![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 203 to 227 of 495. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on July 24, 2014, at 15:56:23
In reply to Re: yay..., posted by alexandra_k on July 23, 2014, at 0:02:40
loss of faith.
so... the first year biology co-ordinator thinks i'm an idiot. she was like 'so, have you read your manual because there is lots about labs in there' and 'no, it doesn't' when i pointed out that one of the sentences stopped mid-word never to be resumed... and i had to go through that with her mighty slowly...
i said 'if labs don't work out for me then i'm going to have to go and do something else'. to... test the waters. you know. she almost said 'yes - you will'. but she bit her lip. so... yeah. that's the general attitude.
the kids who rock up to lab without having done any of the pre-reading at all... who smile and flirt and copy and laugh their way through labs to earn (actual average grade for labs) an A+ for the laboratory component...
these are the people who are the future of biology. the students who get an A+ on a test where the average class grade is a B... We don't want them. I mean... Who cares about theory - right? It's all about having fun in the labs...
Apparently different people have different 'learning styles'. That's how come some people talk right the way through lectures... That's how come some people tap tap tap their pencils and incessantly kick the desk in front of them. I mean... I'd be tempted to say 'oh yeah, are they really learning?' But their laboratory grade speaks for itself.
My B+ doesn't mean sh*t. Because most people who got that... Got it in virtue of not failing any of the theory and getting an average grade (A+ equivalent) for the laboratory component.
So...
Becuase of idiosyncratic things about the way they choose to break down their grading distribution..
Becuase biology has decided that the actual graded component of labs is supposed to be a surprise... Hence there are issues about my attending a laboratory in advance. Because they have decided you actually arent supposed to know what you are doing before you 'just get in there girl! hurry up already!'...
Biology is not for me.
The university is upfront abuot how on disability grounds you can request a separate examination room. I've never seen the point in that. The exam is invigilated and people have to be silent. It is the one f*ck*ng time of the year that people are made to be silent (which is probably why a lot of people bomb exams because they freak out about the silent).
And what of learning styles then? Clue: F*ck off about your learning styles... Focus on your EXAMINATION CONDITIONS. They set the ideal / optimal learning styles. And with respect to that ideal standard you have fixed... Some people are simply disruptive.
But it does... Perhaps... Set precedence. For me to ask for a separate testing room for labs. Since they are supposed to be exams like that. I want a quiet room, then.
I don't suppose I'l get it. Because that costs money. I'll need to be independently supervised.
Too many people. 200+ students. Who the f*ck cares... Give us the EASY students. The ones who don't give a f*ck. We'll herd them through...
Education. Huh.
Methinks the sophists got to that...
Posted by alexandra_k on July 24, 2014, at 16:07:52
In reply to Re: yay..., posted by alexandra_k on July 24, 2014, at 15:56:23
oh... so apparently the medical science course doesn't have assessed labs.
though, actually, that wasn't entirely clear from the person who told me that. the 'dissection' component wasn't assessed...
i suspect this is, yet again, a case of how they think they are 'starting out easy and training you up to do stuff that is hard' but what is hard for others is easy for me and vice versa.the problem is...
herding them through. i don't herd through so good. so...
i won't just turn and walk away... because none of this actually makes a damn of difference.
this is going to be one of those things... will take however many years just for me to get to talk to the right people in a conversation where they are somehow primed not to relate to me like i'm an idiot. to even understand... what it is that things are supposed to be about... in order to make an informed decision about whether i can do that / whether it is worth my fighting to get to do that... etc.
i think the world is f*ck*d up and screwy.
i'm coming to learn why i'm so bad at asking for help. now that i've started askign for help i've come to learn that people don't / won't pull through on that. they will chastise and blame you for not asking for help... but if you point out that you did ask for help and they didn't provide appropriate help... well...
they will offer things nobody needs. a quiet examination room. they won't offer things that people can actually use. apparently... people in wheelchairs can't even get their classes scheduled in a wheelchair friendly room. they'll just tell them to listen to the lectures online. but then lecturers won't put all their stuff online because they want to focus their teaching on the lazy students who won't be bothered coming to class if they think they can get all the material later (those are the important students, you see, the ones who do really f*ck*ng well in labs all naturally miraculously talented like with no preparation or forwards planning at all!) and some people in biology simply won't refrain from going on and on and on about red-green contrast stuffs in total resregard of people with that form of colour blindness...
the world is b*llsh*t.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 25, 2014, at 19:50:35
In reply to Re: yay..., posted by alexandra_k on July 24, 2014, at 16:07:52
well, there goes week one. feel like i've been rolled over by a steam train... or whatever that saying is, i forget.
it is a shock to the system having 9am class and then 4pm class... not used to getting up so early... not used to finishing up so late... i think i develop a different relationship to sleep when i have a time to get up by... i think once i get used to the routine objectively i do better for it... and i simply can't manage to develop the routine when i don't have scheduled classes... but it is a bit of a shock to the system while i try to adapt.
law is... well, nobody else seems to take much in the way of notes... but she gets through a great deal of content and i don't see how else we are supposed to learn it... so... i'm getting 3-4 pages in 50 minutes. if my memory serves me right... that will become more like 6... and, yeah, i'll manage to crank out around 12 pages in the 2 hour exam at the end of the semester. dealing with hand cramps and so on... my words are tripping over each other. ha. i have learned... my verbal writing skills have deteriorated through disuse. that is... surprising... but not surprising... i feel happy for it. i thought it would be so... i'll be fast to pick things back up. glad for the course.
biology is actually hardest because... yak yak yakkity yak right the way through lectures. people like to talk. i think a bunch of kids are drawn to biology because it seems easier than other classes. tis true that biology isn't hard, really. that isn't the point. it is more... the masses and masses and masses of information that you are expected to retain. we've already gotten through quite a lot of content indeed... cell types and anatomy of all kinds of critters... she's great for trying to find pretty pictures... but you have to go pretty micro indeed (nano in fact ahahaha) for flukes and co... parasitic stuff... ik.
my faith has been restored in the disability people... i went and... said about how i wanted the opportunity to present my case properly before any kind of irrevokable 'no' came out... he said they were really not at that point yet... and... well... anyway... i said my piece. and he was able to rephrase so I know he gets me. i felt properly heard. i feel calmer.
meeting with nurse from the new place didn't go so well. she is a nice person etc etc etc but may as well be from mars. she says the right kinds of things... about it being good that i talk about stuff etc... but i think we are fundamentally quite different people, really.
it is hard... i know that people have more empathy for me if they think that i am broken or defective somehow so i don't get the hang of the social thing. they pity me. want to help. they feel a lot less empathy if they think that i opt out because i... look down on it somehow. because i think people are making happy puppy noises... that i could make (by putting on a great fake effort). that i think that... other people are fake with it. which they are (which i have seen around me). people be OH MY GOD SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU! then hearing them 'OH MY GOD WHAT A BITCH!' once the person is out of hearing. or 'you are discharged'. or... whatever...
labs... one thing to think I can't do it (though issues of competency are raised). another thing to think I have some kind of... moral objection about the independent work that is really group work that is really most gregarious gets most attention most flirty biggest eyes extracts the right answer from the tutors and distributes it as they see fit... kind of an opting out. less empathy.
i'm not sure what to do about htat.
i was thinking... maybe it is better if i don't go back and talk with her anymore...
but probably... it is better to see if i can learn to comunicate with her. comprimise. something like that. it is hard. i think the truth is probably some kind of middle way... i do find it hard... because i don't much care about being friends with / being popular with the 18 year old first years... but there are settings where i do care. philosophy conferences. etc. and there... social anxiety issues... social blunders... do ... prevent me. upset me. inhibit me. confound me. whatever.
anyway...
i wish i were better at physics. i like phycisists. they are good people. i get them. our lecturer was joking about 'finnish national repulsive force' and he showed us a pic of finnish people cuing for a bus. distributed. not clumped. he said it was because they hated one another and didn't want to talk. he said he comes all the way across the other side of the world to get away from finnish people. worst day if his life was to discover a finnish mathemetician 2 floors down. ahahahahahahaha. i get physicists. the class is... most distributed. most quiet. i wish i were better at physics.
anyway... back to the wormy worms... sigh. and i should get started on my physics assignment.
happy.
mostly. exhausted. but happy.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 26, 2014, at 16:55:19
In reply to Re: phew, posted by alexandra_k on July 25, 2014, at 19:50:35
i feel bad for how much i grumble and moan and complain about the way other people teach their classes or whatever...
a huge part of it is coming from fear. fear that i won't do well. and perhaps... excuses as to why i didn't. it always feels a bit like they must have just thrown them down the stairs and seen which flew the furtherest... when you didn't do well.
actually... that's not quite true... i knew i f*ck*d up aspects of chemistry before getting grades back...
i just...
partly... i am getting worse, i think. the sensory things. i've always had trouble going to the movies... because people can't sit still / be quiet. i remember in canberra... having trouble with public lectures. because the benefactor people would bring their non-academic partners and again, people can't sit still / be quiet.
biology people can't sit still / be quiet. not the first year ones in animal biology, any way.
i see that the problem with OY1 isn't the serious OY1 contenders... the problem is that they don't offer proper lecture streams... that's why the day i went... chemistry at 8am was pretty good / quiet. cell biology at 9am... more (bio) people turned up... noisier... lots of 'sssssssssh' from those who got their *ss*s there for 7.45... lots of complaining that the group of 6 can't all be together right in the middle of the theatre so they go off to the overflow room...
i guess the idea is... that the kids won't notice, really. i mean... they just came from high school. it will still be a step up from that.
and i... sort of slip through the cracks with my undergraduate degree (first degree) having been completed too long ago for them to consider... for my last degree (masters) having been completed too long ago for them to consider... 2005... it isn't like i've been in the non-academic work force since then forgetting how to study... i've been auditing graduate level courses in philosophy and science over in the US etc etc etc... but no... i have to do a foundations year (this year) before next year... OY1... cluttered up with people who can't sit down and be quiet yet. because their 'learning style' (actually, their 'failure to learn style') involves them whispering all the way through the lecture and kicking the seat in front of them.
sigh.
only 1 year and a bit to go...
at least labs are streamed next year. i wonder what the health science kids are like? my guess? they will probably be... about the same as the biologists.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 26, 2014, at 17:00:56
In reply to Re: phew, posted by alexandra_k on July 26, 2014, at 16:55:19
i just don't understand how these kids get to be at university. when they can't sit still and be quiet. i don't understand why it is that the lecturer doesn't say 'only rule of my classroom is not to disturb / interfere with other people learning'. then you just need to pounce on the very first instance of chatter... 'if you want to have a conversation please can you take it outside because it is disruptive to other people who are trying to learn' and... well... i've never had a problem with students talking after that.
so... it isn't that these kids can't be quiet.
they are quiet for exams.
invigilators don't invigilate properly 'you can leave early but ONLY IF YOU AREN'T DISTURBING OTHERS STILL WORKING'. tell them they aren't allowed to ask the row to move so they can get out... students will accept that if they are told.
i don't understand...
no consideration for others...
i don't understand.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 27, 2014, at 21:35:12
In reply to Re: phew, posted by alexandra_k on July 26, 2014, at 17:00:56
it is a beautiful day. the sun is shining and my room is really wonderfully warm...
i just had a potter in the gym... some delicious coffee...
the kids on my floor are good kids, really. i'm just a grumpy grump grump. i expect... some well intentioned matching WAS attempted... just in case... they might draw me out of my shell or something... develop a motherly instinct or something... they do seem to have mostly got the hang of going out...
life is good.
law is good. physics is... enjoyable, really. you let the hammer go at quarter to so it will keep going straight.... ahahahaha....
tapeworms are... well... gross, really. but whatever... only another week of that before we get to move out the water, i think... reptiles or something. the quirks of breathing out of the water and locomoting...
life it good. really.
looks like my contract made it through :)
worst case... i get to do law. then i can apply to med school as a graduate.
i guess...
life is good.
(of course law is actually hard to get into... but the whole second half of the course is basically philosophy of law so i... really don't see how i can go wrong...)
or sports science... there is always sport science...
life is good.
i also... got eschalon book II. which was perhaps bad of me... but perhaps not. if there is one thing i've perhaps learned from chemistry it is that... diversity can be good. having bits of different things can do. not quite a work-life balance... more of a work-work balance. having different things on the go. especially for... calculations. when you are tired and sick and it feels like reading isn't making sense... is just going straight in one ear and out the other... that simply isn't true for something like law or for stuff in biology. i've learned vast tracks of stuff for exams in that sort of altered state of consciousness. that state... simply isn't productive for math or physics or chemistry, though. i really did find that. just get to a point and ENOUGH! just can't do it anymore... the very best thing to do is to... go do something else. like... law. or biology.
eschalon book II... not entirely sure what to say... i guess... there isn't much harm in having an... escape hatch? not sure what to say...
i actually didn't get study done over the weekend... much. wrote up all my biology notes to a manageable form for the exam cram... but that's all... got started on my physics assignment. okay, so i did some. but i didn't exactly get stuck in the way i thought i should.
but now i feel... good. refreshed.
observing a lab tomorrow. then doing the lab the next day. it isn't assessed is only reason i get to observe. because it is in the first two weeks and people are still finalizing enrollments so they can't have any assessment in that period...
it'll be okay.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 27, 2014, at 22:00:37
In reply to Re: phew, posted by alexandra_k on July 27, 2014, at 21:35:12
and it is winter. that is the point. middle of winter. *this* is the subtropical climate they came for...
so very glad to be up north and not to have gone down south... i did have romantic ideals about the student town... the reality (poverty in particular) would have been much much much much much harder to bear.
and the rowdy students attracted *because* it is notoriously a rowdy student town... however much of it there is here (and really - not so very much as i incessantly grump about) it would be a lot worse down there...
the weather really affects me. i remember being so very happy in canberra because of sunny sunny sunny every day is sunny. the levels of light... such a difference to quality of life. here is pretty sunny. sunny sunny... fluffy white clouds that zip about and the odd 20 minute torrential rain. by odd i mean like... one or twice or three times a day... only an issue if you get caught in it... i've been lucky...
i am very lucky indeed.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 28, 2014, at 20:40:52
In reply to Re: phew, posted by alexandra_k on July 27, 2014, at 22:00:37
so i got to observe today. it was very different from chemistry. relaxed about lab coats and comings and goings. can keep your bag with you. the door is open and you can go out for water and stuff.
very structured time-wise. screens up and the demonstrations are displayed onto the screens. people do seem to work pretty closely in pairs... but i got told that my lab won't be full so i can work by myself if i like...
it was wonderful to be able to sit back and observe. get used to the temperature and the lights. get used to the accent of the demonstrator. see how closely people sit. how much they work independently vs together. how they get the attention of the demonstrators. how insistent is appropriate. all that stuff... that's the stuff that is hard for me.
i don't think i learned much of anything of the stuff that they were supposed to be learning in lab. the name of the structures... too busy processing all that other stuff... but at least i could just focus on all that other stuff and relax a bit since the pressure was off since i wasn't being assessed on other bits...
the worm was gross to start... but people seemed to... habituate. eventually. tis kinda cool all the internal structure stuff. could actually see lots from the demonstrators one... the issue seems to be about cutting lightly enough to scrape the external layer away while leaving the internal organs intact. most people are too heavy handed and cut bits out / off / crush things up...
i wonder if i can get permission to observe other labs... i didn't even look at the quiz they took at the end... or learn any of the stuff that the lab was supposed to be about... all the other stuff... is sort of... a precondition for my learning all those other things, i think. anyway... i guess... can but ask. see how tomorrow goes, anyway. if things go the better for it.
so happy they really are nothing like chemistry.
Posted by PartlyCloudy on July 29, 2014, at 8:26:09
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 28, 2014, at 20:40:52
We did dissections in high school biology (boggles my mind now). There were two tracks for education then in Ontario: a 4 year programme for those not intending to go on to uni, and a 5 year programme which was geared to preparing kids for uni. I was in the 5 year programme but didn't make it to the last year, because Life.
But Biology was a quick, early morning class, and pulling animals apart were the only labs in which we were not partnered up. The further up the evolutionary scale we got, the queasier I became. I'm glad you get a chance to observe. I know that would have helped me. In a lot of ways it seemed sometimes like a "scare the kids" class, rather than educational.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 3:08:58
In reply to Re: lab, posted by PartlyCloudy on July 29, 2014, at 8:26:09
well, that went well. i actually... enjoyed it.
i made a mess of my worm, unfortunately. actually... both of them :( not entirely sure why. I WAS really careful. But the scissors were blunt and I couldn't seem to pierce the eipdermis to start with... And blunt ended so couldn't get a tip in under... And the worm was fresh and the structures seemed to tear rather than separate...
But other people managed, so I don't know.
I wonder if I can take my own small pair of nail scissors...
Anyway... Nothing irrevokable. Could draw the demonstrators... The hydra under microscope was really cool. Pretty. Tiny little animal... I'm kind of looking forward to things getting bigger. The worm didn't seem gross for long... The worst part was picking it up to start with. Then it was okay... I wish I hadn't made a mess of it :(
Posted by Partlycloudy on July 30, 2014, at 5:42:13
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 3:08:58
No scalpel? We had at least Exacto knives. And those useless bandage cutters. That sounds like a great way to smear a worm. It was by far the most difficult for our class.
Oh, and pins for the wax trays to keep the bits out of the way.
In my day, at least.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 19:17:30
In reply to Re: lab, posted by Partlycloudy on July 30, 2014, at 5:42:13
we had a little metal tray a bit bigger than a soap dish. to cut down on the amount of wax, i guess. and... a plastic box with scissors, forceps (too coarse) and a couple things that looked like compasses. needle ends. those and the pins were most useful for scraping the skin back, i think.
we were meant to hold it... snip the skin back with scissors and then pin it down. thinking now... probably the scissors had one blunt ended bit and one sharper ended bit. and i was using the wrong side... i sort of thought... what we would be doing would be a bit more like using a stanley knife... that the key would be to nick it under then slide it gently along under the skin... but it wasn't anything like that at all... i think i sort of mashed it up trying to pierce the skin in the first place :(
sorry worm :(
i did try my best :(
i guess it is a bit like cooking... chopping the vegetables... you can't use proper technique with unbalanced, blunt instruments... but proper equipment is expensive... and the idea seems to be... to keep things entertaining by keeping things at a fairly coarse grained level... so they don't want to instruct us particularly on technique... they don't have time, really... and things are overwhelming / overloading enough... hard to remember to turn the microscope off (keep the light down) so as not to fry the hydra...
and other people managed, so... i actually think i might have broken it when i was flattening / straightening it... i don't know... then the second one didn't have a saddle (was a baby?) so i don't know how much was there in the first place...
anyway...
i got more mileage out of using the pins to pull the skin back. one of the demonstrators was using the... compass looking things... to do that under the microscope... and there was a lot more there... i guess i'll try and use those more next time. and look at the scissors properly... i think i'll feel like a bit of a freak if i get my own kit since they don't say anything about our getting our own kit... but i think i'd really rather that... then (now this is going to sound odd...) i could practice using it on supermarket chickens, or something...
it's like how hairdressers are over their scissors. or chefs over their knifes... or olympic weightlifters over their barbells. the tools become... extensions of you. the end of your cane becomes your fingertips you want to wash your hands after poking something with a stick... and it takes time to learn motor control of a different... body.
Posted by PartlyCloudy on July 30, 2014, at 20:27:08
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 19:17:30
I don't think it would be odd to get your own kit if you are going to be progressing evolutionarily with the dissections. We started with worms, then did frogs, unborn sharks, and ended up with cow or pigs' eyes. I think that, given our age at the time, the "gross out" factor was taken into consideration, to encourage us to partake.
Then we reversed course and started to look microscopically at things like pond water and paramecium.
Amazing how much I recall, given the amount of time past, but it was one of my most favourite classes, with an engaging teacher with time to spend with whomever needed it. Perfect, really.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 22:36:18
In reply to Re: lab, posted by PartlyCloudy on July 30, 2014, at 20:27:08
hmm.
we only have 6 labs... but our last lab is a dissection of a rats abdominal cavity...
i can't remember what else we do... starfish... i can't remember what else... 2 vertebrates, apparently. that are by-products of medical research (aka not bred / killed specially for us).
i remember my undergraduate university had dissecting kits available from the student store... pretty sure the biology students were expected to buy them along with their lab coats. i don't think i've seen them at the student store here. haven't heard any mention of that... maybe they don't think it is a good idea to have undergraduates running around with scalpals? it wouldn't surprise me if it is that...
even then... there is a huge difference in the quality of instruments just like how there is a huge difference in the quality of knives... nothing better than chopping vegetables with a nice balanced knife... or... skinning a chicken. etc. a properly sharp pair of scissors... maybe i will take along some nail scissors... apparently you can do quite a lot with a sharp pair of scissors and those pins... scalpals can be a lot harder and too sharp (you want to have to work to pull structures apart and not accidentally slice into important structures. i suppose i should ask...
i'll only continue if it seems like i have the potential to be good at this stuff. but i guess i might need to invest a bit in order to see whether i have potential. like forking out for a decent calculator (for me). think of it that way. probably a new pair of nail scissors will do...
just think how good you'd get working in the plastination warehouses over in china....
Posted by alexandra_k on July 31, 2014, at 1:29:38
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2014, at 22:36:18
turns out the noise on this floor... which isn't so bad, i suppose... is because of a +1 (her words). got chatting in the lift... he's doing a phd in something interesting, actually. she's 'just a +1 tee hee' (her words). so... noisy one (undergrad from downstairs?) comes calling on her periodically... but they do seem to have gotten into the habit of going out... which is good, i suppose.
he probably has a lab so he doesn't even try and work from home...
anyway... whatever. hard to know what to do with +1 situations... when they get university accommodation, i mean. not sure how i feel about that, actually... if the function is to entertain then you kind of need to be someplace where you have space and facilities to entertain...
anyway... whatever...
not enough places for current students of this university...
but whatever...
whatever...
glad i'll never be one.
Posted by alexandra_k on July 31, 2014, at 2:12:35
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 31, 2014, at 1:29:38
and of course she was probably kidding... or she'll probably turn out to be like a number of '+1s' i've been introduced to... passionate about macrame or a kindy teacher (and really into that) or whatever...
and most of the most successful have +1s... or at the very least a partner who works in something sufficiently different enough such that they get sick of talking about work...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 2:01:36
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on July 31, 2014, at 2:12:35
feeling... behind. of course i am. end of week 2.
people were coughing today. course they were. end of week 2.
around 1/4 to 1/3 will be sick and contagious next week.1 - physics assignment.
2 - biology notes. need to keep up with having them in a manageable form for the cram. i won't try and cram 'em yet... form is important. systematizing them to make them learnable.
3 - law. was fun today. some stuff on the courts... some of the people in the class are doing the other class at the same time... wonder if they got special permission... to do both classes together... or if some of them didn't do as well as they hoped last semester so they are resitting? not sure if you are allowed to do that if you passed already? anyway... some serious people...overhead several conversations today about people who 'didn't even study' but passed this and that or who hoped to or whatever... i wish those people would go do something else. or at the very least be contentious about not disturbing other people who are trying to learn...
i suppose it is possible that people say 'sniff, i didn't even try' when really they DID try - but didn't do so well. actually... that might be fairly likely. not entirely sure how or why this culture of mine (nz) seems to promote this whole ideal of being cool as a cucumber (not giving a sh*t about anything, you know, acting like you are all full of mj and reggae chilled) and achieving more than people who, you know, try. or work. we don't seem to promote work ethic. we don't seem to promote... allowing others to have a work ethic...
anyway...
there was a cute invertebrate vid that was inspiring... but i can't find it. these guys are pretty cool, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF8OJt_pujc
but of course people mumble mumble whisper all the way through class...
anyway... feel like my time is spread a bit thin... guess because i need sleep to fight off all the germs... i wish lecturers would do more to dissuade people from coming to class... it really would help out the people who really really really really do want to be there...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 15:24:24
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 2:01:36
so... i didn't know this... but our legal system is quite a bit different from the US. well, actually, i guess i did know that, but i wasn't quite sure on...
we don't have a written constitutional document. so apparently our constitution is some blend of things like 'culture' and 'tradition' and 'the treaty'... that these all form part of our constitution.
- parliament
- the executive
- the judiciarywe have inherited the British system of parliamentary supremacy. while the queen or her representative in this country (the governor general) needs to sign off, that is a formality.
the US has stuff written into the constitution about the balance of power.
the rise of parliamentary power... a significant increase in the number of statute (government laws) that are passed... so the courts are more about interpreting whether this or that statute applies to this or that case than they are about interpreting whether this or that precedent (from common or judge made law) applies to this or that case.
i do think politicians have too much power over here. the head of aviation security got caught dodging behind airport security gates... minister of something... one of our politicians appearing in the high court for taking a bunch of money from another, smaller party... it makes the whole thing a joke, really. they asked some of his peers (you know, wealthy people from around his suburb) what they thought of that and they seemed to think his curfew was a bit unnecessary...
abuse of power...
sports people are in the media seems like all the time for acts of violence. seems that the more famous they are the more we tolerate them doing whatever they like. one of them was part of some national campaign 'zero tolerance for domestic violence'. he was in court for hitting his girlfriend. rugby player. not bowls... i don't know the details of the case (how hard the hit was etc)... but seems to me people like this should be held more accountable PRECISELY BECAUSE a generation of kids look up to them as heroes to emulate rather than giving them light sentances because of their fame.
makes a joke of justice, i think.
apparently... the british system is adversarial, too. so the judge is only allowed to consider evidence brought before them (that means the skill of lawyers is important). and the lawyers argue against each other and the judge basically declairs a winner. this is opposed to an 'inquisitorial' system where the role of the judge is more active in asking questions and trying to seek out the truth.
apparently... trade-offs between how expensive the process is... and the justness (or similar word) of the decisions...
i guess like most things we went with 'cheap'.
so... apparently people used to apply for legal aid and they could take that (the government paid or subsidised or whatever) to most lawyers. so... some lawyers were known to be particularly good or whatever so they got a lot of business. but now the government (in an attempt to keep court costs down) has a public defenders office with lawyers specifically and you simply get assigned. apparently (i wasn't wrong) they ARE young and inexperienced. given very high case loads. and so on... and the more experienced people are complaining that they don't get work...
i think by the sounds of it our justice system might be about as f*ck*d up as our health system abotu as f*ck*d up as our education system... not that i can point to any as wanting to be like that... but damn... law doesn't sound like a particularly good professiont o get into, i don't think.
blah blah something about big law and corporations... i can't get interested in / excited about rich people getting richer... i don't know what to say.
something something something too about the government wanting to get some law through that means government has more members on university council... sigh.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 15:25:53
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 15:24:24
sigh. i suppose this means i'm learning to think like a lawyer.
on board with railing against the idiocy of juries (though i don't expect i am quite supposed to put it like that)
i mean... the average first year can't play 'and now repeat back to me what you just heard me say'.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 5, 2014, at 14:37:25
In reply to Re: lab, posted by alexandra_k on August 1, 2014, at 15:25:53
In my room. About 5 bites on Saturday morning. About 5 bites on Sunday morning. I sprayed the carpet and the skirting boards pretty extensively on Sunday and closed up the windows and went out for a couple hours... About 5 bites on Monday.
Told reception before 9am class... They told me to come back (after management had arrived). I went to the doc... Bites, yes. Not measles or chicken pox or anything like that. Consistent with bedbugs. But of course without the actual bugs, impossible to say.
Manager said they probably weren't bedbugs. But then this was the manager who tried to tell me they couldn't do anything about the cockroaches, that they were endemic, and that they ran across his desk all the time... As an excuse for not treating the building at all... He tried to describe signs of evidence and suggested I go look for it...
I said that I'm not an expert. That there are probably people who know about this stuff and maybe he better give them a call. I'd done everything I knew how to do with respect to pest management whether they are bed bugs or carpet fleas or whatever... Expressed surprise that he wasn't anxious to contain the issue...
Bug guy was called. Only I think it was a maintenence guy with black gloves, really. Because, you know, everybody thinks I'm a f*ck*ng idiot and won't know better. Professionals usually have information documents. On different kinds of pests. They are usually keen to chat about different treatments and different infestations they have dealt with etc. This guy wasn't really like that. No information.
He reckoned it was probably carpet fleas (management was determined they weren't going to deal with a bed bug issue if at all possible). That he could spray and I only needed to be out for 3 hours. He also said something... About not vaccuming for 2 weeks to leave the residual spray... Which confuses the hell out of me, really. I mean... I'd heard of a couple days - but several weeks???
Anyway... He needed to talk to the manager and I needed to get to a 4pm class so I asked reception to let him in to treat the room...
Returned back later...
Monday... More bites. They didn't treat the room and nobody f*ck*ng told me that!
Went to university management... They said to email x (another manager). I did that... Aroudn lunch time got a call from reception that my room would be treated and I needed to remove linen from it (or they could do that). So I went back and removed it. Reception told me I needed to be out for 3 hours, to wash the mattress protector and my linen, and to open the windows once I returned.
I returned to find my mattress soaked around the edges with spray. Residual spray everywhere... Up windows... All over a painting... My foam roller... A plastic bag (heavy duty one I use as a gym bag since they will only let me have that on the gym floor). No instructions on what I should do about surfaces...
My mattress is awful, I realised. THe lining is torn. Bugs could obviously get inside the mattress. And it was soaked with spray...
I said I was really unhappy about sleeping on a toxic soaked mattress. Reception phoning manager after hours now... He suggests they loan me a f*ck*ng heater to dry it.
I'm livid, really.
Didn't have money to check into a hotel / motel last night... SLept on the f*ck*ng couch downstairs.
Sh*t like this... Getting away from it... University accommodation...
Have emailed them. HOw would they feel about my posting pictures of my mattress (forwarded to them) online for future students parents to see? Pretty sure they wouldn't like that for obvious reasons...
This building has only recently come under University management (in some way or another). I think... There is some.. Uh... Delay with other things... E.g., Fairly sure that there would be policies on how the bug management is carried out at other halls. Treat 2x a year and prevent serious problems. That kind of thing. They have sprayed public areas for roaches 2x AFTER I suggeseted (fairly forcefully) that thtey f*ck*ng well look into how other plases manage their pests.
I'm really unhappy about this.
3rd f*ck*ng world. I swear.
Posted by Dr. Bob on August 5, 2014, at 19:21:52
In reply to bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 5, 2014, at 14:37:25
Posted by alexandra_k on August 5, 2014, at 19:53:06
In reply to bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 5, 2014, at 14:37:25
:-(
the university management people were good today. went and spoke with one of the managers... he listened... i felt heard. and i suppose i did go on, rather.
they have all agreed that the state of my mattress isn't good enough and it should have been replaced before i arrived. they also said that they should have known about the state of it etc.
someone is going to come to take it away soon. i've said i'm okay to sleep on camping matts i've got on the floor - after being informed that i can vaccum the floor. Because something something... Mattresses are made to order or whatever... It will take time for one to be made... Some ambiguity about whether I get a new base... The only 2 drawers there are in the whole place... They aren't sure if they make box spring beds with drawers or something...
Anyway... They will try and find a mattress... But... Whatever.
Whatever. I guess... They take the mess away... I can clean properly. Disinfect and clean and vaccum... And get back to work.
:(
And sleep. I'm f*ck*ng exhausted. Just want this mess to go away :(
Posted by alexandra_k on August 6, 2014, at 4:07:42
In reply to Re: bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 5, 2014, at 19:53:06
well, it is gone, finally. And I've vaccumed and given most of the walls and surfaces a good scrub. Still have some walls and surfaces to do... But needed to sleep...
I think it might take a couple nights to figure whether they really are gone or not. I keep scratching - but I honestly can't tell if it is imagination and they are old bites, or whether they are new bites. Anti-histamine or inflammatory or whatever they are tablets make such a difference... Make it harder to tell.
They did manage to find a temporary one - and reassured me that they have ordered a new one. Most of them are fairly stained etc... But if I put my recent trauma aside... I guess I'd say that my current one is okay. It looks on its worse side like the good side on my other one... Which is what fooled me into saying the condition was 'acceptable' on my initial condition report (didn't think to turn it over and check the other side).
I'm meant to wash linen... Which becomes a bit problematic, actually... I have clean sheets... And clean pillowcases... But duvets are harder... I have a decent wool one that is queen sized - too big for washer or to handwash without a bath. And a same sized feather and down one that I don't want to wreck... I'll see about drycleaning them tomorrow... Pillows? I don't know... I guess... If I still get bit then the problem must be with linen... I get paid tomorrow... I simply can't do anything until then... And I can't freeze in the meantime... I've carefully examined and can't find any sign of anything... I don't know what to say...
Slept a couple hours and feeling a bit better... But not a whole heap, honestly.
- Need to get stuff to my lawyer for the court stuff. Didn't properly realise she needs to do lawyer negotiating stuff before next appearance... I should say that it would have helped me if she'd had have given me a deadline on getting her the information (for other clients she may have, it might help). Then I need to write my own version of events... Do some photocopying / scanning...
- Physics assignment due on Friday lunchtime... I think I just need to do 2 questions... Elastic collision and inelestic collision. I think I sorted out trajectory motion today (and yesterday). Which is a big deal, actually because one of the exam questions WILL BE on trajectory motion... And if you can do trajectory motion then you can do a bunch of other questions besides... About throwing things straight up... About things falling straight down... About combinations of going up and coming down. ahaha. SIn and Cos are just... buttons on your calculator... FOr resolving the vertical and horizontal component of the initial velocity of a projectile... I hope I have this sorted... If I have... Then I have to say... Physics is kinda fun.
- Law readings. Just because. She's glaring in my direction when she asks a question that should be easily answerable from the readings and I fail to murmer the right answer. We did the Springbok Rugby tour today... WHen the New ZEaland Rugby Football Club accepted an invitation to tour South Africa back when there was a commonwealth country boycotting of sporting activity over there in protest of aparteid... Some of the legal stuff around that... The idea of having standing (being personally affected) in order to bring a case.. A bunch of lawyers who happened to be rugby players were thought to not have standing... Which they appealled... ANyway... Some interesting issues... Even though I feel... Uh... Squeemish? ABout letting policical difference get in the way with / interfere with sport... Not entirely sure what I think.
Anyway...
Biology... Masses of information. This and that lives in marine habitats mostly but freshwater sometimes except for x that is terrestrial. And, you know.. LIke 30,000 extant species... That kind of information... And naming of parts... And so on... It's okay. I'll miss our lecturer, actually, now that we are onto a new one... The next section of the course...
ANyway... Refocusing I am... Meeting with disability guy about lab accommodations tomorrow... Said I can't attend another lab in advance because gives me an unfair advantage for assessment, apparently.. And other students will bitch and moan that it ain't fair... Meeting Friday with mental health nurse...
Stuff to be getting on with... It is going to be okay...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 7, 2014, at 15:36:46
In reply to Re: bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 6, 2014, at 4:07:42
had another talk to the biology first year convenor about accommodations... which went really rather badly indeed. about every bit as badly as my talks to the foundations program lady. she said a few things... about how university isn't really the time to be doing new things, about how I was asking for an unfair advantage over other students, about how i have no reason to think that i'll be any good at biology etc etc etc...
then when i was like 'the "maybe you just suck at biology" objection' she was all WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!!!!? And I was like 'huh?' and she really really really really couldn't understand that I was giving a label to the style of argument she was appealing to or see how her telling me that 'maybe you just aren't any good at biology' might be her telling me that I suck at biology... The indignation in her voice... She was determined I'd called her an idiot or something. Which I most certainly hadn't. But at that point... I realised... That she kinda was. And that my whole explanation of the sorts of things that I found useful in attending a laboratory in advance... She will never understand any of that. Because I'm sure she was just great at the copying other people game... And of course that'll be largely how she got her degree...
Where does the university find them???
Apparently I need to get a proper learning assessment. By psychology, oh joy. They can asssess my learning needs (apparently) and assess the nature of the tasks (uh huh) and figure out what accommodations would be reasonable. This will, of course, take ages. Guess the idea is to delay delay delay until I piss off and die, or something. Why nobody told me this was what needed to happen MONTHS ago is really beyond me...
Apparently I did get accommodation from chemistry. Even though I never got receipt of application. Reassured the form made it through the appropriate channels... A little sad that I didn't get that grade on what I'd actually done... But I really couldn't see how... Given that I didn't ace the exam... Even with considerable exam grade scaling... Anyway... They have offered for me to go talk to them about possibilities for future accommodations for next year...
And I'm remembering the conversation with the dept head and how he suggested about my doing the labs in a separate environment etc... That it was because of suggestions that he made that got these ideas for accommodations into my head in the first place...
I'm realising the animal biology course I'm doing is... uh... picking up the 'sporty' kids. all the kids who want to be marine biologists etc. the kids who like hanging out at the beach but who also feel like they should get a real job or something. Our last lecturer played this vid with a catchy tune... Some bodybuilder guy wiggling / dancing around and some chick... With invertebrate animal stuff as the words of the song... And the lecture theatre was dead silent. I mean... Everyone was just staring at it enthralled... Nobody was talking talking talking talking talking anymore. I... Really do think that I am of a different species from them. Or something...
Our new lecturer is big on the whole 'different learning style' thing. WHich of course means that he had trouble with 'traditional learning'. So I'm finding it lectures to be... Fairly scattered. Good for the students... If you think that they are 18, most of them, and they don't really know how to learn (most of them). The ones who did well... Well... Biomed. I think that is basically what that degree is for. It has higher entry requirements and thus if the teachers teach to the average... Anyway... Biology is going to be a bit excrutiating for the next couple weeks, I think. Just suck it up...
Physics is going well, I think. I've enjoyed working on the assignment... I'm really loving that they have that tutorial / study room. Something like that would have helped me so very very very very very much for chemistry last semester... And physics people... I just am having a much happier time of things. People don't seem to assume I'm stupid because I don't know how to rearrange my equation. And... Well... Someone taught me how to do one properly (with adding to both sides and crossing out redundancies) and I can do them now... And the people are... Nice, yeah.
Anyway... Back to history / treaty stuff for law which doesn't excite me overly. Looking forward to theory stuff that we are onto after that... But I shouldn't get my hopes up because it is going to be quite a different take from philosophy, I think. Law seems to be an awful lot about... Most-est arguments wins. And of course they want the relationship between law and morality to be tight whereas I really don't see the connect...
Posted by alexandra_k on August 7, 2014, at 18:55:30
In reply to Re: bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 7, 2014, at 15:36:46
glad to be doing a range of courses, yeah. something about... not keeping all of ones eggs in the one basket. think i kinda did that with chemistry last semester. I mean... I thought i would be kept busy with maths etc... but i wasn't really. and motivation became problematic. and i felt a lot of pressure to do well since that was all i was doing.
this semester... forces me to be more efficient with my time. which is... better all around, i think. i need to pay attention to studying smart which means i'm training my ability to focus... to attend to relevant things... to... manage my time, yeah. to shift attention from this course to that course to the next course.
my phone isn't working quite as well as i'd like for basic functions like alarm clock and my schedule (with reminders). perhaps i'm not hitting 'save' appropriately - but things aren't being saved in there... and sometimes... alarms aren't working... not sure what is going on with that... these are the main things i got it for... i'm just with the default calender... wonder if there is a better one... i don't know why i can't set multiple alarms... so it just automatically goes off every day at whatever time i've set it for rather than my needing to set it every evening... anyway... whatever... practice? i guess... sometimes i think the issue is that i'm using it while the alarm goes off... and the notification is cleared by my doing things on it without my actually seeing the notification. i think that is the problem with my not receiving notifications.
the bug thing... i guess one good thing that has come of it is that i have better faith in my... resilence now. my ability to hold things fairly well together through a fairly stressful situation. through lack of sleep... through lack of privacy... i lost it with the bio lady over the bio stuff... but that was, again, like the issue with the foundations lady... with respect to the actual bug thing... i think i did alright. and i got my physics assignment done. and my law readings... i'm okay.
anyway... law tutorial today (first one) over at the actual law school by the high court... this weekend will be a biology weekend... fairly behind with getting my notes into a manageable form... hopefully we won't do too much new content today... just so long as the objectives are clear - he was pretty clear on them yesterday, actually. he is good. it is just that his general manner of being chilled and sort of more of a buddy... isn't so great for me. but to be fair... it is great for probably the majority of students in the class. where those students had a hard time even being quiet for the other lecturer... who i enjoyed a great deal. so... i do like it how first year classes split up the teaching so you get to meet a range of people. helps a lot to mitigate something like personality clashes or perhaps clashes of learning style... so that stuff like that doesn't put you off a whole field...
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