Who's seen a brain?

Abstract:
I went to the doctor's and got other crap done. I had class. I watched tv and played Mario Kart.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning so that I could get some more anti-depressant meds. I was glad that they had the same generic kind here, although it's a different brand. When I told the other doctor that I saw a few months ago what meds I took, she had never heard of citalopram. This doctor had heard of it. Plus when I told her that I couldn't really swallow pills except for the tiny ones that I have now, she called up the pharmacy on campus to see which ones they had. I liked this doctor. I also asked her for a bandaid because it's raining and my boots gave me a blister. She actually cleaned the blister and put the bandaid on. It was kind of funny, actually.

Then I went to the pharmacy in Union Court to get my meds. I was told that they had two types and that I would be able to halve them and then I should be able to swallow them. Then the pharmacist saw that my dose was just 10mg and they actually did have that size. They're the same exact size as my ones from America, so I was able to swallow them. Yay! I was worried about that because I wouldn't be able to take them if they didn't have small pills.

After the pharmacy, I had to go to the library to scan my W-2 form so that I could send it to my dad to do my taxes. I changed my contact address to Australia not realising that they would send my W-2 here. That was probably silly. Then I went to FOCUS. Then I was starving and went back home for a quick lunch before class.

Class was alright. My title comes from class. Paul was talking about how a walnut looks like a brain and then asked who is our class had seen a brain. Almost everyone raised their hand. That's pretty unusual, but I guess it's not for a room full of people that are mostly professionals in health, ie some doctors, nurses, etc. I raised my hand, but then I realised that I don't think I've ever seen a human brain. I've done dissections before and saw other animal's brains, but I don't think I've seen a human one.

During class, I remembered that I needed to check my ISIS account to see if my loan was deposited. It was supposed to be yesterday, but it wasn't, and I forgot to check again before that. I logged on and saw that my account now had money in it instead of a charge from tuition. That was a good sign. The problem was that it wasn't the amount that it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a lot more and then I would get that amount refunded to my bank account. I was unable to open all of the pdf's on my phone to figure out the issue, so I spent the rest of class freaking out.

When I got back home, I was able to check the other things. It was actually a hassle because ISIS wouldn't let me stay logged in and kept having an error. Eventually I was able to get on and I realised that the amount that was in my ISIS account was equal to the amount that I was going to be charged later for Biostats, because it's an Autumn session class instead of a semester 1 class and therefore starts later and is charged later. Then I did some more investigating on there and realised that the money has already been refunded, but it just hasn't showed up in my bank account yet. I think that takes a couple of days, but I'll have my money soon.

Other than that I haven't really done much. I watched some tv and played some Mario Kart.

I just keep failing at life!

Abstract:
Outbreak investigation. SIGN. Brownie disaster!

The first thing I did today was go to Outbreak Investigation. The class was pretty boring, but that's just because it was only one hour so it was just an overview of what we'll do in the class. Our next class for Outbreak is our intensive week. Right after our lecture was the lecture for Public Health Surveillance, which is another class that we could have taken this semester and we were invited to stay for that lecture since many of the concepts overlap. Most people stayed, but I left which made it kind of awkward. Janice stayed and so I had to figure out how to get back by myself. She gave me general directions and I was able to find my way back ok. I knew how to get back once I saw the green building, which is some building that has a tons of shades of green on it. Green is my favourite colour, so I think that building is pretty.

I took a nap when I got home. Then I made fajitas for lunch. I just kind of made them up since I didn't have a recipe. I used the same spices as my enchilada sauce, but without the stuff that makes it a sauce. It was really good, but I think I added a bit too much ground chillies.

After lunch, I went to the SIGN gelato thing. It was raining, but I decided to go anyway. It was awkward because there was barely anyone there. I didn't know anyone. None of my friends were there this time. I got my strawberry gelato and then tried to find an opportunity to just sneak off. I felt bad because I knew I wasn't supposed to just leave and the guy in charge was going around and asked if my mentees were coming. One of mine said she might come, but we didn't confirm anything. I left the first chance that I had where I knew he wasn't looking. The guy was blocking the exits, so that made it difficult.

I don't remember what else I did in the afternoon. In the evening, though, I decided to finally make the brownies that I had my mom send me a recipe for. Well, I wanted a recipe that was for cake-like brownies and she sent me the recipes from when she and my dad took a brownie making cooking class thing. It was a disaster!

I was able to make the batter, no problem, but I had major issues trying to cook them. Well, by no problem I mean that it ended up looking all right, but I tried to melt the butter and chocolate chips in the microwave since that was an option and I don't have a double broiler, which was the other option. But the basic part of the story is that I still haven't figured out how to bake in my turbo oven. The booklet said that you want to turn the temperature down 10% and bake on the bottom rack. So I did that. That didn't work. The tops got really cooked and looked like Nilla Wafers and the toothpick came out clean. I think that's because the gooey stuff got caught on the top crispy stuff before coming out. I took them out and then took the baked hard thing off the top. There was a big gap between that and the rest of the batter. There was probably an inch gap in my little small cupcake thing. The rest of the batter had barely cooked at all.

I thought that maybe they just didn't have enough air circulating underneath them and they needed to be on the top rack with an even lower temperature. That's what I did when I made the cakes for Janice's birthday and those worked out. Well that was with my old oven. I don't know if that's the case or what happened, but that didn't work either. All of my brownies were an epic mess with the top being burnt, a layer of nothingness, and then uncooked batter. The batter tasted good, though. I ended up throwing them all away. Such a waste of time and ingredients, but what was I supposed to do? By the way, I did get one that was almost cooked the last time that I tried cooking them. They weren't even, though, and I just decided to give up instead of trying to finish cooking that one.

Now I know which bus NOT to take...

Abstract:
Today started off really sucky. In fact, it sucked until late this evening.

I could not, for the life of me, fall asleep and stay asleep last night. I had way too much running through my head. I ended up waking up at 6ish, unable to fall asleep, and wrote in my bedside journal, where I write down the things keeping me up at night. I wrote about 3.5 pages and they weren't just bullet points, either. I finally finished writing at 6:42 and then I tried to fall back asleep.

My alarm was set for about an hour later, but there was no way that I was getting up then. I shut it off when it started to ring because I knew I had two alarms set. Well, the other one was set, but the volume for it was turned off. Apparently this is what happened last week when I tried to wake up for epi. I found out about this when Janice called me at 8:37 asking why I wasn't downstairs for us to meet to walk to class. I then had to try to race to get ready and then we had to almost run to get to class on time since the classroom is in the middle of nowhere. We walked in right as Ann-Maree was starting the lecture and talking about how she always wants to start on time and we need to get here early.

Class was good. It wasn't as interesting as last week, but I did manage to stay awake despite almost no sleep last night. We also had our first tute today. We were assigned to different groups and Janice isn't in my tute, which is kind of weird. We had a couple of exercises to do and we worked on them individually and then a little bit as a group in the beginning. I got a little tripped up in the beginning, as did everyone else in our group, but I ended up finishing like 40 minutes before the tute was supposed to end. Dave, the lecturer in charge of my tute group, let me leave early. Oh and the crappiness of that event was that I forgot to print off the worksheet, so Dave let me use his iPad to see the worksheet. It worked out fine, but I hate being unprepared.

I had no idea how to get back from the place where we had our tutes, which was different from our lecture. I was lucky to find some other students leaving as I was heading out. Three of them were new students but Greta and Monisha were also there. We tried to find our way back together. Eventually we got there.

When I got back, I talked to my mom. I really needed to talk to her. Graduation is coming up and I'm just getting so stressed. I was just so emotionally drained and I needed a nap. I broke down. We came to the conclusion that I do need to go back on anti-depressants, so I called the health centre right after talking to her so I can get a prescription. Hopefully it'll help. I also took a nap.

Then I had to get ready to go to work. I didn't have time to eat lunch, and obviously not breakfast, so I grabbed a nectarine and ate that on my way to the bus stop. I was still in a crappy mood, but at least the nap helped a little. Tutoring wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The roster that Michael emailed out said that I had a year 4 girl, but I ended up tutoring algebra. I like tutoring algebra. The second half was two younger boys, but it was still maths, so I was happy.

Going back home sucked. The bus was late, so then I missed the connecting bus that I'm supposed to take. The next bus of that number was going to be a while and the next bus said that it went to the city, so I took the gamble to try that bus. It was a very stupid thing to do. That bus went the complete opposite way of the city. Then it went threw a couple of suburbs until it finally went to the city, which was the last stop before it turned around. I know that because I checked the website when I was on the bus to see when I would get back to the city. The bus got back to the city at 8:12 and then I finally got home at 8:20 because it was the stop in the city instead of the one near Davey. Usually I get home at 7:40-ish. Basically I should have just waited for the bus with the correct number because it would have gotten back sooner. I guess I took the "scenic" tour of Canberra, despite the weather being crappy and rainy and I just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball.

When I got home, I talked to Rohan again. That made my day get better again. Which is ironic because as soon as we hung up the phone, I hit my elbow on my furnace and it hurt really bad for a few minutes. I have issues. Other than that I've just done some stuff for my class tomorrow and that's it.

Do I really need a title everyday?

Abstract:
I don't remember.

I don't remember what I did today. I think that I probably just read my epi book.

For dinner, Rohan came to the city. This time I had to decide where we were going to eat. I always make him decide. I chose Nando's because (a) it's my go-to place and one of the only places that I know of that isn't Asian and (b) I figured that it would be good for my anxiety to eat somewhere that was familiar. Familiarity cuts down on my anxiety a lot. I actually ate some food, so I was proud of myself.

Then we walked around for a bit and ended up going back to the lobby of Davey and just talking for a while. Then Rohan left to go home. When he got home he called me and we talked for a couple of hours, so I didn't get to bed until late.

Rain, rain, go away!

Abstract:
I talked to my parents on Skype. I went to CIF and church.

Last night, I messaged my mom that I thought I knew when I would be going home after graduation, so she wanted to skype today. I skyped with both of my parents, which was good. It was nice talking to them and I got to see my baby, Buddy. He's starting to look so old and his muzzle is so gray! My baby is an old man! He is already 11.

Nothing much happened after that until I went to CIF. It was the first real one of the semester. Last week was just a time to all get together and hang out. There weren't any tables, because they must have gotten misplaced during O-week, so the chairs were set up like a classroom instead of around tables. It made it kind of awkward. We are starting the semester at the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis.

Then we had dinner after CIF. We talked to people. Then we had church. Then I came home and didn't do much else. Basically today wasn't that eventful. It also rained all day.

"That's classified."- Rohan

Abstract:
I went to the store. I went to visit Rohan. I cleaned my room.

Nothing really happened in the day until the afternoon. As I was about to go to the store, Rohan called to ask if I wanted to come over for dinner. Of course I decided to go over there after I went to the store. He got his bookcases and bed delivered today, so he spent the day putting those together and trying to organise his stuff.

Then I went to the Canberra Centre. I ended up doing a bunch of stuff that I had to do. Nothing too exciting there. Except that I bought a pack of Sprite, although I'm not sure if it's called a pack since a pack is 12 and a case is 24 but this was 15...anyway, the cashier scanned it and tried to set it down, but all of the cans fell out! I told him that it was fine and I'd just put the individual cans in my backpack. It probably ended up better since I don't think that the whole pack in the box would have fit in my backpack. It was funny, though.

I dropped my stuff off at home and went to grab the bus to Belconnen. I love that the bus stops are so close for both of us and that the bus comes frequently. It's so convenient. Right outside Rohan's apartment building, there was a weird looking crane thing that apparently was to get the other crane down. I'd never seen one of those before and it was funny looking, although they weren't doing anything now since it's Saturday. When I got to Rohan's flat, I helped him get organised. He was still building stuff so I worked on organising the books by topic while he did that, unless he needed help.

At 8ish, we went to dinner. Well actually Rohan got dinner. My anxiety is definitely back and I'm having trouble eating in public places. Food was always the issue with my anxiety and would cause me to throw up for no particular reason. At least I haven't started vomiting yet.

We went to Grill'd and I just got a drink there. Rohan asked me about my week and then I asked him about his, to which he replied that it's classified. He was kind of kidding, though. The ABS is very secure and he can't give out numbers or anything, but he could tell me in general.

After dinner, we were walking around and Rohan realised that he needed to buy sheets since he finally got his bed. We then had to go to Kmart. Good thing it's 24-hour! Then we went back to his apartment before I had to leave to catch the bus.

I was listening to my zune on the way home and it woke me up. I wasn't tired and didn't want to sleep right away, so I decided to use that energy that I had to clean my room. It was getting really messy, to the point that it was good that I'm so flexible! I didn't actually fully clean it, but stuff is put kind of where it belongs. Hopefully I'll finish cleaning it tomorrow. Now I'm finally tired so I need to go to bed before I get a second wind!

"I'm making grass angels!"- Janice

Abstract:
Good-bye to my American friend! Chatting with Karemah. Games and pizza with the Hungry Animals and some additions.

I didn't do much of anything in the morning. In the afternoon, though, Karemah had organised an event to say good-bye to Winnon. He is the one American that I know down here. He graduated in December and is leaving tomorrow because his visa ends in a month. He actually got a work visa in New Zealand, so he's just heading over there instead of going back. It's funny that none of us want to go back to our home countries!

We met outside of Chifley Library. We were originally going to go get lunch, but we decided to do a picnic instead. Actually, everyone was late and Winnon and I were the only ones that brought food. It was fine, though. We sat under a tree by the field next to Chifley and talked for a while. Janice was flailing around in the grass and said that she was making snow angels. She corrected herself, realising that there wasn't snow so snow angels didn't make sense, and claimed to be making grass angels. Then we went around campus and took a bunch of pictures. It was so much fun. We're kind of all crazy and took lots of silly pictures. Then Winnon had to leave and it was sad.

Karemah had to meet people in like an hour and a half, so she couldn't leave campus, and I had nothing to do, so we decided to just go to the union and hang out. It was just the two of us since Hui Ling and Janice had to leave. It was a lot of fun just to hang out with Karemah by ourselves outside of class. We also talked about how I seem so different in epi. I told her that it's how I usually am in class. Graham just brings out the worst in me! (and I was just having a horrible semester with all of my classes last semester!)

Then I went home for a bit until the games and pizza night. We, as in the Hungry Animals, Angel, Jodie, her brother Andy, Dylan, and Kashyup, were getting together at Toad. It was a lot of fun. I got my own pepperoni pizza from dominoes and everyone else got Crust to split. It was kind of a win-win situation for me to get my own pizza because (a) I only like the cheap crap pizza, (b) I only like pepperoni pizza, with the exception of Chet and Matt's Hot Wing and Cheddar Pizza and (c) I hate getting food and then splitting the cost because I always eat way less than my share so it really sucks for me. It's the same reason that I don't go to buffets.

We also played some games. Well the beginning of the night was us attempting to play games. They dealt out Uno, but then put it away because the pizza came. Then we tried to play Fact or Crap, but we couldn't find the rules at first, which were hidden under the table, so we gave up on that since no one knew how to play it.

Then we played Cluedo, which is apparently Clue in the US. I'm not sure why the name is different, but it's the same game. There were a bunch of added rules to this one that we tried to figure out. Then we just decided to play the way that Bec and I knew without all of the extra cards and stuff. Bec and I were a team and we almost won. Basically everyone got screwed over because there was one hidden card in the middle because the number of clue cards, as in the ones that tell you who/what/where it isn't, wasn't divisible by the number of people we had. We ended up getting only that one of the three wrong. Everyone else also went to the middle, guessed incorrectly, and died too, though. I guess that no one really wins, although Bec and I were the first ones to get two of them correct.

After that I pretty much just watched them play different games. Everyone divided into two games and some people played Bridge and others played Uno. I watched the Uno game. There was also a betta fish in the common room, but no one really knew who it belonged to. It was kind of weird that it was there, but I watched the fish for a while. I'm easily amused.

At 11, it was quiet hours and we had to go downstairs to the common room. Then they played Mah Jong. I watched that until Lisa wanted to go home. I didn't want to walk back by myself even though I was almost falling asleep way before that. I somehow managed to say awake long enough when I got back to write this post, though. I'm rather impressed!

If only I could see the future!

Abstract:
Counselling. FOCUS. Policy. Rohan.

As I said before, I've been battling with depression and anxiety. They've been problems in my life for 7 or so years and my issues are becoming worse again. I was feeling depressed, but now I'm just extremely anxious. I'll be graduating in July and the future is just really uncertain. Basically I hate when people ask me about what I'm doing after graduation. It just makes me more anxious! Anyway, the point of that was to say that I made an appointment yesterday to go and see the counsellor this morning. It was really helpful to go and talk to someone about all of the things that are causing me great anxiety and not needing to worry about who I was telling what.

I actually woke up at about 4:30 this morning and was unable to fall back asleep until like 20 minutes before I had to wake up for my appointment. So I came back and took a much needed nap. Then I quickly ate lunch before going to FOCUS.

FOCUS is the Christian group on campus. I went to the general meeting a couple times last semester, but I'm going to try to actually be more involved in stuff this semester. The reason that I didn't go last year was because it was from 1-2 and then I had class at 3, so it gave me this awkward hour and I didn't know anyone, so I wasn't going to just go up and talk to people during that hour. Well, I still have that problem of the awkward hour, but now I actually know some people because of CIF. So I went there and then talked to people until my class.

At three, I had my health policy class. It was pretty much as boring as I thought it would be. It's no epi! There were some interesting things, but mostly it was boring. Hopefully it'll get better since this was just the first day.

After class, Rohan came to the city. I just wanted to talk to him since I've been feeling stressed. He generally calms me down. Well, when he wants to. We walked around the city and talked for a while. I'm feeling a lot better now, but my anxiety will probably just come back the next time that someone asks me what I'm doing after graduation. Seriously. Is there anyone that hasn't asked yet, because I feel like it's been everyone so maybe I won't have to answer it many more times. I know that's just wishful thinking. Oh well.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Abstract:
I met with my mentees. I got a care package! Hungry Animals reunion.

Nothing happened today until I went to meet my mentees. I was given two before, but one of them ended up not being a student at ANU. He actually is a student in the UK, so I'm not sure how he got on the SIGN list. Anyway, they fixed that and gave me a new mentee this morning. We exchanged texts and she decided to meet with me when I met the other mentee.

We met at Sizzle Cafe at union court. They were both nice. However, they were both undergrads and both domestic students. Basically I just got them because none of the new MPH people signed up and I guess they were out of postgrad students. I guess it didn't matter much because they didn't have any specific questions or anything that I wasn't able to answer.

I was then going to meet Jodie at five to buy a book for class from her. It was about quarter to five when I finished meeting with my mentees, so I decided to just go print stuff in the Davey computer lab and then wait in the long line to check my mail. The line at the reception desk has been ridiculous for a few weeks as everyone is moving in. It makes checking the mail even more annoying because you have to wait in that ridiculous line just to find out you don't have anything. I figured that I was waiting anyway, so it was the perfect time to check my mail. Besides, Rohan was getting a few things sent here since he wasn't sure of his new address when ordering them, so there might have been something.

The line was long, so I was only about half-way through when Jodie came to sell me her book. I waited in line and was happy to find a big package for me! My parents sent me a care package and it had arrived. I wasn't expecting it yet. I have been feeling depressed and anxious, so I really need a package from home to lift my spirits. I opened it up right when I got back to my room. I was so excited to find FOUR bags of butterscotch chips. Yes, four bags. Now I can make scotcheroos and all of the other desserts that I see on pinterest that use butterscotch chips. I haven't been able to make them because they don't sell butterscotch chips in Australia. I was excited. I also got more b-dubs sauce and a candy/meat thermometer, and four sticks of shortening, and a small bottle of Frank's, and a cookie press, and a bunch of other stuff.

Then at 6:30, the Hungry Animals had a reunion! Well, the Hungry Animals and Angel. He'll probably become a Hungry Animal, but he needs an animal first. We went to Uni Pub, which is different than ANU bar. It's dumb and I don't understand why it is called that. When we got there, the first floor was full, so we had to go up to the second floor. I got the grilled barramundi to eat. It was good. We talked a lot and we were there for a while. They had to kick us out of that floor because that floor was closing. Then we went to the first floor because it was still open. Although it kind of smelled. We were again the last ones there. It was kind of funny. We left at about 11 and I was just too tired when I got back to blog. I went straight to bed.

"From inhaling the odour of beef, the butcher's wife obtains her obesity.” -Professor H Booth, 1844

Abstract:
First day of class. I felt sick and didn't do much else.

I had my first class of the semester today. It's a good thing that I set two alarms because I definitely did not wake up for the first one. I then felt all flustered and rushed in the morning to get ready on time. I was meeting Janice downstairs and then we would walk to class together. It's way on the other end of campus and I had no idea how to get there. We also picked up Greta on the way since she lives on this side of campus, too.

Class was awesome. I love epi. Only a few of us actually read the book before class. The stuff we talked about today seemed pretty basic to me, but some of my classmates said that they get confused by all of the different terms already. I guess that I'm lucky to have had exposure to this stuff in my classes at Hope. I can mostly thank Professor Nemeth for that! Janice reckons that I should try to get the award for the best student in our epi class since I seem to love it so much. The best student at the end of the semester gets a one year student membership to the Australasian Epidemiological Association. I just think that Janice is crazy for thinking that I can be top student, but I really do love epi. The book is so interesting and it just makes sense to me. I love the graphs and the history behind diseases and stopping them. I even finished the assignment that she gave us to take home and started reading for next week already. I kind of want to just read the whole book now! It's just so interesting.

When I got back, I ate lunch and talked to Elly, my old apartmentmate from Hope, and Mrs. Peanut on facebook. Peanut, whose real name is Lindsey, was my best friend in 8th and 9th grade and I call her mom "Mrs. Peanut." I then laid down to take a nap before going to the SIGN gelato event and then work. When I woke up, I had a really bad stomach ache. It felt like I ate bad food, but my food shouldn't have been bad since it was my dinner from last night. Whatever the reason, I couldn't go to the SIGN thing and I had to text my boss saying that I couldn't come in to work today. I felt bad for the late notice.

I then spent the rest of the day just relaxing. My stomach started to feel better in the evening and it feels fine now. I also made corned beef today in my slow cooker. Well, corned silverside. I had never heard of silverside until I was staying at the Curries over the summer, but apparently it's just a cut of beef. I was really excited to see it in the store because I hadn't seen corned beef until a couple of weeks ago and I love it. I feel like it's probably just there now (and on special!) because St. Patrick's Day is next month. Who knows, though. The corned silverside was good and now I'm happy.

The title is a quote from our epi notes that I thought was hilarious. It's in reference to the miasma theory that was believed up until the 19th century, when the germ theory was discovered. It stated that you contracted diseases by breathing in miasma, or "bad air." In way that is true of some diseases, although it's the germs or toxins in the air and not the air itself.

Rohan's new flat

Abstract:
I did stuff around my flat and crap that I had to get done around the city. I went to go help Rohan unpack in the afternoon before we went out for dinner.

I set my alarm, kind of woke up, and then decided to set it again for 20 minutes to let me sleep a little later. Apparently I either slept through that alarm or it just didn't go off. I ended up waking up about an hour after I intended to. Oops. When I got up, I finished reading my book for epi. I actually really like the book. I was reading it before bed last night and I had to force myself to put it down so that I would get to sleep. That's very unusual for me.

I also cleaned some of the rest of the kitchen, which was my job when we allocated the rest of the chores. I wasn't able to finish, though, because we ran out of cleaning stuff and the line at reception was ridiculously long to go and get some more. I'll just have to wait to finish.

Then I went to the store. On my way there, my sunnies broke. It was ironic because just last night I was talking about how my sunnies were from some cheap store, like Top Bargain or something, and that they've not broken yet. Then they broke. Both sides, actually. The frames broke and the lenses popped out. So I had to go get new ones. I actually really like my new ones because the sides kind of look like snake skin. I like snakes.

I also got some highlighters from Big W today, and they didn't have a barcode for me to scan. I was at the self scan, so I had to ask the guy working there. He asked if I knew the price, which I didn't because they were the only ones there and they didn't have a price marker. He gave them to me for $2. There's no way that they only cost $2 because they were a 6-pack and some of the single highlighters cost that much. I wasn't going to complain, though, it's not like I knew the actual price!

When I got back from the store, I messaged Rohan. I told him that I would tell him when I was done here and then go and help him unpack. He took the afternoon off work and the movers brought his stuff to his flat. That meant that I could finally get the new oven that I got for Christmas! Luckily the bus stop to/from Belconnen/Canberra is right by my flat, so I didn't have to carry my old oven too far. It was annoying, though. I'm just glad that I had a big bag from when I bought Rohan's top hat for Christmas! The bus stop is also pretty close to Rohan's flat and right by where he works.

I was excited to see his new flat. It's apparently a new building and he and his flatmate are the only people that live there yet. They had so many boxes! His flatmate's stuff was already there, so she had a bunch of empty boxes and then Rohan, being the hoarder that he is, had a TON of boxes too. You could barely walk in the front door because there were so many boxes all along the whole entry way. It was a lot better when they flattened them all down, though. You could walk around and everything. I helped Rohan to put away some stuff, but a lot of it can't be dealt with yet. He has to wait until he gets his bookcases and display cabinet, which won't arrive until Saturday. In the meantime, his room is just piles of boxes of books and stuff. It's a good thing that he doesn't have a bed yet, because it wouldn't fit in the current state.

At 8, we went out to dinner. We went to some Italian place. I think we were both really tired because we didn't really talk much. At least I know that I was tired. Then we went to the park across the street for a while. Then Rohan had to pick up a few things, so we went to Westfield. It's a good thing that Kmart is open 24-hours there. (And to my American readers, that is a weird thing to find in Australia. Most stores close at 5 or 6 except for their "late night" once a week which is usually 8 or 9. Rohan kept commenting on how weird it was.)

Then we went back to Rohan's place. The elevator was broken, so we had to climb up the stairs with all of the crap that Rohan bought. He was carrying a tub full of stuff and I was carrying a step ladder. He lives on the fifth floor, so it was a lot of stairs for me! We got to the fifth floor and it was locked. His key didn't work, so we had to go back downstairs. I was very upset by this. Exercise makes me want to kill something. It's just a fact of life and that's why I don't exercise. (Please don't try to explain to me that if I exercised more that thought would go away. I don't care.) When we got back downstairs, the elevator was working again. Thank God! We then went back up and dropped off his stuff before Rohan walked me, and my oven, to the bus stop.

Frisbees are dangerous!

Abstract:
MPH meeting was a fail. CIF arvo tea. Church.

I was up really late last night talking to my flatmates. It was funny because we were talking about how weird New Zealand is and stuff. Staying up made me exhausted today, though.

I had to wake up for an MPH get together thing that we were having today. The students that graduated last semester wanted to get together one last time before they have to leave and it was supposed to be a chance to meet the new students. Janice organised a facebook event and we were going to go to Max Brenner in Belconnen.

We were supposed to meet people at the bus stop, at least those of us that were coming from ANU campus. It ended up that it was only Janice and me. We got to Max Brenner and no one was there either. After a while, Tehzeeb came. She had asked on the facebook group right before I left where we were meeting, so it's a good thing that I saw it. It was only the three of us, so it was pretty much a flop. I don't know what happened to everyone else!

I was exhausted when I got back, so I took a quick nap before the CIF thing. CIF will be starting up as usual again next week, but we just met as a social thing this week. It was just an arvo (afternoon) tea and so we each brought some kind of snack or something to share. It was fun seeing everyone again. The title of my post is in relation to the social. Some people were playing frisbee and then Bron got hit in the head. I also almost got hit, but I somehow managed to put my arm up in time to deflect it. I'm not sure how I had those ninja moves. But one thing that was definitely missing from CIF was Jo. Jess even said that every time she sees me, she misses Jo. This semester won't be the same without her!

Then we went to church. We were supposed to greet the people next to us before the service actually started, so I was talking to the girl next to me for a bit. Apparently she's in the grad program at ABS, too. (That's where Rohan works.) When I got back, I asked Rohan if he knew who she was and he does, which is kind of weird. I guess that there are at least three people in the grad program at ABS that go to Crossroads. There were also a lot more people there today now that uni has started again, or at least O-week has happened and classes start tomorrow.

After church, I just came home and ate and relaxed. I still feel exhausted, so I think it'll probably be an early night for me. I have to get used to waking up early anyway. I have a 9am class all the way on the other side of campus on Tuesday. That'll be a harsh wake-up call.

Two fire alarms in one day!

Abstract:
I bought my books for epi and outbreak investigation. Davey is annoying. Flatmate bonding time.

When I got up, I kind of cleaned my room a bit, which consisted of me getting all of my printed readings and notebooks from last semester together to recycle, and started doing my laundry. I then went to go to the Co-op shop to buy my books. Well I got the ones for epi and outbreak. I'm buying my policy one from Jodie and I won't need my biostats book until April, so I'm going to wait for my next loan to go through. I also bought my new notebooks. When I got back, I then used my nail polish remover to clean up my binders and write my new classes on them. Now I'm all ready for the new semester!

Actually, when I first got back, there was a fire alarm. The first one of the day. As I approached Davey, I noticed that there were a bunch of people that seemed to be walking away from it. I took out my headphones and, sure enough, I heard the annoying beeping of a fire alarm. I just wanted to get back in and flip my laundry and relabel my notebooks. I'm such a nerd!

My flatmates finally woke up after I was back and we spent the afternoon cleaning. Some of the cabinets were just nasty and sticky and greasy. That was actually all that we got around to cleaning. We wanted to do the whole flat, but we only had time for the top cabinets. We decided to split up the rest of the jobs to do in our own free time. At some point during our cleaning, the second fire alarm of the day went off. We didn't bother going outside. Davey is totally the boy who cried wolf. We'll never believe it if there's an actual fire! (And that reminds me that I tried to refer to Annie, as in "Little Orphan Annie," when we were talking about where to start for cleaning and neither of them had heard of Annie!)

At some point in the evening, I also started reading my textbook for epi. I only read the first chapter, but it's actually really good. It's well written and interesting. I've never liked a textbook before and I have only ever liked two books in all of my schooling, including uni. (Those two books were That Used to Be Us and Traveling Mercies: Some thoughts of Faith) I'm really excited for this semester because I think I'll actually like my classes. Well, hopefully. They can't really be worse than last semester!

The rest of the night wasn't too exciting. I made fish for dinner. I talked to my flatmates for a bit and then watched them cook dinner together. It was quite entertaining. Other than that I haven't really done anything except waste time online.

American food with my friends! What is this craziness?!

Abstract:
I had lunch with my friends. That was probably the only exciting thing that happened today. (Until I started writing this post...)

I woke up at 7 this morning because I was really thirsty. I went out to the kitchen to get something to drink and realised that it really smelled. I was still really tired since I only had a few hours sleep at that point, but then I looked at the stove. One of the burners was on, but it wasn't lit. The gas was just coming out. One of my flatmates, I don't know which because they were cooking together at 3am, left the stove on overnight. It was disgusting and dangerous, too. Maybe that's one of the reasons that Davey has so many fire alarms going off! I opened the windows in the living room and in my room to get some ventilation and then I went back to sleep.

Later, it was lunch time and Janice asked if I wanted to go to lunch with her and the Hungry Animals. I told I'd only go if I liked where we were going to get food. I'm sick of always eating at Asian places that I don't like just because that's all they seem to eat. Janice said we could go to Smoque, so I went.

I thought that it was going to be like all of the Hungry Animals, but it was just Janice, Heesook, Ko, and myself. It was funny going to Smoque because Ko looked as out of place trying to figure out what to order as I do whenever we eat at an Asian restaurant. Heesook also was using silverware to eat her pickle, which was just hilarious to me. I got the hot wings. I was glad to eat hot wings that I didn't cook for a change. I just got the hot ones instead of suicidal because I didn't want to order them and then not be able to eat them because they were too hot. That would be a waste and I didn't want to chance it.

After lunch, I went back home and nothing much else happened. I took a nap and wasted time online. I also talked to my roommates for a bit. Apparently there was some weird stuff written on Eli's door and then painted over. You could still read kind of read it and it was some kind of weird threat that said "I'll show you how to cook rice!" or something to that effect. And Benedict was making fun of me for just eating chicken again.

Then, just as I was writing this, Benedict came home with some friends. The door to my room was slightly open and one of his friends came in my room and just started talking to me. He was drunk and it was awkward. Apparently his name is Ben and he is a first year from around Melbourne and he thinks that I have a cool accent. It was just weird. Drunk people are weird. I think I'll keep my door shut when my flatmates go out at night from now on.

Tomatoes are red, bruises are blue, there's nothing like tomato throwing, to say 'I love you!'

Abstract:
La Tomatina. Ironic Valentine's Day.

I didn't do much this morning. This afternoon, however, was the O-week version of La Tomatina, the big tomato throwing contest thingy that's held in Spain every year. I just wanted to go to take pictures and laugh. I went with Bec and Janice and they ended up participating. When it first started, they were sitting out with me and watching. Then a tomato flew by us and Janice hit Bec with it. She clearly had to retaliate, so they joined in.

It was quite hilarious and, despite sitting on the hill away from the action, a few stray tomatoes found their way toward me. I had a lot of fun watching and taking pictures. There was also a raffle to win a trip to Spain for the actual La Tomatina, which we all entered. They also had a barbecue. I was sceptical because I figured that it was just more sausages and I really dislike sausages, but Bec wanted to go. They actually went full out on this Spain theme and had paella. It was actually good! Imagine that. Free food that tastes good!

Then I went back to my place for a bit before going to the store. I wanted to buy a few things, including tomatoes. They smelled so good. I ended up getting three tomatoes and that's what I had for dinner. The last time that I just ate raw tomatoes in Australia, I found a maggot. I had much better luck this time!

At like 7ish, Rohan texted me to ask if I just wanted to hang out. Obviously I did. Why wouldn't I? Although my stomach did kind of hurt since it already was sore and I only ate three tomatoes. We initially were just going to wander aimlessly, but then he said he had a better idea and told me to go to his hotel and meet him in the lobby.

I went over there and then we started walking. He told me that I was supposed to guess what we were doing or something. I had no idea what the heck he was talking about. Then we turned when we would have gone straight if we were going to the city. It was then that I realised that we were going to McDonald's. Rohan told me that we were going to have an ironic Valentine's date.  Whatever that means. Apparently that's also why I met him at his place instead of him coming to mine. So I guess it's ironic to go to McDonald's because there's nothing more romantic than going to McDonald's for Valentine's Day! He made me get an ice cream because he figured that was all that I would actually eat there anyway. It's true. He actually got a burger, though, since he hadn't eaten yet. I also made him eat the rest of my cone when he was done eating because I didn't want the rest.

Then Rohan wanted gelato. He always wants gelato. He got strawberry, so I ate a bit of his since I didn't want a whole one myself. He was teasing me that I should get the mango gelato because I don't like mango and I hate when he wastes money so it would be ironic. I shot that one down.

We walked around for a while. I don't remember going anywhere in particular. But then Rohan looked at the Canberra Centre sign and realised that he needed to get some cereal or he wasn't going to have any tomorrow morning. We went to Supabarn and he got cereal and a Sprite for me because I was thirsty. From that point on, we were walking around town with just a cereal box. Perfectly normal, right?

After that, Rohan decided that he was still hungry, but this time for some real food. We went to Nando's and sat there while he ate. Then he wanted dessert again and we went back to the gelato place. This time he got caramelized fig. I didn't try that one. Finally we walked back to Davey. We sat in the lobby for a while and just talked. I guess we weren't ironic enough to make me walk him home, but then again it was dark and I probably shouldn't have been out by myself.

I didn't do much after that. I just spent time online and now I'm eating the rest of my hot wings because I got hungry again and I can't fall asleep if I'm hungry.

Koala poo

Abstract:
Today was market day for O-week. PARSA had a bbq. That was about it.

I had to get up at a semi-reasonable time this morning to go to market day with my friends. The problem was that I felt sick all night and barely slept. But I got up in time to go downstairs and meet Janice and Heesook. We then went over to Toad to pick up Bec before heading over to union court for market day. We were going to meet some other people at market day. Janice went to go find them, but Bec and I got lost in the crowds and just spent the morning together going through all the stalls.

Market day is the day during O-week where all of the clubs and some other things around campus and businesses have stalls up. Basically it's a time to go and get free stuff. At least that's the point of it for Bec and me. Since we came mid-year last year, we never had a proper market day. Ours was very small. This one had a lot more going on. I got so many free reusable bags, pens, highlighters, speakers, and a slushie.

There was also this one thing at one of the stalls where you go in the box and little pieces of paper blow around and then you have to catch one. My prize was that I was entered in the second chance drawing that will be held on Monday. I'm not holding my breath that I'll get something, but it was fun to actually go in one of those boxes. Bec also went in the box and got the same "prize." At one of the stalls, we got fortune cookies. Both of our fortunes said "one man's meat is another man's pet." I guess that's literally true, especially when I hear my friends talking about eating horse meat!

After we finally got through all of the stalls, we went to the PARSA barbecue. I didn't get anything to eat because my stomach still hurt and I don't really like sausages. We were there for a while and we met back up with Janice et al. there. Then Bec and I decided to go home. She came back up to my place to get her stuff that she was keeping in my fridge. Bec also gave me a present, which was apparently for letting her keep her stuff in my fridge, which seems like a silly reason for a present to me. But anyway, she had gone to some place called The Ginger Factory over the summer and saw something called Koala Poo. They are milk chocolate sultanas. Our group of friends is called the Hungry Animals and my animal is a koala, of course, so the koala poo made her think of me.

When I checked my email upon returning home, I saw that I had something from unilodge. Apparently I was behind on my payments, which confused me because I have direct debit and enough money in my account that it wouldn't have denied it. I went down there to ask them about it and apparently it was some weird thing to do with the timing of my payments and there were a few days between them, but they can't take out more than two weeks rent at a time. It was weird, but I got it sorted out. I also had a bunch of other questions to ask them, so it worked out well. It forced me to wait in the ridiculously long lines that happen during O-week.

Then I took a nap. I was exhausted and that was well needed. After my nap, I decided to run a couple of errands. I went to the student exchange to get my actual ID validation sticker that says I'm a full-time student. I also went to grab some wings and sprite at IGA. I know, most people would say that I shouldn't have eaten wings for dinner when I had a stomach ache, but whatever, I wanted wings. I also wanted sprite. I had a few cans the other day that my old flatmates left. They don't taste as bad as I remember, since I'm used to the high fructose corn syrup ones in the US instead of the sugar ones. I think it's because it's been so long since I've had US sprite. When I got back, my flatmates were making a grocery list and then they went out to buy groceries together. It's so weird to see my flatmates. I'm not used to this yet. It looks like they'll be good friends, though. They both went to the O-week toga party tonight and they got ready together.

When I was cooking dinner, Rohan came over. He had some packages sent to my flat because he wanted to order stuff online and didn't have his own address yet. I checked my mail earlier and let him know that two of them had arrived already. He came over after work to pick them up.

The rest of the night was pretty boring. I ate dinner and spent the rest of the night online. Also, my stomach still hurts, but it felt fine while eating the wings, so that's not to blame.

Graham's porn folder

Abstract:
Yes, Graham made my title yet again. O-week stuff. Work. Valentine's Day celebration. Drinks with friends.

MPH had their orientation thingy this morning. It was basically a time where the course convenor, Paul, talked about the courses, introduced the lecturers, and then you could meet with the lecturers. Graham was there. For some reason, I was not expecting him to be there. I think it's because he's more MCHM  (though this was MPH and MCHM apparently) and there weren't other lecturers there for our orientation last semester.  Anyway, he got up to introduce his classes this semester and so he put in a USB for his slideshows. One of the folders in there was labelled pornography, I guess since I wasn't paying attention. Paul then had to quickly explain that Graham's research is in pornography. That could have been awkward.

After the introductions, we got to talk to the lecturers. I finally figured out when we have biostats, so I was finally able to email Michael about when I can work during the semester. I also talked to a couple of new students. I warned one that she shouldn't take two of Graham's classes. She is already enrolled in two of them, though. Hopefully she has better luck with him! I feel like you either love him or you hate him, but no in between. Janice ended up loving him. Crazy girl!

Then I was exhausted and came back to take a nap before work. At around 3, my second flatmate moved in. Her name is Eli, as in Elly not the boy's name... I think she said she's originally from Bulgaria, but she's been in the US for 12 years and sounds pretty American to me. She's studying abroad here and she's doing studio art.

At 3:30, I went to the SIGN gelato thing. I was there for maybe five minutes before I had to leave to catch my bus for work. I just wanted the free gelato.

I totally thought that I didn't have my zune because I couldn't find it in my purse, so I waited for the bus in silence. (I eventually found out that it was in my purse when I got back home tonight.) Tutoring was fine. I just had secondary kids and just helped with maths. I actually had to teach myself how to do some stuff because I didn't remember it at all. (Usually I'll remember it a bit and just have to refresh my memory.) When I was taking the bus home, I met another tutor who just started and she goes to ANU. We talked all the way back, so it didn't matter that I thought I didn't have my zune.

After tutoring, I went to meet up with Rohan for our Valentine's dinner. We aren't go out on Valentine's Day because we don't have reservations and Rohan thinks it's a stupid holiday. Which it kind of is, but I still like it. I can't help that I like holidays and tradition! Plus it looks like Rohan will be moving into his new apartment that day, anyway. *fingers crossed* (Which I realised right before writing my blog is weird because his new flatmate is a girl so he'll be spending Valentine's Day with her...)

Anyway, for dinner we went to the steak place in the Canberra Centre. It was funny because it's kind of a nice place but Rohan, being Rohan, was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, his usual outfit. I was still dressed nicely because I can straight from work. The steaks were good. As always, I'm a really slow eater so I made Rohan get dessert while I was finishing eating. I felt awkward still eating when he was done. I used to have this anxiety thing with food where I would throw up and I felt a bit of that returning when I was still eating and he wasn't.

He ordered some cheese plater thing for dessert. Apparently the waiter that came out with it looked really confused that Rohan ordered the cheese plater, I'm guessing because of how he was dressed. Rohan was obsessed with the cheese, which was weird for him because that was blue cheese, which he never liked before. He didn't realise that it was blue cheese when he ordered it. Rohan made me try it and it was one of the nastiest things I have ever eaten. I quickly grabbed one of the remaining chips on my plate to get the taste out of my mouth.

After dinner, Rohan wanted gelato. I didn't get any because I was cold. The weather here is not summer weather any more. It's sad. Then we walked back to my place. On the way, we ran into my friends and some guys from last night. Rohan was just going to walk me back and then leave because he has work tomorrow, so I decided to say good-bye there and go with my friends. They were going to go to karaoke.

First they decided to go to Playground, which is a bar in Civic where one of the guy works on the weekends. They shared a jug of sangria and we hung out there for a while. Then we were going to go to Transit for karaoke. We saw some people on the way who told us that it was lame and not to bother going. Bec and I only wanted to go for the karaoke, but no one else wanted to go any more. Instead they went past Academy, which is another bar. They were thinking about going, but instead we didn't. Well one guy did. The rest of us went home and I was glad. We're old.

Then I got home and wrote my blog and stuff. I also read the card that Rohan tried to sneak in my purse. He thought that I didn't notice until he was actually trying to get it in, but I noticed when he was still across the street from where I met him. Not to mention when he was awkwardly trying to hide it as we were walking. Rohan's so silly. The card made me smile, but the back made me laugh. He told me not to put pictures of it online or he may have to kill me. (Although, to be honest, I didn't think about taking a picture of it until I read that. That's surprising!)

"sneeeefff... don't laugh!" -Janice

Abstract:
I made breadsticks. I got a new flatmate. I got free gelato. We went to ANU bar and met some new people.

I decided to actually make my breadsticks this morning/afternoon. I thought that I would actually have time before the SIGN thing. I actually didn't and was about 1/2 hour late to the SIGN mentor networking, but it didn't matter. It was my first experience cooking with yeast. I had made fly food when I was working in a biology lab for my mom and that used yeast, but I never made actual food that I would eat with it. I was pretty nervous because it sounded sciencey and I always messed up science experiments. It said to use warm water, but I knew that it couldn't be hot water because then it would kill the yeast before it worked. I was just nervous that it wasn't going to be warm enough because nothing seemed to be happening in the beginning. After the 10 minutes that I was supposed to wait, though, it definitely looked frothy, like the recipe said it should.

Then I had to add the other stuff and then leave it to rise for an hour. I took a shower and ate lunch during that time. Then I started making them into breadsticks. At this point, someone comes in. I got a new flatmate today! It's a guy and his name is Benedict. He's from New Zealand and I'm pretty sure he's undergrad. He actually talked to me, though. I also told him about my old flatmates and he agrees that it is really weird how they acted. At this point, I was running really late for the SIGN thing, but I had to finish cooking my breadsticks and do the dishes.

I went over to the SIGN thing next. It was supposed to be a mentor networking opportunity and then one where new students were there. I mostly just talked with my friends. None of us have mentees yet and all of the new students there were undergrad, so we couldn't really help them with questions about their course. We also got free stuff. As mentors, we got a coupon for both events. During the first it was for a cake and a coffee. I got banana bread instead of one of the cake things. Then I got mixed berry gelato during the other thing. That free gelato was the whole reason that I signed up to be a mentor, well it also looks good on a resume. The title comes from something that happened during the SIGN thing. Janice got a dessert and she was trying to break off a piece with her fork. Instead, the fork went straight through the plastic tupperware-esque container! It was hilarious and I was laughing at her, but she did her little "sneeefff" thing and told me not to laugh. I never listen to her, though.

After SIGN, we went to Manning Clark for some graduate student drinks thing. It was kind of fancy. They had lots of different kinds of wines and they actually had real glasses! Actually, before we stopped in there, we went to the booths at union court to get free stuff. There wasn't a lot there because of the time and it wasn't market day, but at least I got the wall calendar that I wanted.

Then we went to ANU bar. We met some new people there including Jodie's boyfriend, brother, friends, and some of her friend's friends. They were all nice. One of her friends is from Mexico. I was always looking for someone to speak Spanish with when my friends all start speaking in Chinese. I didn't actually practice my Spanish at all, though. We stayed at ANU bar until like 8:15. It was actually getting pretty chilly. It definitely was not Australian summer weather!

I finally got to eat dinner when I came back. I was pretty hungry. I got to try my breadsticks, since I didn't have time earlier. They're kind of floury because I put too much on the board when I was rolling them out, and half of them got pretty burnt. They also got weird shaped because I cooked them straight on the oven rack because I don't have a cookie sheet that would fit in my oven. Despite what it may sound like from my above statements, they were actually pretty good. I now know some improvements that I should make next time that I make them, though. I'm just proud of myself for cooking bread with yeast and everything!

I also got home to find that there were "red solo cups" on the counter, the chairs moved, a boom box, and alcohol in the freezer. I take this to mean that my flatmate likes to party. After all, he did ask me about clubs in Canberra... I just hope that he'll be considerate and not party during the week during the semester. (And "red solo cups" is in parenthesis because they aren't really solo cups, but the theme for unilodge during O-week is like fraternity or something stupid like that. Davey is Delta and there are frat decorations all over, including a "red solo cup" pyramid in the lobby. Red Solo cups are kind of synonymous with frat parties and you don't usually see them outside of the US. They aren't really Solo brand, though.)

Happy 17th birthday, Crossroads!

I didn't do anything during the day today. It felt really hot. That doesn't really make sense because it wasn't as hot and other days, but Davey doesn't have air conditioning and it just felt really humid or something. I don't know. I basically spent the day alternating between being at the desk with my fan facing toward me or in bed with the fan facing toward me. I was going to make a recipe for copy cat olive garden breadsticks, but I was just too hot and I was too lazy to try to figure out working with yeast. I've never done that before and it makes me nervous because it reminds me of chemistry class and I always sucked at chemistry and messed up my experiments.

Church was at 6:30. They told us that today was Crossroad's 17th birthday, so that's pretty exciting. At least it's exciting enough from my boring day to make the title.

When I got home, I ate some dinner. Then I decided to work on my memoir again. I'm now done with the bus trip part, so I'm working on my first semester back at Hope after Australia and my reverse culture shock. It's kind of hard to write about because I was so depressed during that time and so it's not pleasant to think about. That's why I took a break from writing my memoir for a while.

"You complain about haggis and you eat elephant ears?!" - Rohan

Abstract:

Rohan and I went to the multicultural festival in Civic. Rohan got a smart phone! We met up with my friends for Chinese New Year. Rohan and I went back to the festival.

Rohan and I talked about going to the multicultural festival together today, so I messaged him at 12:30ish. We decided to meet in front of McDonalds since it would be packed in Civic. We walked around and Rohan got some food for lunch. I didn't really want anything. He then wanted to get a drink and, of course, we ended up at the bubble tea place in the Canberra Centre. 

Then Rohan said that he should probably actually get a smart phone. He was very against it before and I kept telling him that he was going to have to cave eventually. He ended up getting one today. Boy it's a lot easier for an Australian to get a phone than it was for me! (Since it took me three times going to the store and countless types of ID.) Then we spent time walking back and forth from various stores in the Canberra Centre so that he could find a case. 

We then went back to the place where he's staying so that he could drop off the extra crap from his phone and charge it. It was hilarious to see Rohan go through the google play app store. He was so excited when he realised that he could watch youtube on the go. Seriously, it was hilarious to see him like that because he was so adamant about not getting a smart phone a few months ago because he thought that it seemed pointless. But once you get a smart phone, you can't live without it.

Another thing that happened when we were in the Canberra Centre was that we just went to all of the game shops again. At Dick Smith, they had Just Dance set up on the Kinect. Rohan was having withdrawal or something and he decided to dance. He chose to dance to "Never Gonna Give You Up." At the end of that dance, the character jumps up and falls on his face. You aren't actually supposed to do that move, as it doesn't affect your score, but Rohan, being the person that he is, decided to do that. He did a face plant on that floor, which was a pretty hard floor. A couple was watching Rohan dance, and the woman asked him if he was ok when she saw him lying on the floor. Then Rohan seemed kind of out of it and I just kept staring at him making sure that he didn't actually give himself a concussion or anything. He's fine now, though.

At 6, we went to meet my friends for dinner. It was Chinese New Year and my friends wanted to go out and celebrate. We went to Golden Drum. Usually I don't like when we go somewhere and get a bunch of dishes to share because I only end up liking one and can't eat very much since we're sharing, but the food was actually good. I ate off of a few of the dishes! Dessert was gross, though. Rohan loved it because it was some sago stuff again. I gave mine to Rohan since I didn't like it. When the waitress brought out the desserts, somehow Rohan's dessert fell over and spilled all over him and his chair. He ended up having half of his bowl left, but they brought him another bowl. With my bowl added, he had two and a half bowls! There was also sago all over the floor under his chair and it looked like he had laid fish eggs! It was funny.

After dinner, Rohan and I decided to go back to the multicultural festival. We went to go get dessert and Rohan wanted to take me to the Dutch pancake place. Rohan thought it was really weird that I grew up in Holland and have never had Dutch pancakes. He said that I was "completing my Dutch heritage" even though I'm not actually Dutch at all. They were pretty good. I was trying to figure out what it was that they tasted like, and then I realised that they tasted kind of like elephant ears, but combined with pancakes, of course. I think that it's because we got the apple cinnamon one. Anyway, Rohan had never heard of elephant ears. He was wondering how I could complain that haggis sounded gross when I ate elephant ears. Then I explained that they're a type of fried dough. A delicious type of fried dough that you get a fairs and festivals and such. (Sometimes cultural differences are really funny!)

Then we went to sit on a park bench to talk for a while before we each went home. Now I'm just spending the night relaxing.

Why does my memory suck so much?

I didn't do much today. I was going to call back the neurosurgeon office, but I didn't remember until late in the afternoon. I forgot that today was Friday and, of course, they close early on Friday, which I found out by calling them. Also, the cleaning people at unilodge came by to clean the windows today and that was awkward because I was still in my pyjamas (that's the non-American way of spelling it... it still looks weird to me!) and they had to go in my room, which is a mess.

Then later I went to the store. I again forgot that, since it was Friday, the multicultural festival started today. Civic was full of people and I had difficulties trying to maneuver my way through to the Canberra Centre.

After shopping, I just got home and relaxed. I completely forgot to actually cook my food and eat. I got grapes, so I ate some of those when I first got back, but I needed more substantial food. When I was cooking it, my stomach decided that it was mad at me for not eating sooner and I felt really sick. It sucked because it wasn't something that I just put in the oven and could leave. I ended up staying alive long enough to eat, though, and then my stomach felt much better.

I then just spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching tv online.

My mom knows more about football than my dad!

Abstract:
I skyped with my parents. I tutored.

I first woke up this morning because I received a phone call. The neurosurgeon's office called me to let me know that I could have an appointment on the 27th, but I told them that I'd have to call them back after talking to my parents. We decided that I'm just going to wait and get an MRI when I go back to the US. I'll have to call them back tomorrow to make sure that my appointment is cancelled. I was really surprised that they actually gave me an appointment that soon, though.

Then I skyped with my parents. They miss me or something crazy like that and they wanted to skype. It was nice, although there were lots of tech issues, as always. My dad actually, almost, sat through the entire conversation, but that's mostly because he was on mgoblog on his phone instead of leaving to go on there. The title comes from my dad saying some story about a football player, saying that he won the Heisman trophy. My mom corrected him saying that he actually was the runner-up or something. It was hilarious and my dad was embarrassed when I said that it was going to be my blog title.

I ate lunch after talking to my parents and then I took a nap before I had to leave for tutoring. I had reading with kids today, which is my least favourite thing. I definitely prefer teaching them maths. I also didn't feel well and I realised that I had a bunch of bites on my arm and leg. They are horribly itchy and I don't think they're mosquito bites. They are way too big. And I keep finding more. They're driving me crazy! (Well, crazier than I already am...)

I just ate enchiladas for dinner and watched some tv on youtube. It wasn't a very exciting night, but I was exhausted.

"Oh no! I wouldn't have a blog... I'd have a tumblr, wouldn't I?"- Rohan

Abstract:
I had a pretty crappy day and didn't feel well. Then I went out with Rohan and gradually felt much better. It's also the five-year anniversary of my brain surgery, which is one of my favourite days of the year!

I felt kinda crappy when I woke up this morning. That probably had to do with the fact that I was having major difficulties falling asleep last night. That and I actually had to wake up in the morning so that I could do my laundry. That's about as exciting as it sounds.

After my laundry, I decided to finally call the neurosurgeon to set up an appointment. I figured that today was a good day because it was the five year anniversary of my brain surgery to remove the tumour. I think that this day is way more special and exciting for me than my birthday. I easily could have died, but I didn't. I'm always much more thankful to be alive on this day than most other days of the year.

Anyway, I got a referral to a neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital back at the end of November, but I never set up an appointment. I tried to do it and that was annoying. I called the neurosurgeon office and they had no record of my referral. I had to call back the ANU health centre to get them to fax it over again. The number wouldn't work on my phone for some reason, so I had to use my room phone and just use the internal extension. It's a good thing that those room phones exist.

They faxed over the referral and then I called the neurosurgeon's office again. They said that they needed to process me into the system and then they would tell me in a few weeks when I appointment is. Depending on the severity/urgency it could take anywhere from a few months to a couple years until my appointment. Mine doesn't exactly seem urgent since I'm five years post-op and not displaying any symptoms and all of my previous MRIs have come back clear. Basically, I don't think that I'll be having another MRI until I go back to the US for a visit.

After that issue, I wanted to take a nap because I knew that I was going out with Rohan later and I was still tired and felt sick. I was taking my nap when the stupid fire alarm went off. Naturally I woke up more than slightly confused. I checked the window to see if anyone was outside, but they weren't. Then I checked the hallway and there was one girl there that was also confused. I just went back into my room until the fire alarm started making a different sound and I checked outside again. There were people this time, so I left to go outside. The girl from my floor said that this was the fourth fire alarm in a month. It's kind of the boy who cried wolf! The fire trucks came, but there was no actual fire. It's super annoying.

Then I went out with Rohan. We ended up going to Pancake Parlour for dinner. I didn't eat much because my stomach was still hurting. I was really tired and I kept trying to put my head back on the bench back. I kept hitting my head and Rohan was laughing at me. I said that it was a good thing that he wasn't the one keeping the blog because it would just be him making fun of me. Then he had the horrible realisation that he wouldn't have a blog, but a tumblr. That's like the pinterest of pre-teens. Haha that's definitely an embarrassing thing to realise!

But, as always, Rohan and I had some very interesting topics of conversation over dinner. Somehow we got on the subject of Muppet genetics. I think that we got there from bestiality and talking about how you can't have inter-species offspring except for mules. It was a weird conversation, but I guess not that weird when you consider that it was us. They got weirder after that. Something about phalloplasty and the book How Nature Made Him. (Which, by the way, is non-fiction book and I'd highly recommend it because it's a super interesting story about a set of identical twin boys where one had a sex operation as a baby because of a failed circumcision and was then raised as a girl.)

After dinner, we went to drop off some extra chocolate that Rohan had from his dessert (his dessert was huge and he was obsessed with the chocolate sauce that was conveniently already in a disposable container) and then we went on a walk back into civic. We then went to a bench in the park and just talked. It was nice and spending time with Rohan made me happy again. It definitely made me happier about it being the anniversary of my brain surgery than the first part of the day did.

Then Rohan walked me back to Davey before going home. He has his first day of his real job tomorrow!

No, Rohan, I don't want to be Canadian.

Abstract:
I don't know what to put here...basically immigration sucks and I made enchiladas and made fun of Canada. That's kind of ironic that I made fun of Canada and ate food from Mexico while being annoyed about immigration. Life is silly like that.

This morning, I did the prep stuff for making enchiladas. I knew that I was going to be too lazy to make them from scratch after work and my meat was going to expire if I didn't make them soon. While I was cooking, some maintenance guy, or something like that, came up to check on the other rooms and closed their doors. He told me that my food smelled good. Oh, I also got my key fixed today so I will actually be able to open the main doors. Yay!

I had tutoring this afternoon. Nothing too exciting happened then. I did only work with secondary kids, though, so that was good. Michael, my boss, told me to draw or write something when my kids are busy so I don't look bored. I ended up spending my time writing down a rant on my frustrations with immigration. I got an email back from my MARA rep right before I went to work and I got really frustrated. I think that writing everything down helped, but I'm still annoyed. I have so much more sympathy (or is it empathy?) for immigrants from Mexico trying to jump the fence (is that PC? probably not...) to America. Immigration is hard and complicated and it sucks! Be thankful if you were born in the country that you want to be and don't have to deal with immigration!

After work, I invited Janice over for enchiladas. The recipe makes way too many for just one person to eat. I was going to make a half batch, but I couldn't find a smaller thing of meat when I bought it and I didn't want to freeze the meat. Instead I just had Janice come over and now, hopefully, I won't be eating enchiladas for a week. Maybe just a few days. Our conversation was a lot different than it usually is. (But on a side note, I tried to explain to her what a southern accent is, and she said that it just sounded American to her. I guess that's only fair because when she tried to explain the five ways to pronounce some word in Chinese, they all sounded exactly the same.) Anyway, we've both been feeling kind of down lately. I think that it's about of future for both of us. It's really hard for us to stay in Australia and neither of us want to leave when we graduate. I also think that I miss a certain fluffy-butt dog. Dogs always make me happier.

I watched How I Met Your Mother when Janice left. I think it was probably the best episode yet. It had stalking and lots of Canadian jokes. What more can you ask for? (The title is in reference to Rohan always singing this song whenever I make a joke about Canada. Wait, a joke about Canada? Isn't Canada the joke? *ba dum tss*) That episode made me happy to watch, but now I'm in a sad mood again. I'm hoping that some sleep will help. If not, at least I do plan on seeing Rohan tomorrow.

Success: not getting lost or dying

Abstract:
I had tutoring and I made brownies.

I didn't do too much this morning. I actually don't remember doing anything.

I had my first day back to tutoring, though. It was also their first day back to school, so it was hard to know what to help them with. That was kind of challenging.

I decided to try to transfer buses of get home instead of waiting for the late bus that is direct. I had transfered before, but that was when another tutor from ANU was also taking the bus so he knew what he was doing. I think that I got to the stop late and missed the bus that I was supposed to take, at least according to the time on google maps, but that bus wasn't even listed at the bus stop as one that stops there.

I took a different bus, hoping that I would somehow be able to find my way home. I was kind of freaking out the whole time because I have anxiety issues and didn't know where this bus went. Luckily this bus did stop where I wanted it to stop. I was then able to cross the street to get on the other bus to go back to the city. That was my first time ever transferring buses. I didn't end up getting lost or dying once. I call that a success.

I stopped by IGA on my way home. I had to get the other stuff for the enchiladas. My tomato puree (aka what Americans call tomato sauce) apparently had spilled all over the fridge when I tried to thaw it, which I found out this morning. It was a pretty contained mess, but I did have to buy more.

Then I went back home. My stupid key does not work. I was wondering about that yesterday, since it wasn't working on the back door and then someone else let me in the front so I couldn't try it. Well, it wasn't working today. Someone let me in the front door because they were leaving at the same time. Then I was stuck in the lobby. It's a good thing that Janice just moved in to Davey and I was able to call her to let me in. My key was still working for my flat, so that was good. I'll have to go to reception tomorrow and get my key fixed. It's just annoying because it's move in and there are always a ton of people waiting there to move in.

I was too lazy to make the enchiladas, but I'll have to do that tomorrow. Instead I just ate some chicken and green beans. Actually, I ate ice cream first then had dinner. I also made brownies. I was too lazy yesterday, but I wanted to make them today. I added a ton of peanut butter, but they were still too chocolatey for me. I think I'll have to add less cocoa powder next time. I also had some issues cooking them through, because of the learning process with my oven, but they worked out a lot better than any other time that I've tried to bake. They even came out of the molds!

And random side note: while I was baking, I kept talking to myself in a southern accent. I was super annoyed by my urge to speak in a southern accent and then I realised that it was because I was watching 19 Kids and Counting. Why can't I just start talking in an Aussie accent when I'm surrounded by it? That would be so much cooler!

Things I've learned cooking: don't freeze cream cheese!

Abstract:
I have nothing interesting to put in the abstract...

I spent the morning watching that Breaking Amish show again. I realised that yesterday, when I started watching it, was Groundhog Day and two of the people on the show were from Punxsutawney, aka where the "official" groundhog lives. I thought that was ironic.

I eventually got up and went to IGA to pick up some stuff so that I could make food. I had decided to make pasta with homemade alfredo sauce. It was pretty good except for the fact that I used cream cheese that I had froze when I went to Perth and then thawed out when I got back. I looked online and they said that you could freeze it, but the consistency changes and they only recommended freezing if you are cooking with it. I figured that it would be fine, but it tasted kind of weird. It would probably be  a lot better with cream cheese that I didn't freeze before.

Then I went to church. I wasn't positive that they were having it since there were a few weeks during the summer break that they didn't have the night service on campus. It was alright, though, because they did have it.

When I went back home, the stupid door at the back of Davey wouldn't let me in. When I got to the front door, there was someone else going in, so I didn't get to check my key. It worked on my flat, though, so I guess that's what matters.

Anyway, I was going to make peanut butter brownies when I got back. They sounded really good and I found a recipe right before I went to church. I was really hungry, though, so I reheated some of my lunch and then I wasn't hungry for brownies any more. Instead, I did decided to make some frozen cheesecake bite things that I also saw on pinterest and have wanted to make for a while. They called for cream cheese, so I had to use the same stuff. I just tasted them after letting them freeze, and they taste a little weird. I think it's just the cream cheese again. Now I know not to ever try to freeze cream cheese again.

I watched some more TV online. I started watching some of the Duggars again. That family is so interesting! I also decided to be a little productive and start unpacking some more. I know have emptied my suitcase and put it away. Now I just have to clear off my desk! That ought to be fun when I eventually do that!

I get two new flatmates!

I did absolutely nothing today, which was good. I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache, so I stayed in bed for a lot of the day.

This afternoon, a maintenance guy came to make sure that the room where my flatmate moved out was cleaned. I asked him if the other flatmate had moved out too, so he opened it up to check. Apparently she had moved out because almost all of her stuff was gone. It was weird because she still had a pillow and sheets on her bed as well as a scale on the floor. (I wish I had grabbed that scale so I could see how much I weigh now!) There is also some random stuff in the kitchen and bathroom, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Janice guesses that she probably left in a hurry. I guess that means that I get to keep that stuff if I want it.

Later some cleaning people came. They cleaned the other two rooms as well as the kitchen and bathrooms. I was happy that I don't have to clean those now. It smelled so clean when I went out of my room after they were finished.

I made the rest of my wings for dinner and I tried to follow this recipe that I found online to make home-made butterfingers. They did not work at all and I suspect it's because I don't have a candy thermometer, so I just made up when I thought it was done. They definitely didn't set correctly. I guess I'll have to try the recipe again if I ever get a candy thermometer.

I spent the rest of the day just watching tv on my computer. I found a new addicting show from TLC about Amish people (and one Mennonite) who go to New York City. I'm a sucker for these kinds of shows.

I'm NOT in Michigan!

Abstract:
I met up with Rohan and Janice to go to lunch. I spent the afternoon with Rohan.

I just did some crap around my apartment this morning. Then at noon, I went downstairs to meet up with Janice and Rohan to go to lunch. Janice told me about a southern American BBQ place in Civic. We first went to run some errands when they got here. Janice and I got our SIGN mentoring shirts. We also went to get our IDs updated. I told Janice that I had realised this morning that we probably wouldn't be able to because we weren't actually enrolled yet because the course conveyor is out of town or something stupid and we can't enrol. She wanted to go there anyway to see. I am actually already enrolled in one unit, long story, so they gave me a part-time sticker. I'll have to go back to get my full time sticker when I'm actually enrolled. Janice didn't get a sticker, but she thought that it was hilarious that they gave me a part-time one. I don't know why she thought that it was so funny. I told her that we wouldn't be able to get them yet. She never listens to me, but just makes fun of me!

Then we went to get lunch. The place was called Smoque. I was confused why I didn't come across it when I was trying to google places that might have hot wings in Canberra until Rohan saw on the door that it was established in 2012. I googled it when I got home later and found an article from October that said it was coming soon, which explains why I didn't see it. It was good. I got a sloppy joe and a snapple. I haven't had snapple in probably at least a decade. I wanted to get wings, but I just had them last night so I decided to save them for another time. Janice wants me to get the suicidal ones to see if I can handle them. Very few things have been too spicy for me. I told her that I have to build up my spicy tolerance again since I barely had anything spicy, at least not to the level I'm used to, for about a month and a half. I get heart burn if I try to eat spicy things after not eating them for a while.

Oh and the really weird thing was that I kept seeing Michigan things today. When we were walking back from getting our SIGN shirts, I saw a girl with a shirt that had a giant picture of the state of Michigan on it. (She was riding her bike so I wasn't going to say anything to her, not like I would have anyway.) Then Rohan tried to convince me that I was back in Michigan and that's why I saw a Michigan shirt and why the sky was so cloudy. (I then added that there must be a dome over us so that you could see the sky, but not the snow.) Then when we got to Smoque, the TV was playing the Michigan State-Illinois basketball game. Again Rohan continued trying to convince me that I was at the Michigan branch of ANU...

After lunch, we parted from Janice. She went to Big W and Rohan and I wanted to go and drop off our leftovers back at our places. First we went to the place where he's staying. It's really nice there. Then we went to drop off my food at my apartment. I grabbed a jumper because it was pretty chilly today. It doesn't at all feel like summer. I miss the Perth weather!

Then we went back to the Canberra Centre because Rohan wanted a bubble tea. He grabbed an iced coffee on the way because he's Rohan. After he bought his bubble tea, we walked around the Canberra Centre. Rohan went to all of the stores that sold video games. And he bought a lot. I told him that it was weird because he doesn't have his consoles because they're all packed away in the moving truck until he has an actual place to live, except for his 3DS. He was seriously contemplating buy a Wii just so that he can play games now. He has both a Wii and a WiiU that are packed up, so I really didn't understand it. He didn't buy one, at least he didn't yet... Then we went to a games store, like board games, that was in Civic and Rohan bought his own Catan set.

When we were going back, it was raining pretty hard. I knew that I should have grabbed my rain coat when we were back at my flat, but I didn't. We tried to stay under cover via store awnings the best that we could. I decided that I wanted to go back with Rohan because I wanted to talk to him about visas and it's not like I had anything else to do. When we ran out of awnings, Rohan decided to run back. I kind of jogged, because I'm way too out of shape to actually run any faster than I did. We hung out at his place for a while and talked about visas as well so that I could email back my MARA rep.

I went home a little after five. I took a nap when I got home. I was exhausted and I did not want to wake up when I had to. Then I called Michael, my boss from Big Improvements. He said that he had some vacancies for tutors during the next couple of weeks and asked if I could fill in some during that time. I still don't know my schedule for classes because they haven't set the times yet, but I knew when I was free before uni starts again. (Which is every day except for the one thing that I have to do for SIGN. I'm going to get bored quickly...) I'm tutoring three times before the start of uni, so that's good. Other than that I've just been wasting time on the internet. I probably should finish unpacking sometime, though.