Paid to relax!

What a relaxing week!!! Despite having worked last Sunday, cos we weren't on take last weekend, for most of the week I only had between 4 to 6 patients to look after! For the first time in my 12 weeks of work so far, I found myself wondering what on earth to do with my 8 hours at work each day. My reg was off sick Mon - Wed so I was "reg-less" but it also meant that all I had to do was keep the patients alive until my reg or consultants came back/around. This effectively meant plenty of time in the RMO room reading newspapers, surfing the net, and doing sudoku (which I recently discovered during a week of nights!). Unlike some places, we aren't fortunate enough to have an x-box or other luxuries... Managed to take some naps though and when I wasn't sleeping, I was giving viva tutes to my first medical student!

Today my reg was back and I got an early mark for the first time, leaving at 3pm! Yay! It was nice getting home before dark and not feeling so wasted! Went out for dessert with Themis, James, and Kenny at Asian dessert place in Kingsford. Had nice sago dessert there! Mmmm =P

No plans as of yet for long weekend...but one thing's for sure...will get plenty of precious sweet refreshing no-need-to-get-up-quickly sleep!!!
(^-^) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday - just another day...?

La di da di da...Find myself here once AGAIN at hospital on a Sunday - second weekend in a row... =( When you work 6 days a week, not only does the week seem super long, but you kinda lose track of what day it is! Been here an hour and a half and since my pager went off 2 mins after I got it from the night MO, it hasn't gone off again since...*fingers crossed*!

Oh oh oh - got my Word store order in the mail on Friday - Switchfoot the early years 3 CD set comprising their first 3 albums, and the EMU live 2 CD, recorded at last year's TWIST Music Conference I was at! More music to listen to on the way to work...!

Had a really relaxing Saturday! Met up with Themis, Mary and Sus in the city and had lunch at the Malay Chinese Restaurant on Castlereigh St opposite the MLC centre. Had the usual curry laksa - mmm mmm sooooooooo good! Still undoubtedbly the best in Sydney! Then went for coffee/milkshake at a cafe in the Strand Arcade. So full after all that milk! Spent the rest of the arvo window shopping in the city. Didn't realise how much there actually is in the city! All those underground walkways are lined with shops...no wonder people like shopping in the city!

Got a lift home with Themis and caught up on last week's tv watching Lost, Prisonbreak, and ER with Jon. Then played a bit of C&C Generals before hitting the sack in anticipation of today's hopefully-not-too-hectic-shift! So here I am again on a Sunday...just another day at work!

Sooooooooooooooo Tired!!!!!

Have had a looooonnnnng week so far!!! Seems like the weekend won't come fast enough! Last Sunday's shift was alright...not as busy as my first weekend Saturday shift last term but still, 16 hours is 16 hours!!! Felt totally buggered by Monday arvo when I had worked 24 hrs out of the last 32 hrs - just wanted to sleep forever!

At least my new respiratory term is heaps less busy than my last aged care term! Only have about 10 patients on the list, which is already below my all time low of 11 patients in aged care and today my reg told me to go home after lunch!!! Couldn't though cos had to give a friend a lift home after 5pm... maybe another day though!

Working this Sunday again... =( gonna be another looooonnnnng week! But hey...easter's just round the corner - then I'll be able to eat, sleep, eat sleep... =)

End of Term 1 as an intern!

Finished my Aged Care term this week!!! Sadly I'm also doing my last overtime of the term today =( but so far pager hasn't gone off so have time to type this!!!

Yeah it was kinda sad finishing up on Friday with Aged Care, but also kind of a relief! Our patient load I think was about to sky rocket and I think I bailed at just the right time! Sad though cos I had a super nice reg and two really really supportive consultants who were super super nice! I really think it's the people you work with that makes all the difference to whether or not you enjoy the term, rather than what the actual term is itself. I had a good team and hence a good term! Really feel I've come a long way from orientation week when I was feeling nauseous half the time and wondering how on earth I was gonna cope!

Friday night we went out to our end of term RMO dinner at Golden Century Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown!!! Carpooled with Jaz and got there surprisingly on time at 8pm after we scored a super duper park at central! We were like the 5th and 6th people there. The others already there were residents. Soon more people came and coincidentally my reg for next term and his wife sat next to me! He seems really cool and over the course of the night we seemed to have plenty to talk about and common interests! Looks like it's gonna be another good term! After dinner went to Havana on Oxford st and crashed the combined party of Liverpool, Concord, POW, and St George I think! Stayed till around 12.30am by which time I think I was half deaf and seriously losing my voice!

Yesterday went out to Flemington Markets with family and then to Temasek, a Malaysian restaurant at Parramatta for lunch. Really really yummy food!!!!! Came back mid arvo and bummed around at home until dinner, which was at Angewa's place. She cooked up another Iron-Chef-Angewa extravaganza (by our standards anyway!!!) and it was great catching up with med friends from other hospitals! Got home late again and thank goodness for day light saving ending meaning I got an extra hour of sleep!

Okey dokey...let's see what this day brings...!

Houston, we have a Maton!

Thoroughly enjoyed my sleep-in today!!! Woke up at 11am and had a slice of sponge cake for breakky before heading off to Miranda with Jon jon! Went to the Westfield (aka temple of materialism) there and had lunch, before going to EB games to check out Command & Conquer Generals and its expansion pack - $19.95 each! When we got our first computer in 1995 (Pentium 100 - we had it for 10 years!), we bought our first computer game Command & Conquer - the revolutionary strategy game of its time! A decade later, it's only got better and I've yet to play it but looks good!!! After this, picked up John Farnham's "The Voice" double CD for the bargain price of $9.99 at HMV cos I really like one of his songs called No Ordinary World.

Then hopped across the road to the Shire Music Centre for the second time this month to check out the Maton Miranda guitar and see if Jon wanted it as his belated 21st present. A really nice guy called Todd helped us out and even though he didn't play the guitar or know much about guitars, it was pleasant dealing with him. Turns out he's a Christian himself and produced 2 of Nathan Tasker's albums - Come See the Morning and A Look Inside! Had a couple of strums and umm'd and ahh'd about various Maton models before we settled on the Miranda model:

"This is our own design Maton Miranda, available only from Shire Music! Based around the 225 series this guitar has been seriously upgraded with an AP5 Pickup in place of the standard AP4. We have also added Herringbone binding, keyhole headstock with facing and a light honey stain to the body. The Miranda looks like a guitar costing twice the price! Of course solid spruce top, quality fittings etc are all as per what you'd expect from the Maton products!"

Another salesman looked at it in admiration and said it all: "It's beautiful!". Also got their guitar extras pack which includes hard case, 2 sets of strings, strap, lead, guitar stand, maintenance package, 1 yr extra warranty and $99 worth of SMC vouchers! Very happy about that!

So yay - Houston, we have a Maton!

Bowl and Grill!

Went out tonight to Darling Harbour for dinner with Themis, Chuck, Kenny, Khoung, Jaz and Jenny! Picked up Jaz and found an awesome parking spot on Kent St in this work zone so didn't have to pay yeah yeah! Only thing was, whilst I was parking and aligning my car to the kerb, a fire truck pulled up behind me and wanted to kinda take my parking spot (since it was the end of the row of cars). Everytime I inched forward a bit to adjust my parking, the stoopid fire truck inched closer to my behind (not wanting to poke its backside into the intersection behind I suppose...) !!! Annoyed, I just waited to see what the fire truck would do. It wasn't as if there were any obvious fire/cat stuck in a tree etc emergency around the area so what on earth was this fire truck ramming up my behind for??! Was waiting waiting with Jaz in the car a while and turned my head around to notice there was a Subway on the other side of the road. Mmmm... Subway...my stomach wondered (aka Homer Simpson)...until lo and behold I noticed a uniformed fireman inside the Subway buying dinner!!! Mannnnnnnnnn it was sooooo annoying!!! Here I was stuck in my car, which I still had to properly park, but couldn't because a fire truck was practically kissing my car because a fireman wanted to buy Subway for dinner!!!!! I mean, being a fire truck, it could've legitamately parked just about anywhere...it could've stopped in the middle of the road and no one would say anything but of all places it had to stop right behind me!!! And boy that guy must've bought all the Subway rolls in that shop cause he was taking ages and ages and all the while my stomach was grumbling louder and louder!!! Eventually his order was complete and I could park properly. Have to say though, since it was free, it was worth the wait!

Bowl and Grill is situated in the old Sega Megaworld complex next to Gloria Jeans and where that Sports Bar previously was. Dinner was nice and it was good catching up with the gang! Had a nice chicken and bacon burger with fries and salad at a very reasonable price! Portions were so huge I couldn't finish!!! Queenie dropped by surprisingly on the way to dinner with her friends. We didn't actually bowl for some reason...I guess it wasn't exactly cheap although it's only $5 extra to bowl if you dine on Mon-Wed.

After dinner, we headed back to the east to Charles' place to watch a dvd! We hired out Team America on the way back. Very very funny although it could've done without some bits...! Had this part in it where a very cute puppet North Korean president (the bad guy) sings this soliloquy called "I'm so ronery" (ronery = lonely!!!). Very very cute even though he was the bad guy! Kinda fell asleep towards the end, not because of the movie but because I was just buggered...!

St Mark's Houseparty 2006!!!

Wow! We had our inaugural St Mark's Combined Houseparty last weekend at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre! It went from Friday night to Sunday arvo and was packed with inspiring talks, challenging bible studies, and heaps of compulsory FUN!!!

The venue itself was awesome! I'd even go so far as to say it was the best camp site so far that I've been to! Rooms all with ensuites, nice new facilities, tennis courts, nature trails...and most importantly...it was cheap!!!

Derrick Powell, the archdeacon of our diocese, was the speaker for the weekend. He spoke about what church is, the history behind it and how we can improve things in our church!

Fun time included a brutally competitive soccer match (during which Jenny got a black eye!) and an awesome game of capture the flag at night between the guys and the girls, which ended in a draw with both teams claiming each other's flags at the same time! Definitely has to become a houseparty tradition!

Okey dokey, lunch break over! Back to work...!

A Sporty Weekend!

Had a sporty weekend!!! Played golf with Jon at Randwick Golf Club (expensive on weekends!!!) but fun nonetheless! Really starting to get the hang of golf...I think...! My tee offs are better than my fairway shots (when I actually get the ball onto the fairway!) and my putting still leaves little to be desired...! There were heaps and heaps of people there...young and old, those that looked like pros and actually were pros, and those that looked like pros but were actually were amateurs! One snobby couple behind us rudely told us to hurry up just after the 1st hole! They told us to get off the green to write down our scores on our scorecards...as if that takes sooooo long! So Jon and I deliberately took our time for the rest of the 10 holes or so we played!

Played tennis on Sunday with Jon, Dad and Carl at Matraville Sports Centre. Was really really hot as we played mid morning to midday! Teamed up with Carl against Jon and Dad but we lost in a closely fought match 7-5! Carl and I put it down to me not having my own racquet (it's being restrung at the moment!) and me having sustained a blister injury on my hand! So now patiently waiting for this stupid blister to heal so we can have a rematch at church houseparty this coming weekend...!