100 things

I'm feeling too lazy to make an actual post. So here is a meme instead.

Stuff I've done is bolded.

1. Started your own blog
Yes. Several. They’re like dirty socks
2. Slept under the stars
That is, I’ve been camping, so I have technically slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
Again, technically yes… if you call a bunch of people who perform together on a regular basis as a band.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo

Not on stage… at least I don’t think I have Oo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables

I grew beans once.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
Course I have
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Yep. Just didn’t want to stay at school.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
Yep… well We saw the crest… that counts =/
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

Not quite… I’ve been to Cambodia and Thailand, but I haven’t been to China yet
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

I’m pretty content with what I have
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
Yep, on several occasions
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke

Are you kidding? I love karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

Surprisingly, no =O I’ve walked on the beach at dusk though…
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain

What kind of hopeless romantic would I be if I hadn’t
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie

Short films count xD
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

21/100... That's pretty awful actually...

they taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, your little spies

I miss Spud. I wish I could talk to her. Now that I can't talk at Lief, Spud is the only one who I can talk at comfortably. Of course I talk to various people, but there is a subtle difference between talking to and talking at. Anyway... I'm just rambling.

According to my parents, because I'm over 18 now, I should behave, talk and think more like an adult. I should be more responsible for the happenings of the household, and over aspects of my life. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to have the privileges of being 18. I'm not allowed to drink when I go out and I'm not even allowed to go out anymore. I have a job, but the money I earn there is to be locked away so that I can buy textbooks for university, and so I can tutor students. I have to ask permission everytime I want to step out of the house.

So. I'm expected to act like an adult, but I'm still being treated as a child. It would be insufficient to say I am mildly annoyed.

Random thoughts accumulated from the past few days

1) Lief needs help. He probably has stopped taking his antidepressants.
2) I can't trust M. I still love her, and have fun with her, but I can't trust her anymore.
3) Most of my friends are unreliable.
4) I'm not replying back to letters due to sheer laziness... and I don't care anymore.
5) BarneyStinson is pretty awesome.
6) I don't want to be open with people anymore. I used to tell everyone various things, and now I don't want to tell anyone anything.
7) I want to make more music.
8) My family can't act as my confidant.
9) I can't stand to talk to Lief anymore. He saps my strength.
10) I'm losing Lief. But maybe I should be letting go anyway.
11) I have no one to talk to about this.
12)

Jamming

I went over to Wren's house today for a jamming session. Wren, M, Cyan, Barney Stinson, Ania, and myself made sweet, sweet music =D It was really fun. We'd talk randomly, and then broke into song for 2o minutes. I remember doing Viva La Vida - Coldplay, Everything - Lifehouse, Runaway - The Corrs, Four chord song tribute, Don't say you love me - M2M, Beautiful - Pete Murray, Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys, The Tetris theme, The Final fantasy fight scene theme, simple and clean - Utada Hikaru, Semi-Charmed Life - Third eye Blind, Love song - Amiel, Don't panic - Coldplay, Misery Business - Paramore, and a lot of random stuff... Music makes me so happy. Even if I'm in a really bad mood, singing or listening to music will generally make me feel better. =]

Ethics - OR - How I completely smacked that interview in the face

All that reading on ethics (I think I spent 6 hours or so on that alone) came in handy afterall. There were a lot of ethical reasoning/dilemma stations today, or stations which required reasonable thought that stemmed from ethical reasoning.

Unfortunately when it came to stations that were supposed to be nice ones, I choked. "Why do you want to be a doctor?" Well I'm interested in human behaviour and their actions, especially when things go wrong. I'm a problem solver, so fixing problems is what I want to do for the rest of my life. "Any other reasons?" ... Is that not a good enough reason? Um... to... save... lives? To... help... people... and stuff... *mumble mumble* WTF Are you telling me that my reason for becoming a doctor isn't good enough for you? Well you can go to "Your time is up for this station. Please exit the room and wait outside the door of your next station. Thank you."

*phew*

Another "nice" one. You had to pick out of a choice of 4 emotions, the emotion that best represented that in the eyes of the picture given. I had already done this question in this quiz: ==> http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/index_cookie.shtml. But there were 36 of them to do in 7 minutes and it took too long >< damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn

And then another one where I had to deal with a crying patient.

I slammed the rest of the staions though. Take that!

I feel really drained right now.

Ethics - OR- Why I shouldn't become a doctor.

So. My interview that partially determines whether or not I will be accepted into the Med course at UWS is tomorrow. Instead of researching how the Australian healthcare system works, the course requirements etc, I am sitting here blogging. Maybe it's because I'm not wholehearted sure I want to become a doctor. I know that if I want something desperately enough I will get it. I usually get what I want (more on that later).

I know that I've wanted to become either a psychologist or a psychiatrist for a long time. Probably since Lief walked into my life actually. I find people, their behaviour, their habits, their ways of thinking very interesting, and I'd like to work in a career where I can learn something I'm interested in.

I've been looking at the questions that I may be asked tomorrow. For example:

Dr Cheung recommends homeopathic medicines to
his patients. There is no scientific evidence or
widely accepted theory to suggest that homeopathic
medicines work, and Dr Cheung doesn’t believe
them to. He recommends homeopathic medicine
to people with mild and non-specific symptoms
such as fatigue, headaches and muscle aches,
because he believes that it will do no harm, but will
give them reassurance.

Consider the ethical problems that Dr Cheung’s
behaviour might pose. Discuss these issues with the
interviewer.

The above was taken from:
Kevin W Eva, Jack Rosenfeld, Harold I Reiter, Geoffrey R Norman (2004)
An admissions OSCE: the multiple mini-interview
Medical Education 38 (3), 314–326.

Well, ethically speaking, it's wrong to lie. Experimenting with a placebo on a patient without consent is unethical. If he wanted to reassure the patient, then he should consult with the patient about how the homeopathic remedy hasn't been scientifically proven, but it's an alternative to Western medicine.

Those are the answers given by a few prospective medical students.

I looked at the question, and couldn't find the dilemma.

I think I may be trouble. My ethics are questionable at best. Given a choice between letting a group of innocents die, and a letting one innocent die, I would usually choose one innocent

My dysfunctional family (and why I love them)

My family can be pretty screwed up sometimes.

Take for example my father. One of my earliest memories involving my father is being taught that "if someone makes you angry, stick your middle finger up at them." (Funny story actually, apparently I did that to an adult at my kingergarten place and got smacked over the head for it. Not that I remember xD) He swears a lot, although recently, I've noticed that this has been curbed a little. He has two addictions (again, trying to cut back), one addiction which I've learned to live with, and gambling. Gambling is not cool. He's short tempered (literally. He'll blow his lid, and then be back to normal in the space of half an hour), and thinks he's good at everything.

My mother can be a little naive sometimes, and doesn't understand half of the things I say to her (not her fault, I speak quite quickly and incoherently that the only people who've learned to understand me are Cookies, Spud and Lief.) She is a bit over-protective and old fashioned (which is why when we have 'discussions' about morals, ethics, money or whatever, we usually end up fighting =/). She is extraordinarily conscious about MY weight. And boy can she hold a grudge.

Combined, my parents are racist and disrespectful of privacy. By that I mean they're quite judgemental when it comes to people of different races. They even have issues against the various categories of Chinese, such as people from Hong Kong and Shanghai. The privacy thing is they don't keep secrets. Ie when I tell one parent something, they tell the other one even though they've been told not to. They berate me when I show any kind of emotion aside from happiness or tiredness (ie sadness and anger).

My brothers are gamers, and one of their major vices is Warcraft. I hate Warcraft, mainly because it turns whoever is playing the blasted game into an unresponsive zombie. I also dislike people who discuss Warcraft as if it were a team sport. Warcraft is not cool.

So those are the bad points I think my family has.

When I say my dad thinks he's good at everything, that's because he is. He is literally a Jack of all trades and Master of several. He tells stories well, and is a good communicator. He's also good at analysing his mistakes, and frequently passes on (sometimes useless) advice to other people. He's funny (it's hereditary xD), kind, generous, righteous, strong and practical. He is good with kids (seriously. If you see him with a baby, he literally turns to mush). He's pretty intelligent, and can speak 3 dialects of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese as well as your bog standard English.

My mother, although she doesn't understand my pseudo-philosophical blatherings (then again, who does?), is still quite intelligent. She didn't go to school due to a certain evil despot (I'm talking about Pol Pot here. He was a bastard.), so she has issues with spelling and vocabulary (and still thinks in Chinese). But she has pulled herself through an Accounting course at TAFE, a First Aid Certificate course, and is currently training to become an aged care worker. She is also kind, generous and righteous.

My brothers are awesome (when they're not playing warcraft). We got each other's backs. They can play guitar (better than me, though it irks me to say so). Makes for some fun jamming time. They are funny (told you it was hereditary), and smart. The elder is more emotionally understanding, while the younger is more philosophically astute.

It's easier to find good stuff about your family when you love and trust them, and they love and trust you back. So yeah, my family is pretty awesome. I feel sad whenever I hear about people who either don't have families, or feel alienated by their families (like Lief and Son of Aeson.) Then again, I'm in a good mood and I'm usually optimistic when I'm content, so it's easy to spot the good points. =]