Stop Press!

Trying to finish Cyprus trip. Four new videos uploaded into previous posts.

After trotting around Southeast Asia over the summer, I'm now back in the UK - Cambridge to be exact. Am trying my best to update as frequently as my clinical course will allow.

Entries on Italy and France two winters ago have been put on hold indefinitely. Read: possibly never. But we shall see.

Entries on Greece and Turkey last winter have also been put on hold for the time being.

Posted:
Don Det (Laos), Don Khone

Places yet to blog about:
Ban Nakasang, Champasak, Pakse, Tha Kaek, Vientienne, Vang Vien, Ban Phoudindaeng, Luang Prabang, Khon Kaen (Thailand), Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), London (England), Cambridge

Friday 27 October 2006

The good

On the other hand however, I had a really enjoyable weekend. Here's an account of it:

Friday night was spent watching the monthly meteor shower orionids with a friend until the wee hours of the morning. It was a cold night despite the low clouds which threatened to stop us from seeing any meteors. But we brought a few of packets of crisps and a flask of steaming milo with us as we made our way on foot to Castle Mound - the highest spot in Cambridge. It was perfect. When we arrived, the clouds had cleared and it was dark enough to make out the faintest of faint stars as we laid down to watch the dance of the celestial bodies. We passed the night away, kept each other company, made small talk, seemingly insignificant, but nonetheless meaningful. And witnessed three meteors. It was my first and I made three wishes.


Saturday was a very hectic day with dance taking up most of it. But it all ended very nicely with a potluck dinner I organized with a few friends and freshers. It was a pre-Halloween celebration and we all came in costume. It was a very enjoyable meal with just about enough food and alcohol while the chatter was lively and funny. After the meal, I rushed off to my friend's room for our weekly mahjong session before heading to Queens' for their R&B Ents with the rest of the Dancesport team. It was a very good night indeed with some of us getting slightly tipsy and dancing energetically on the dancefloor. Saturday night ended with a rather interesting chat in Sam's room to which I shall not divulge the contents in order to avoid embarassing myself.


The weekend ended with a relaxing formal at Pembroke. Peter invited me over for a free formal meal at his college to which I accepted. It was my first formal of the term although not my first at Pembroke. This is how busy I am. But the food was good and so was the company. Peter gave a tour of his college before ending with a friendly chat in his room where we discussed many matters including our future involvements with OCEP. It was definitely a very good weekend although I doubt it'll happen again. Very much less as the term progresses. But it was a good respite from it all.


And the bad

The past two days have been the worst days of the term so far. Here's an account of it:

I woke up really early at 7.45 am on Thursday morning hoping to catch up on some of my work before my first lecture at noon as stated on my lecture timetable. While having my breakfast, I thought it slightly suspicious that I've had three consecutive Thursdays starting at noon and this being the fourth one. So I decided to recheck my timetable and to my horror, I realized that I've been looking at the previous week's timetable with the current one stating that I've got a Neuroanatomy practical starting at 10.00 am. So I plowed through the practical manual in order to familiarize myself with the experimental procedure whilst feeling absolutely terrible that I had to postpone my revision.

When I arrived at the laboratory, I was utterly dismayed when we were told to conduct another experiment instead of the one I had already read. It also didn't help that my laboratory partner was not keen on the experiment and just couldn't be bothered to do anything which really got on my nerves. But the one thing which annoyed me the most was when he asked for my answer to a supervision question which I had already submitted. After telling him my answer, he patronizingly shook his head and proceded to explain why my answer was wrong while giving me his correct answer. I honestly do not understand why he even bothered to ask me for my answer when he already had the correct one. The fact that I had already submitted my assignment made it all even worse because that meant I couldn't change my answer.

So after a gruelling two-hour practical which I conducted on my own, I had to attend a Pharmacology lecture which I look forward to as much as going home. The current lecturer has as much passion for the subject as a cold body waiting for an autopsy. It's the way he presents himself. It's the way he stands, walks and talks. It's the tone and slur of his speech. Think of the teacher Mr. Garrison from Southpark and you have a pretty good replica of him. I have never in my entire educational life felt such a strong urge to throw something at him after every. single. god. damned. lecture. I would've followed the rest of my friends and skipped the entire lecture series if I weren't so afraid of regretting that I did not try my best when I fail my Pharmacology exams.

And just a moment ago, I was notified that I wasn't selected to represent England in Germany which I found slightly disappointing although I was expecting not to get selected. It just seemed as if all my efforts for the past few weeks - rushing my work during the day so as to dance the nights and weekends away - were flushed down the drain. Despite the fact that I got selected to represent England in Vienna, I think I'm going to give it a miss because I was really banging on Germany instead. Oh well. I just hope the weekend will take a turn for the better.