![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 141 to 165 of 495. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on June 6, 2014, at 4:26:32
In reply to Re: passing..., posted by alexandra_k on June 6, 2014, at 1:57:03
i think it was in the context of trauma... that i read something about how some people can function along fairly alright... but when their attachment system gets activated then they fall apart, rather. i think that is me. i fall apart when my attachment system gets activated. trouble is... without any activation at all... one falls apart in the sense of just wanting to curl up and die from lonliness. i think that is what that is. lonliness. that never occurred to me... but then, over the years, it might just be... it might just be... so... what's to be done? aside from keeping people at arms length, i mean. distance... regulators. built in somehow. like the internet. which works... mostly. but isn't foolproof, i've learned. maybe certain sorts of relationships are like that, too. ones where the person is otherwise attached or similarly unavailable... only i've never gone there. correction: i... developed better empathy for the affect that can have on other people. not fair to them.
i've developed this really bad habit... i picked it up from the gym in australia... i started to notice that people would sometimes talk to each other... only... it was fairly obvious if you listened to what they were saying... that they were really talking (indirectly) to me. i can't think of an example right now... i'm not being paranoid... it was just the first i became aware of that as a style of communication.
muttering to yourself is similar... under your breath, like. sometimes people do that, too. sometimes just... yakking to themself, i guess. othertimes... that indirect communication thing again.
well... i've taken it and really run with it. in the gym especially... e.g., when i feel crowded. i just start feeling really anxious. wound up. angry. because of the space invaders... start muttering under my breath... out loud... it is weird. crazy-like. crazy. i wish it would work to get people to go away. mostly it doesn't. sometimes it does. it does enough for me to have developed the habit of it, i guess.
so... emotionally expressive... reactive, really. it just emits from me... feels like. feels like an effort to inhibit it to keep it in check. tv brings it out pretty badly. an incessant commentary... see some guy jumping about 'guess he doesn't need arch support' see chairleaders at the cricket 'well i guess everyone needs a job, huh, thought that used to be a competitive sport'... standing... behind myself... just a little bit... incessant commentary... biting... critical... it goes away after some heavy training. deadlifts. oly bar and bumpers if i can get 'em. 60 minutes on the trainer...
starting to rely on the gym a lot... perhaps a bit too much... but anyway, that's me in class about now. a retort for everything. b*llsh*t is how i feel... b*llsh*t b*llsh*t b*llsh*t too much b*llsh*t... people saying things that isn't true... which isn't true... it is just true that i'm hurting. and i want it to stop. i want someone to fix it to make it stop yeah. but there isn't any. fixing it. stopping it. i don't think. i think it is a case of if x went away then y would only rise up and take its place. or maybe not. i get confused about that. people are only too happy to encourage me into the former...
i've got the masses offside... upset the odd apple. the williamson kids. the ones who escalate when they don't get anything from me. i just... can't. i just can't. like the little boy who pulls the hair of the girl to get her attention... i'm the girl who... pretends she doesn't notice... until... she snaps and kicks the living crap out of him. or not. of course. flailing limbs wildly. how else to say 'just leave me alone'. just ... leave me alone. i... don't know how to relate to you. i don't know how to relate to you in a genuine way. if i were your teacher i'd know how. if i were your peer i'd know how. if i were your mother i'd know how. but i'm not... i'm... just me. what's that? just... someone who doesn't like having her hair pulled. for reals. and you should... learn that that isn't nice. and quit it already. i can't...
just get it out of my head and focus for the exam. concepts. concepts don't pull my hair. jostle me. they don't even whistle stomp or click. they don't move about frantically in my line of sight. they don't demand... they just are there. just there. just the same as they always was... immutable as a barbell... more. that's what it was supposed to be about... remember that... i'm just... sad that i'm such a bitch. that i push people away. that i... can't. i just can't. even if... i want to. i don't work. i am broken :(
Posted by alexandra_k on June 6, 2014, at 4:28:19
In reply to Re: passing..., posted by alexandra_k on June 6, 2014, at 4:26:32
and it will be because we've just had the last class. so... it's over then. i'll be grieving for that.
i am such a f*ck*d up freak :(
so... if the opposite of love isn't hate... it's apathy...
how about the inverse of love? does hate... undo?
?
Posted by alexandra_k on June 10, 2014, at 2:08:06
In reply to Re: passing..., posted by alexandra_k on June 6, 2014, at 4:28:19
lmfao.
wouldn't it be fun to solve the worlds energy problem? not that i quite know what that is... something about fusion... or whatever... i forget...
philosophy is just a hobby...
i mean, one can't open a philosophy factory.
ha.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 10, 2014, at 2:33:11
In reply to Re: passing..., posted by alexandra_k on June 10, 2014, at 2:08:06
i suppose there isn't an 'energy problem' so much as 'we want energy to do x' and 'we want energy to do y' and so on... and not so much an energy solution as a cheaper / more productive alternative to whatever is the status quo...
meh.
killing no more people than wheetie puffs...
Posted by alexandra_k on June 12, 2014, at 4:01:43
In reply to Re: passing..., posted by alexandra_k on June 10, 2014, at 2:33:11
discovered a ballet trained fitness instructor today so, yay, suspect that is me. he does a bunch of stuff... abs classes: worthwhile. my abs don't work so well for all the sitting i do and lifting just sort of reinforces anterior pelvic tilt - though it is good for getting my *ss working - i use my spinal erectors and hip flexors rather more than i should...
he does some zumba, too, which can be fun for the balance / co-ordination aspect... and x-fit... maybe...
anyway... that is good. i've been needing something... relaxing like that. the mirrors in the gym... they wind me up a bit. the tv's do a bit, too. there is a room... with battling rope... tyre... climbing wall around the edges... sometimes i can freestyle in there a bit... i guess just generally... i go to the gym to move my body around as it needs to move which requires me to focus on it... and most people go to... impress others... and so... the gym... can be a bit hard for me, really. maybe it is about having an instructor who... gets it? that what it is about is training the muscles properly rather than about just how high you can get your leg, or whatever. that it is... better to do it properly than to cheat. cheating... ruins the aesthetic, rather. i don't know. that someone can tell? that someone has the... discipline? dedication? work ethic... to achieve something that is actually impressive precisely because it required all that hard work.
?
anyway... i'm sure i'll learn a lot... and have a bit of fun. perhaps it is that... i can just relax into making progress and let him worry about managing the inter-personal whatevers that other people will inevitably bring into the room...
chemistry... coming together. not sure what to say... putting in the work... lots of bits and pieces clicking into place. even the odd 'oh. it's that easy. not this complicated thing i was trying to do over here...' getting better at reading the names and putting together bits and pieces... oh... ethanoic acid, i remember that. oh, its a weak acid. oh it's water soluble because it's an acid / it's got a H bonded to an O... stuff is... starting to integrate in a pleasing way...
past tests are... the odd question it is like WFT!!! but still... i suppose that is only fair... that a few of the marks be like that... i guess... and i suppose the curriculum may have altered a bit over the years... hard to say how much parts of it are 'i freaking told you 100 times' questions... some of them are just... odd... weird. like... i really wouldn't know what to say except that i've read the model answers. like 'what is an orbital'. a region of space with a 90% chance of finding an electron. huh. define an 'atom'... lol... they did say to practice past test... not quite 100 times, but fairly close. so... make sure i can get the answers out to them fairly smoothly for sure... couple weeks to go...
:)
Posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 20:51:26
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 12, 2014, at 4:01:43
got an email from my advisor... about quitting, actually... that it's been a while since i've got him anything... that the field has moved on... etc...
good timing, actually. i need to apply for that job... if a publication could come of it... then maybe i could do a three paper option? i've got one paper already... even if the field has moved on that doesn't negate it. ? perhaps.
anyway... will deal with this after chemistry exam.
things are sort of coming together... still... i really hope i do well. really. really really really really. it means something to people. i don't know that people know that i have the capacity to work hard anymore. it will show them... if i can...
i fear... maybe medicine will not be for me. the labs thing. labs are basically... a big open plan workspace environment. and i am not particularly functional in that kind of a set-up. i struggle with it in the gym. i struggle with it in the library. i... can work with focused others around me... but when people get socializy tones to their voices and discussion is about other things... that isn't settling to me. it is disturbing.
and medical school will be... years (and years) of that, i suppose. years of practicing taking classmates blood pressures etc where what is helpful to settle them is joking about tv or whatever... whereas what is settling to me is... professionalism. and quiet.
i do think... that there are rather a lot more people like me than are prepared to admit to it... that people stress themselves out putting on a happy / social face because they think they have to. i do think... that i could be useful in offering a perspective from within... to help make the service a better place for people like me... for clients who value privacy. etc... but i don't see how someone like me can... get there. given the way things are.
and partly i get it... if there are cadaver dissections (don't even know if they are part of the curriculum anymore, actually) then only one or two can actually do that... the others will be standing around... yapping about this and that, most probably. i, uh, i don't know. i don't know what to say... either way... A's give... options. and less than those... take away. i think it might be possible to pull an A- if I do really (really really very) well in the exam (even then probably with a little help from scaling). If I get a B... well... it's all over, really. I... don't quite know what to say. I mean... I'll continue on, of course... But this was the course, really. I... Don't know what to say...
Actually... It is perhaps not that bad... But harder to make a case for my needing lab accommodations if a poor grade there doesn't stick out as an obvious anomaly...
Fortunately, I enjoy it. Things are... Hard. Tricky to understand. I haven't had that in a while... Putting in the thinking time... Still not quite getting it... Almost within reach but not quite. And the calculator becoming more automatic. Hard becoming... Easy. Really very. And having a... Very different conception of the way an aspect of the world works. A little model... An equation... A calculation... It's... Lovely, really. Nice and neat. Because we are first years ahaha.
My calculator doesn't have Int. Dammit. I think if I do physical chem next semester I need a new calculator already.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:10:14
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 20:51:26
well, I'd need 95% on the exam to get an A- for the course so... Unless they scale the crap out of it, I really can't see that happening. Time to put it aside and just focus on doing what I can... Just trying to come to terms with the disappointment so it won't hit me as hard. 'Well, what did you expect?' Will be what people will say. 'We told you so. See?'
Uh huh.
Labs... Not for me. Not good enough to take that hit.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:16:44
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:10:14
which is of course why i'll need to do physical chem next semester if i manage to get 80+ for the exam. to get labs properly sorted *before* next year.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:18:03
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:16:44
it wasn't supposed to be about the labs... it was supposed to be about the math.
labs are supposed to be so easy... they're supposed to be the free marks that bump up your grade.
uh huh.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:41:13
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:18:03
which, in a way, is a lot worse, really. i mean, turns out that there are areas of science that don't actually require all that much math (medicine being one of them). but there isn't an awful lot that doesn't require labs. unless it is heavy on the math, ha. oh, the irony. i guess it is a way of selecting for the happy social people... able to bubble along innocuously enough in the face of incomprehension... doing a little of what they are told... a lot of just following along... i guess that's an important skill, that. will get you through much of life. tis fairly... low maintenence, i suppose. or something. whatever it is... that i don't understand... can't do... almost by definition, really. oh yeah, that's why i get disability. huh.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 18, 2014, at 23:44:28
In reply to Re: abt, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2014, at 21:41:13
don't hit community mental health nurses. or they'll phone the police, you'll get handcuffed, you'll get to spend half the day down at the station being pat searched and dna'd and handprinted, and then you'll get to spend another half day next week only to be told you need to come back to court at a later date.
i don't think this country actually has any psychiatrists. just a bunch of people to shuffle you this way and that and discharge you when you start to see through that situation...
i said to the guy... i would have stopped hitting her (on the arm) if i'd have seen her flinch or... well... any sort of human response, really. but she didn't... and so... i just kept on hitting her. till i got tired and curled up into a little ball. then after some careful deliberation she was like... 'sound the alarm'. so the alarm got sounded...
i don't expect i'll come out with a record... but i shouldn't get cocky... camus... something something about appropriate attitude and i'm not sure i can entirely get into the spirit of it all...
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 0:22:08
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 18, 2014, at 23:44:28
and they'll steal your ipod
Posted by Partlycloudy on June 19, 2014, at 6:38:01
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 18, 2014, at 23:44:28
Oh, I'm sorry you had this particular lesson. What a rotten way to spend an afternoon.
There has been a lot of discussion locally (in my area) about how underfunded and misunderstood mental health is. Some places are pretty good about it, and treat us with dignity and respect. Most other places are just not prepared to "deal" with us.
I hope today's a much better day.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 19:29:14
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by Partlycloudy on June 19, 2014, at 6:38:01
Thank you.
I think the situation here is fairly different...
I say this because they really don't seem to be run off their feet. I mean... I'd been there for a few appointments now... Maybe... 7 times? There was NEVER more than two other people in the wait room... Often there wasn't anybody else waiting at all...
One of the receptionists seemed to have trouble coping when someone arrived and the phone went at the same time... One can only suppose... Because she wasn't used to it. Sitting in the wait room... Can hear chatter coming back from the communal workspace... Health workers chatting about writing poems to try and win tickets to the Ellen show... Stuff like that.
I think the situation is more about it being a hell of a lot cheaper to hire nurses to do things for the most part. And so... You have a bunch of old school nurses running the show. You have two gatekeepers (minimum) before you get to see a doc. I think the situation is that you are supposed to... Show appropriate respect for the fact that it is silly, really, that they need to get a doc to sign off on this and that because clearly they know everything and they are the real movers really.
I've been in meetings with psychiatrists where nurses were suggesting medications... Expressing disapproval of a doc's decision to trust me with small amounts of benzos. I've been in meetings with psychiatrists where nurses would barely let me get a word out - they thought that it was their job to talk to the psychiatrist and tell them what should be done about me.
The docs... Well... Best I can figure... They suck it up for 2 years. At which point citizenship comes through for them. At which point... Hello Australia. Or Canada. Or f*ck*ng whatever.
I'm just not appropriately... Supplicant. I don't come with an army of people who are appropriately supplicant on my behalf. I can't communicate with them, for the most part, because they are fairly full of assuming that I'm so stupid to have not thought of this and that... Because they are fairly quick to lump me into whatever simplistic f*ck*ng stereotypes they've got and tell the f*ck*ng world their theory of 'what is wrong with me'. I mean... They probably did some weekend workshop course so they'd know - right? That makes them the expert?
They aren't all like this. You can tell in the first few minutes whether a person is actually 'assessing' you or whether they've set to 'obstructing' you. She was a f*ck*ng rock, alright. So... There wasn't anything to be done, really. I just lost it... Needed to let off steam. Screaming would probably have been the better strategy in hindsight. The f*ck*ng crazy thing about this all is that she informed the police that I didn't need a psychiatric assessment. Because here's the thing... You don't get a psychiatric assessment... Unless the nurses assess that you need one. And her coming out and repeatedly telling me to 'go to my gp' (when I don't f*ck*ng have a gp)... Is her bringing her top game. Clearly.
But now, of course, no psychiatrist can see me. Because idiot nurse commands it so.
Oh, the savings are considerable. We have the highest rate of suicide (in some respects) in the world. It isn't that people don't ask for help... It is that we are sure to hire people who can't f*ck*ng well listen. We have the highest rates of domestic violence in the world. Want to know one of the things that keeps the reporting of that down? The f*ck*ng inability of health workers to keep confidential information confidential. E.g., receptionists big f*ck*ng mouths at reception. Keeping people silently abused for years to come... Speak out and... Well... People can't f*ck*ng organize their way out of a paper bag with respect to getting you (and your kids?) out of there... Yak yak yakkity yak going on making the whole thing f*ck*ng worse.
F*ck.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 19:42:20
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 19:29:14
i went to the center associated with the city mission, today. the receptionist was... professional.
well... actually... she did insist on reading my address out loud so anyone in the near vicinity now knows where i live... but apart from that.
same deal... have to spend however long with a nurse before i get to see the doc. i suspect the aim of it, really, is to reduce the amount of time that people spend with the doc. the assumption is that people go to the doc in order to get as much tlc out of it as possible... and most people will yakkity yak yak and it takes someone a bit special to get out the heart of it. (like how the police can spend hours with people to get a few sentences of statement). they probably found that the more touching the nurse does the less needy the client is when they see the doc. that's probably what all the unnecessary groping is about.
i mean... this doesn't need to be assessed - right? law of averages?
anyway... i said i didn't much like to be touched. i have information about my height etc so it doesn't need to be collected again. that so long as the nurse wasn't going to get upset that i didn't want them to touch me... whatever.
and of course this is information i tell the receptionist where anybody who cares to can have a good old listen in.
oh, yeah, it's called 'being friendly'
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 20:07:36
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 19:42:20
i'm sorry.
i'm just... not alright, really. i'm not really alright.
it isn't just me... one of the cops tried to help me... well... they established fairly swiftly early on in my 'processing' that i didn't have any priors and i was calm and rational and... well... in the strangest way... we all sort of clicked. maybe because they weren't all yakkity yak yak about sh*t.
i mean... all i needed was a f*ck*ng pawprint on a form. i didn't even need to *see* a doc. simplest of things... the cops got to see just how f*ck*ng busy they all were when they were seeing how many people wanted to get superinvolved in the whole 'situation'. see just how run off the feet the docs were... how a 'yes, this person has been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder' (was all the testimony on the form amounted to) wasn't likely to be setting a bad precedent with respect to creating masses of through traffic for them in future...
hearing... all the f*ck*ng excuses about why this could not be done... for a person with documented communication issues... we discharged her (to the care of nobody) she should see a gp (she doesn't have a gp)...
it isn't that they are too busy.
if they were too busy the fastest thing of all would have been for the receptionist to say to the doc 'hey, there's someone popped into the wait room saying it is important and they won't take up more than 10 minutes of your time'. the doc could have arrived to reception 'what do you want'? I could have said 'you guys are the only health people who have my records of my diagnosis. please can you sign the form to say it's true i have this diagnosis?' they wouldn't have even needed to look it up since yak yak yakkity yak everyone knows it's true about me. it wouldn't have even been any kind of a breech of my confidentiality since there wasn't any f*ck*ng body else in the wait room.
done.
but no... reception has to tell nurse. who tells nurse who tells nurse. who tells reception to... who tells me to... then reception tells nurse.... then after a while nurse comes out. only to find that nurse can't help me because nurse can't sign form. at which point nurse tells me that i've been discharged and i should go to my gp. at which point i say that while i've tried to find a suitable gp i don't have one yet and finding one and their retrieving my notes will take time... it'sa process and nobdoy f*ck*ng helped me with that when they decided to just f*ck*ng drop me by discharging me. at which point she tells me to go to a gp... at which point i say 'what did i just tell you about the gp thing' at which point she tells me a p-doc can't see me because i've been discharged... at which point i start hitting her repeatedly for being a willfully obnoxious pig.
we mustn't forget the point of the mental health system. helping nurses feel more powerful since... well... since they are just so very much cheaper than doctors (even when they crap about more than twice as much).
it's a f*ck*ng joke.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 21:22:05
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 20:07:36
actually, after some thought, that's not quite fair of me.
we are required (by law) to be on the electrol roll (voting, jury duty).
the electrol roll is public information. you can pay $80 or whatever to access it.
so i guess that means your address is public information, even if you chose for it to be unlisted with directory.
that's why you have to change your name if you really want certain people not to find you. and then be careful to cover the paper trail of 'formerly known as'.
whole thing's a joke, really.
with the domestic violence thing... i guess a huge part of that is that it only counts if the community doesn't approve of it. and thus... making what happened as broadly known as possible gives the community the opportunity to take a stand. and if not... well... that's democracy for ya. i mean... that's the problem with me / people like me... not socially embedded. and if not... who the f*ck cares. and the cost of that is... being trampled. people can see you are an easy target. if they choose to feel victimised by you and they are the kinds of people who need the whole 'any friend of mine must take a stand against my enemies!' then i'm a low cost - easy target. standing up for me is... risking the wrath of the group. and not winning you any friends more generally. because people don't value things like... fairness. or honesty. or anything like that. what most people seem to value is... people who are prepared to be unfair and dishonest... insofar as it serves THEM. and that is why you be friends with those people... because the potential cost of not being friends with them means they might employ those things against you on someone elses behalf...
seems that the cops didn't have any choice but to charge me since they had several witness statements. the will of the group...
politics...
i don't have the... ability to hold onto longer term goals in the face of... something. i probably could have got the nurse to have got the doc if only i had the ability to play smile and coo with her for a while first. without that... given that she was incapable of doing the 'repeat back to me what i just said' thing... no good was ever going to come of it.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 22:20:56
In reply to Re: today's lesson, posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 21:22:05
sorry people...
i think i will do the health science option for next year.
best case... i get into medicine because of it. because it is about picking the load lightening options that genuinely are load lightening. and labs... aren't fun for me. tutorial discussions (do your reading and say one sensible thing which shows you have thought *about* the reading) is much (much much) more of a load lightener for me. especially since it typically only requires (when pushed) a two minute perusal of the abstract... i just have... lots of hooks to hang things off. new variations on 'simple titrations'... not so much.
worst case... i don't get into medicine. in which case i can see about switching to bio-med *at that point*. sure it will add another half a semester or whatever to my degree, but i'm not exactly in a hurry. i suppose it is possible that the health science stuff turns out to be more interesting than i give it credit for... and maybe i'll learn to love the satellite campus i have to trek out to once per week (not likely). but the sports people live out there... so... i kinda want to see what facilities they have out there... force plates and the like... how much people are coming from sports sci vs engineering...
anyway... chemistry ho!
Posted by Partlycloudy on June 19, 2014, at 23:00:19
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 22:20:56
You handled the entire nurse / doctor / police snafu so well.
Being acclimated to the system means a lot. And being able to refocus straight away is really admirable. I'm up at night because my brain refuses to let go of the smallest thing today.
Bad dreams the night before that wouldn't let go of me all day.
I'm just trying to say that you are (have become? Are showing yourself as) so adaptable. That is such a great trait to have. Being smart helps, obviously helps. But being able to shift your goals according to your strengths is something that frankly, many of us lack.
OK, so you have a fan club.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 23:50:39
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by Partlycloudy on June 19, 2014, at 23:00:19
aw. thanks for being here pc. hugs if safe. i kinda feel like a hug.
i... don't suppose being charged with assault signifies that i handled things well :(
i, uh, don't quite know what to say. i feel... a little guilty that i don't feel remorse. but that seems to be about as close as i can get to actually feeling remorse. i'm still trying to refocus, honestly. so it has taken a couple days... maybe not so bad... i have been working pretty intensely and steadily on chem... maybe it was time for a little bit of a break. i'll get back to it tonight...
i just checked out the health science pathway again... the first semester paper (at least) couldn't have been any more of an easy pass for me than if i had gotten someone to design a paper to be just that. it is basically stuff about health systems. very much analytic philosophy (what is 'efficiency' what is 'health'? who gets to decide? etc) / social policy / law. i'd imagine it would be hard work for 18 year olds... developing... the idea of trade-offs and problems with measurement and different people having different objectives... but an interesting new content to be philosophical about (like how i got to tutor 'politics and rights' to a bunch of australian lawyers and learned a lot about the legal system in australia while helping them develop their notion of 'rights' in more philosophical directions...) more of that... except they were second years...
second semester... social psychology and another paper that looks a little like the above... but a little less... uh... thought out. need to write about either gender or age inequalities (yawn) and propose a way of improving the system in that direction (yawn again. i'm sure they'll basically tell us what to think - basically tell us to think whatever new policy just got through / is on its way through / get us motivated to work in aged care!! or, uh... maternity?? i don't f*ck*ng know..)
anyway... the point is... they only involve 2 one hour lectures per week and a one hour tutorial. so... three contact hours. if i do bio-med... each paper is 4 contact hours and a 3 hour lab every second week. i guess... a bunch of people get to be all like 'i got a scholarship for high school physics so i can do the physics paper and do no work and still pull an A'. i guess... i sort of get to do the same thing... the readings / writing that length essays... really won't take me very much time at all.
the point is: to focus on the overlapping 4 (which is involved in my ranking). The fillers... are just about your making the overall cutoff (B+/A- overall GPA somewhere around there).
I... did want to do physics... but i get to do physics next semester. so... uh... so there. and as for biochemistry... if i don't get a place in medicine... then i can switch back to a science degree (bio-med even) the following year...
so... all's well. i... i'm grateful that i'm learning about equations now and i get more practice with them next semester. and i suppose... uh... i'll be really grateful to have not quite so many labs next year... a lot more hours in bed... with a book... ha.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 20:58:22
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 19, 2014, at 23:50:39
chemistry is just... too much, really. the idea seems to be to test the chemistry knowledge by requiring you to apply different / novel mathematical procedures to it... and i don't have any mathematical knowledge except for what i need to kludge together in order to solve past problems... and that doesn't seem to be helping me solve other ones so... i'm just kind of... overwhelmed by it all, really. and of course... they told me so.
i don't suppose it matters. all that mattered was organic... and i got some confidence with that, yeah. not sure how i'll do on that in the exam... just feeling... a bit burned out by it all, really. started really enjoying reading again... for the first time since... well... since my very first year at uni as an undergrad... all the way back when i was majoring in english. i mean... waking up at 3am and reading a couple chapters...
started reading a bit of animal biology, too. just to remind myself... that things will come right. that i will turn out to be good at something. that i know how to study for that. most of it is... seems to be a fairly thin attempt to disguise a human biology course. i mean... there are token bits about how this and that animal does this and that... but mostly... they actually use humans as the example case. so we do tissue types and organ systems. a little comparative... but basically... a primer for next year, indeed. and of course... i've done HAPS already for sports science... more musculo-skeletal than we'll do... stuff on neural and muscular tissue... cardio-respiratory system (the sports people wanted to call it)... i know i'm good at that stuff... and digestion, too. nutrition... of course.
it was odd, though... reading some of the cell stuff. different things seemed... salient. meant something to me. stuff on surface area of cells and diffusion and... well... i have learned a lot in chemistry after all. and conceptually... it is very interesting, indeed. it is just... well... designed for kids with years and years of science and math behind them... and for me... it is just all a bit too much.
i feel... hurty. it isn't just me... i don't understand why community mental health receptionists / nurses are... some of the people with the poorest communication skills that there are... i mean... how did that get to be? is it managers? that the people making the hiring decisions don't have to work with them? that the whole point is to hire people who most people will... quietly run the hell away from? is that the idea?
i'm so... confused.
Posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 21:08:47
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 20:58:22
maybe i will end up doing law... if i don't get into med. maybe i'll forget about bio-med (which might turn out to be the end of the road for me GPA-wise)... do physiology... do a double degree with law... patient law... that's a big deal... or... criminal. forensics... it is odd... but in many respects i do get on pretty good with homeless people etc.
i also... uh... really genuinely don't have moral qualms about a defendants job being to defend their client as best they can (including utilizing obscure technicalities) and with respect to guilty or innocent... that's for juries to decide.
city mission...
only trouble is it is bringing back stuff... bringing back stuff... drug contact stuff... being noticed by people... picking up what's locally on offer... this... isn't so good for me.
i better not get community service. sigh. only thing potentially worse would be being required to attend drug rehab...
Posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 21:34:51
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 21:08:47
my bad... youth...
Posted by alexandra_k on June 24, 2014, at 21:09:35
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 20, 2014, at 21:34:51
well... that was pretty crap. something something about diversion. i don't even know what that means. something something about how i'll probably have to do something... help clean up a school or write her a letter of apology 'i'm so sorry your listening skills suck so bad'. they said i kicked her which i didn't. they said i wanted a doctors form signed (she didn't know that - she never even asked me what i wanted to see the doctor about before deciding that i couldn't). but... whatever.
apparently diversion might not be an option. something something about how it might be outside police jurisdiction to do that since she was a government worker. in which case i'll get a forensic lawyer next time. couple weeks.. go back..
Posted by alexandra_k on June 24, 2014, at 21:15:54
In reply to Re: refocus..., posted by alexandra_k on June 24, 2014, at 21:09:35
the problem is... people who aren't appropriately sensitive. i can't... i can't deal with them. and there are an awful lot of them in mental health in particular. and when you need someone to be appropriately sensitive to you for a bit... and these other people who aren't... and the people who aren't are the gatekeepers.... and they will never let me past. never. that always becomes their main aim in life. to stop me. if they can't help me they'll sure as hell make it so nobody else is allowed to. they'll move heaven and earth to do so.
this dynamic... for me... always.
those whose very job it is to help... are those who i need most protection from. mother and co. community mental health.
bitch woman. i hate her so.
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