finger up with this expression on his face saying "Finger" in this really funny voice.

Also, while in Woolies I managed to prove the existence of Cocoa powder muhaha...

When we got back to the station we'd missed our train, but luckily we didn't have to wait long for the next one. Once we got on the train we chatted about various things and then I had a game of Slaps with Lewis. Omg..I seriously need to practise more -__-" [Stop assuming you're going first Lewis!! Gah!! @___@]

At Strathfield we parted ways, Angel went to get the train to Parra and Lewis went to get a train to Burwood. Reanna's mum was already waiting for us so we quickly hurried over and got into the car. Arriving at Bumbo's house I got to work and Reanna and TP helped me occasionally [Bumbo -remember "silently ___"? ahahaha XD] Aww and Mimi came to say 'hi' to me hehe. [Thanks Baldy for the call! ^^].

We slept late and I think I was the first to get up. Anyway, Reanna and her family were going out and they were able to give me a lift so when I finished getting ready I played with Mimi who came over to me and made these wierd sounds. O.o" TP drove us and she's not bad -omg makes me depressed. -_-"

We arrived in the city and William's train had been delayed so Reanna and her family insisted I join them while I waited. Reanna's dad is funny~ [Know what I'm talking about Bumbo?? *wink wink nudge nudge* ahahaha].

I spent the rest of the day with William in the city until I had to catch my coach. XD

[Yes, I'm leaving out a whole lot of detail. Think about it though. If I elaborated more, you peeps might start to feel lightbulb just reading it. See? I'm being so thoughtful ehehe...]

Soo I sat in seat 3D (window seat yay!) and left Sydney at approx. 4pm. The trip was pretty uneventful: I drifted in and out of sleep and the person next to me either read her book quietly or sent text messages. About an hour into our journey the driver put on The Longest Yard, which kept everyone entertained for most of the way. Surprisingly we arrived at the Jolimont Centre in Canberra at 7:30pm so I had to wait around for half an hour before my uncle came to pick me up.

And that concludes the events of my trip up to Sydney. =)

The other days...

"Guards, report!"
"Uhh..there is nothing to report."

Youtube funnies

Water Trap
Japanese Sumo Prank
Darth Vader vs. Japanese Police
They're Takling the Hobbits to Isengard!

Tuesday~

Besides the whole doctor CXR and palpating patient, Tuesday was actually quite eventful.

In the morning it suddenly started POURING and Lauren (friend from work) and I shared her umbrella [Hmm...I wonder why I don't have an umbrella? *cough cough*] and walk in the rain to work from her car. My jacket got drenched and I was kinda wet and felt a little sick in the morning, but by the afternoon I was feeling better. =)

After lunch it was soo draggy. All of us Rads were walking around aimlessly, constantly checking the box for something...ANYTHING to do. We would've killed to have a whole bus-load of HSAs at that time. Lauren and I were so bored we cleaned the rooms, refilled the gowns, checked to make sure the change rooms had no used gowns in them and got more red envelopes.

We were so bored that by the time we had the last appointment for the day in screening, the doctor took one look at my face and said,
"You look terminally bored." [Ack! >.<" Since then I have resolved to be more enthusiastic whenever he's around]. Anyway that last appointment was really boring too..the doctor had to inject some local and steroids into the patient's knee and he kept putting the needle in in the wrong spot. Poor patient kept letting out short cries of pain. O.o"

Lauren gave me a lift home and I literally only had time to change before I had to head out with my Auntie and Uncle to go to the Chinese Embassy for the Chinese New Year Celebrations. We met up with the two ANU students Lauren (a different one) and the guy (he has no english name and I dunno how to spell his Chinese name >.<" ). Afterwards we split up, Auntie and Uncle went to chat with all the people they recognised and so the two ANU students and I went to exchange our coupons for dinner ^^ We all picked the one with rice, pieces of chicken and asparagus. The chicken was so chili man..

When we'd eaten our fill we browsed the stalls and amused ourselves by taking random photos. After we'd taken enough photos we watched the performances from off the side near backstage and were blinded by the lights. @_@

Us three~ Lauren insisted I try the hat on

2 Doctors and Palpating Patients

Sunday was bludgy, so I didn't really bother writing up a blog ahahaha...but anyway, not much happened from Sunday til Tuesday except two doctors and a palpating patient.

During the course of Monday and Tuesday I had to do a CXR for two doctors. I had just done a whole stack of HSA CXR (they only need the PA and no lateral) so I forgot about doing a lateral for the first doctor and was going to go check the film when he commented,
"Oh, so you're not going to do a lateral?". I froze in mid-stride and hastily replied,
"Uhmm actually yes I'm going to do that now..."

For the second doctor I remembered to do a lateral, but before I could open my mouth he said,
"Oh yes, so you'll go and check those films now?" [Gah...]

So, that's the two doctors, and now for the palpating patient.

I had been positioning this woman for her shoulder, telling her to shuffle a bit to her left etc., when she suddenly turned around and started firmly palpating MY shoulder and telling me where the pain was. O.o" It was so sudden that the PDY girl and I were both startled.

Fool's Gold and Concrete

Yesterday my auntie returned!! We all went to pick her up at 5pm from the Jolimont Centre and she was wearing a large, warm jacket because she had just come back from Taiwan. On the other hand I was cold because the wind was quite chilly and I didn't bring many warm clothes down with me [having not properly been back in Canberra for so long I'd forgotten how cold it can get. Bleh].

Sarah came by at 6pm and we shared a bowl of wedges [it cost $9!! @___@] from Babar Cafe and Bar [yes, it was named after the cartoon elephant!] before we made our way over to the cinema to watch Fool's Gold. It was an average movie with a few laughs, a typical storyline and 'miraculous' events. By miraculous, I refer to those situations where things always seem to turn out fine, even when the odds are HIGHLY unlikely. For example in one scene, the main character HAPPENED to find an ancient sword while underwater taking apart a dynamite grid, when one of the charges is accidentally set off, sending him flying up several metres into the air and causing him to land ON HIS BACK on the roof of the neighbouring vessel. Meanwhile, he manages to throw the sword and it lands point-down on their boat right between the overly cutesy and attention-seeking girl's legs. -_-"

Some quotes [probably not exact wording but oh well~ haha]
+Gemma: *acting clueless* Oh! So what are they looking for?
+Tess: *unimpressed with her behaviour* Do you seriously not know the answer to that question?
+Gemma: *eyes widen and she makes some odd choking sounds of protest before stomping off*

+Finn: *running through a quick check*...flaps, engine, altitude -check!
+Tess: *surprised* How do you know all of this stuff?
+Finn: *grinning* Playstation 2!
+Tess: ...

+Gemma: *trying to rebel* I'm going to cut myself off from you! I don't want anything from you anymore! Except for food...and clothes and and transportation! I'm serious!
+Gemma's Dad: *calmly* Yes, and that's what scares me.

Anyway, after the movie we went to eat concrete hehehe... I chose Butternut with a chocolate custard base and it was pretty good! ^^ Sarah made her own concrete with a chocolate base, chocolate syrup and two toppings. When they were handed to us and we sat down I couldn't resist turning mine upside down and witnessing what the concrete was famed for -defying gravity. XD muhaha...

...and the rest of the week

Didn't really do anything too interesting this week..

1. Tuesday: Morning tea for Mei's accreditation and I watched a HSG from the side (so I didn't really see anything that horrific).
2. Wednesday: Opted to stay at home finishing off my SICA reports instead of going out for dinner.
3. Thursday: CHINESE NEW YEAR! Went out for dinner with uncle, Alan, Jia and 2 ANU students instead of attending the farewell dinner for Fleur and Ann. We also had a morning tea at work for Linda's birthday.

Friday was a pretty good day. We had a very large morning tea consisting of 3 cakes (2 from Michel's, one made by Lauren), pizza bread, an assortment of crackers and dip, Mei's rice rolls and Ryan's brownies to farewell the chief radiographer. After the table was all set up it looked really good, and when you had time you could go grab something to eat. There was a sign underneath the brownies which read: "ATTENTION: Tony. Ryan cooked these" Ahahaha so funny man~ XD

After work I bummed around Westfield with Lauren and at some point we headed into Harvey Norman to test the massage chairs hehehe~ I couldn't stop laughing cos it felt so wierd, people must've thought I was strange or something ahahaha. We weren't the only ones testing them out though, there was actually an old guy sitting in one of them who fell asleep. O.o"

Those massage chairs were awesome! Especially the Zero Gravity one by Sanyo which was priced at $9999 muhaha... ^^v We took it in turns to try that one and we were both like "omg...our feet have been reborn" ahahaha. Apparently when Lauren was trying it out a couple walked into the store and commented to her "Nice way to end a working week!" and then as they were leaving they saw me trying it out and they jokingly said "OMG they're still there!" to which Lauren replied "you should try it out!" XD

A little while later after we left the store Lauren got picked up so I wandered into the library and managed to obtain a temporary library card. They have a wide range of anime on dvd so I might check it out next time. Heh. Unfortunately by having a temporary library card I'm classified as a restricted borrower so I can only borrow 2 items at once. =S

Library closed at 7pm so I bummed around Westfield until 7:30pm when I met up with Alan, Jia, and Alan's friends Carl and Melissa. Had dinner before heading to Melissa and Carl's place in Garran for Munchkin: Bites! We played cards up to explain the rules easier, but as time went by it was obvious we weren't going to finish the game anytime soon. Carl stole Melissa's "Funky hairdo" and tree and I stole Melissa's "Perfect hair" muhaha... Anyway it was a VERY LONG AND INTENSE game with lots of back-stabbing and stalemates which lasted an hour and a half before we decided the next person to obtain a level would win.

Another Monday

Chief radiographer filled out my mid-clinical assessment today and I'm pretty happy with what she gave me muhaha... XD The CSU student called in sick today so I got to do a bit more -did around 10 competencies today, yay! =D I finally saw my first elbow and arthrogram. The arthrogram was interesting to watch I suppose, but you don't really do much except set everything up for the doctor. Also got to see lateral airways today which looks cool, it's in the same room as the OPG machine and Mei taught me how to use it. Pretty simple stuff. Heh. XD

Ugh. Eating an apple that is crunchy on one side and powdery on the other. =S

Clinical is really killing my imagination. In the past week I have had at least two dreams relating to clinical: the first was about one of the PDY girls trying to teach me a technique to x-ray three patients at once, and the second was about me getting an early mark. Looks like I simply want to get clinical over and done with as quick as possible -not that I needed my subconscious to tell me that... -___-"

Gah it's cold right now. It's been raining on and off for the past few days.

Sleepover! XD

Sarah dropped by after work at around 5:30pm to pick me up and I went to her house for a sleep over. We watched Stardust while we waited for dinner and it's pretty good, I liked the plot -it wasn't too cliche, the character development was good, and the acting wasn't bad either. They managed to pull off fairly typical and predictable roles in a way that didn't make you roll your eyes. There was this bit where Tristan got turned into this adorable little mouse and we were fully like aww...XD. He looks much better after his haircut haha. Overall it was a pretty good movie. =)

Dinner was great, and we had quite a lot to talk about haha. I was really full though so I didn't get to try the homemade coleslaw or salad. Looked really good as well. =[

After dinner we watched Ultraviolet, a Mila Jovovich (or whatever her name is) sci-fi movie set in the future about vampires and humans or something. I kinda got the overall plot but there were times when I was just totally confused. It was a pretty bad movie, and some of the ideas were a little far-fetched. Oh and the fight scenes were just too overly-done. =S

To restore our faith in Mila Jovovich's acting abilities and prevent ourselves from associating her with bad movies (such a disappointment after The Fifth Element!!), we decided to watch Resident Evil. Not bad for a zombie movie. Felt so sorry for Matt though..=S The laser room kinda reminded me of a similar scene in Cube, where there is a hidden razor-sharp metal mesh thing which swings down and slices the person into tiny bits.

By then it was 12:30 but we "had" to watch Resident Evil: Apocalyse to satisfy our curiosity. Heh. Definitely wasn't as good as the first one (when are they ever?). Ended up finishing our movie marathon at 2am XD

Throughout this whole time, Sarah's big, fat puppy was either gnawing on his bone and burping, sleeping and snoring really loudly, sitting on my foot or lying across my lap. He wouldn't lie peacefully on my lap either, if I stopped patting him for a moment he'd jump up and pester me. Her two cats on the other hand, came and went as they pleased.

In the morning Sarah dropped me off on her way to work and I bummed around before my uncle and I went out for lunch at a place in Forest with Alan, Jia and an ANU student called Lauren. Afterwards we all headed back and played some Donkey Kongo before Alan, Jia and Lauren left.

Got an unexpected call from a uni friend this afternoon but didn't recognise his voice at first, and for a VERY, VERY brief moment I thought it was someone else.

Someone I miss.

Small Bowels and Nuclear Med

Watched a small bowel series with Shanna this morning which wasn't very interesting. Patient drunk two cups of barium sulfate stuff and another cup of water. When the barium had almost finished spreading she had to drink two liquids, which apparently combine in her bowels to give her gas, so as to inflate the bowels so the doctor can see better. Usually patients aren't allowed to use the bathroom because their bladder drops down after it's been emptied, making it harder to include on the film.

Soo... that means they gotta hold it in. Unless the doctor is lenient.

Shanna told me about another procedure, the small bowel enema I think, which involves putting a tube up the patient's rectum and pumping their bowels full of gas after they've had their barium. The prescence of gas in the patient's bowels gives them the sensation like they need to go to the toilet.

Gas pumped into bowels + elderly patient = expelling of gas. Bad combo. =S

And apparently sometimes the force is so great that small white flecks of barium fly out too. It's not an airtight tube afterall.

I went to Nuclear Med in the afternoon to observe a lumbosacral spine on a radioactive patient. This was after I had assisted with the projections in the Screening room. As the procedure was being performed (took 20mins for the machine to rotate 360 degrees around the patient and pick up enough radiation to create an image), the nuclear med lady called a colleague and chatted away on the phone while I tried my best not to fall asleep. I had two microsleeps before I forced myself to stare at random signs and posters around the room and read them.

Watched some more Goong (Yul time! hahaha). Ugh..I don't like Shin. Don't like ballerina girl either. Bleh. Why can't things ever work out for Yul..? >_<

Oh, and for all you people who read this,

"Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month and no returns". =P