Sometimes I wonder the wisdom of staying at home to study for 2 weeks coz it sometimes is soo boring (sian)!! I feel like going to school sometimes to see some people (other than my family at home, which are nice people but even I need to socialize sometimes)
But I'm really too lazy to take the bus, then the train then the bus to school, then make the same journey home again in the evening. Argh.

I think of really redundant (boliao) matters in between readings. Like, sometimes I wonder how other people study. I really get a headache reading notes that I've gone through a few times before, so I break the monotony sometimes by

a) typing out notes on the computer,
b) drawing mindmaps (useful for notes for which I don't get after reading)
c) drawing (seriously, drawing helps to consolidate information. just try drawing out our immunology notes (= )
d) reading a textbook which I havent read before, which sometimes gives me an interesting perspective on things. Then I wonder why I'm spending so much time reading things that I might be able to cover faster by going through notes, half of which I forget in the half the time I spent reading.

By far, drawing out stuff and making notes seem to be the most efficient means of studying for me, but they are also especially draining. And I'm surprised at the amount of time I need to spend drawing, sometimes I wish I weren't so concerned about squeezing everything into a tiny sheet of paper.

As for why I'm blogging, I have a slight headache that makes thinking a chore. ouch. (that means I wasnt thinking when I wrote this. lol)

Good luck to everyone who's reading this who is having exams on the 30 (neuroscience) and 31 (microbiology)!

PS: I am shocked at the amount I have left. University exams make like A level biology look like chicken feet, relatively.

Marley, Gordon and Me

I feel obliged to comment on the movie coz I have a golden retriever named Gordon who is 8 years old. The movie is everything on a dog movie lover's wish-list: it's funny in the beginning, and very of emo at the end. Really very sad ending. Though I think its how they filmed it, I've no idea how people can love a dog that is that destructive soo much. But its true when they say that dogs don't care about your social status, as long as u care for them they'll care for u back. Maybe that's why dogs are man's best friend.

Come to think of it, Gordon does do funny things, though he is no where as extreme as the title character of Marley and me. He barks nearly exactly at 530pm each day, when its about time for his daily walk. (Haven't been walking him recently coz of exams... hmmm...) And sometimes after the family returns home from a meal, he'll start licking his doggy plate (which is already empty). My mom hypothesizes that he's trying to ignore us. But that doesn't make sense because after we enter the house, he starts barking again. Maybe he needs more food?

Gordon craves for fun like any other dog, and if he doesn't get it he'll look for ways to do so. One of his favorite routines the moment I remove my shoes and take off my socks is to bite off the socks and run away, looking back to see if we give chase. I've thus far learn't to throw my socks straight from my feet into the clothes basket where he can't reach them. Though if he gets frustrated enough he'll target shoes instead...

Time to play!

I feel really tired now, like someone who has been missing a fair bit of sleep the past few days. But I can't be bothered to sleep coz I really need to do something other than sleeping and mugging. So I blog:

Neuroscience and microB
study study so happy
never ever had so much fun
not even by playing in the sun

So I lie. Studying continuously every day for the sake of CAs in uni has made me incongruent. What ever happened to the times when tests were taken with a pinch of salt and didn't seem like major milestones in the calendar? Yet now every CA seems to be an increasingly steeper hill to climb, before the final mountain of pros. Haiz.

Perhaps the silver lining is that next wednesday there is brief respite.

Perhaps the challenge of medical school is knowing when not to study, rather than the studying itself.

I've been rather out of sorts lately, perhaps its due to school ending, and the major change that is coming really soon...
And its also due to the fast pace of lessons - each day seems to pass me by in a flash, then the weeks, the months, the years...
It didn't seem too long ago when I first started this journey into medicine. When life seemed to stroll by, so carefree. That was in M1. But this year, despite the short days and numerous breaks, seems a lot more hectic.
6 more days of lessons as an M2!
Then.