![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 206 to 230 of 495. Go back in thread:
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...
Posted by Twinleaf on August 8, 2014, at 9:16:03
In reply to Re: bugs, posted by alexandra_k on August 7, 2014, at 18:55:30
Alex, I think it's a great idea to get any help you need, but, knowing that you are a very intelligent person who was close to a getting a PhD in philosophy (way beyond most peoples' capability), you may be giving both yourself and the various administrators the wrong impression by continuing to ask for dispensations. Basically, they seem to have been very willing to ensure that you have the support you need to function at your best. Occasionally, they are going to say "no". This isn't necessarily a reason to become enraged at them and feel they are entirely negative and unhelpful (this sounds a lot like splitting - "black and white" thinking). We all do this sometimes, but I think it can help to be reflective about it afterwards, rather than add them to a "blame list". You don't want that list to grow - they are the people you need on your team to be successful.
Why not give yourself time to develop excellence in these new scientific fields? I bet once you get the basics down, you will get A's all the time! (having studied both, I think pre-med is easier than logic or philosophy).
Posted by alexandra_k on August 8, 2014, at 17:18:50
In reply to Re: bugs » alexandra_k, posted by Twinleaf on August 8, 2014, at 9:16:03
I think that your comments show that you don't have a particularly good understanding of my situation.
Why am I asking for laboratory accommodations?
What laboratory accommodations have they offered me? I must have missed that part. Please, enlighten me.
I glad to hear that you found pre-med in the US to be a walk in the park... What do you know of the pre-med process that is required of me in the country in which I am located?
I'm curious... Would you say to someone with dyscalculia that they should just take time to get better at reading? They should keep banging away at learning to read the same way that everyone else is being taught? If they turn out to be good at something else... Sport? Then this is particularly the case?
You haven't encountered the tertiary education-babysitting situation over here, to the best of my knowledge. Over-crowded environments with wiggly people who chatter and yip and squeal and jostle. Overheard conversations of how 'I didn't even study for that last test bro' and 'Have you done your readings? Nah, neither have I' and 'He said that she said that he thought that she did...' And then about how labs are supposed to be fun! And 'just do what she's doing, just copy along!' and the class average for labs is 13/15 percent of their grade for the course *because that is what is required to keep the pass rate up*.
I'm not so good at 'just copy along!' especially since it is supposed to be individual work. Giggle giggle giggle flirt 'I can't do number three it is SO HARD' and lab assistant tells them what to write down...
I don't feel particularly bad about not being able to communicate with people who are employed to deal with the above students. There is a reason why they are employed to deal with the above students. Most of the actual academics have better things to be doing than wasting their time trying to manage students who can't be bothered to turn up, listen, do their reading, do any study etc. Most of them are requesting exam or test or attendance accommodations. Because giggle giggle giggle giggle flirt. But they just LOVE science because labs are SO FUN! And because they think they are good at them. Which might serve them well if they manage to get a job in a medical laboratory one day. You know, filling the jars with agar.
I'd happily leave them to it... But 15 or 20 percent of the grade is the laboratory component. And there are actual things that we are supposed to be learing in labs - and I'm not talking about ones ability to giggle and flirt.
It is possible that (probable that. F*ck*ng well highly probable that) labs will go MUCH better for me next year because I won't be doing the remedial type classes. There are skills I need to learn... I need to learn those skills... Currently... Well... Last lab I had lab partner to deal with... Helping her clean up her mess... Seemed rude to say no. Helping her fill in her lab report. Again, seemed rude to say no. Not showing her my work for the test that was supposed to be independently done. Big eyes from her. Looking around the class.. Never seen so very many people working independently together...
But what the f*ck would I know about social communication.
Posted by alexandra_k on August 8, 2014, at 17:44:18
In reply to Re: bugs » alexandra_k, posted by Twinleaf on August 8, 2014, at 9:16:03
i wasn't enraged because she said no.
i was enraged because she kept saying that i couldn't observe a lab in advance because it 'gave me an unfair advantage' to have seen the assessment. i told her that i saw that tests being handed out face down, yes. but that i didn't see the content of the test. i was enraged that she thought that that was an unfair advantage. because... i can't communicate with a person who thinks that. i mean... i just don't know what to say to them at that point.
i was enraged because she kept saying i was asking for unfair advantage rather than reasonable accommodation.
i was enraged because she kept saying they were offering me accommodation and when i asked what accommodation they were offering me she started telling me that i wasn't any good at biology. then when i said 'oh the 'maybe you just suck at biology' objection' she went all 'WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME'.
her position is to deal with the giggly flirters who didn't turn up to their lab because, like, they forgot to check their timetable tee hee. or they didn't make that test because big eyes they couldn't find the room. i'm sure she's great at managing such students. herd them through, take 3 years of money out of them. give them a science degree because, you know, they just LOVE SCIENCE because LABS ARE SO FUN!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
i won't have to deal with such people beyond first year.
but next year is first year all over again. except it will be full of the best kids as well as some stragglers. currently... i'm mostly dealing with the straggle...
we will have to see. i'm afraid because chemistry labs got to the point where i couldn't walk into the laboratory without having a full on panic attack / overwhelm that took me out for most of the day. through the semester... labs got progressively worse. i'm concerned that that not happen again. by setting things up in order to prevent crisis.
but i must remember: the reason borderline personality kicked off so very f*ck*ng well over here is because we have no f*ck*ng sense of prevention at all. it is all ambulance at the bottom of the cliff and 'aw we would have spent money on helping them but they went and killed themself and look at the savings we've made!'
of course she wants me to waste three years on a useless degree... that's her f*ck*ng job... to herd the straggle through that. and of course people straggle (do poorly). her job is to deal with the straggle. to console them. when they look at her with big eyes and oggle over how SMART she must be to have such a BIG INTIMIDATING DESK position at a university.
like how the sport people at tech wanted to keep me, too. keep me off the streets. keep me babysitting them... and physio wanted to keep me too. the accommodation people where i was so very very very very very f*ck*ng unhappy. they wanted to keep me. horrible frantic clawing. 'being friendly' we call it.
i have a lot more empathy (really very masses and masses and masses of it) when such people are: not in positions of power over me. because such people... if i don't look after them they tantrum / rage. but they are being paid how much exactly to look after me? LIVID.
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