I must be pretty bored- I'm blogging! Did you know that procrastination means putting off until tomorrow? It comes from the word crastinus, meaning tomorrow. Studying is pretty boring, especially when it's mainly details that don't really interest you and a bit of rote learning. Exams start on Monday with the MEQ, Wednesday is Resource and Friday finishes it all off with the SAQ/MEQ. In other news, visitors to my house would probably know that there's a Dove's nest in the Wisteria running along the veranda. Doesn't look like the egg(s) has hatched yet, Mum sits patiently and almost unmoving about 23hrs of the day in the nest. We can view her easily through the computer room window or the front screen door. My Mum said she had a peep in the nest when Dove Mum went for a lunch break and found one egg although we think there might be a second. Apparently they take two weeks to hatch so if they haven't done already then they will within days.

Exams are pretty overrated. In England they start at Year 9 and they're reasonably serious unlike Y11 exams here. I had Year 9 and 10 exams in England which also include practise exams for each major exam period! They seriously need to revolutionise their education system over there. I came back to Y11 and 12 exams here then last year was a range of Science exams and now we arrive at the end of first-year medicine. I actually think the format of these exams is a lot fairer than most subjects. The MEQ is quite a good representation of the PBL process and the general lack of essay-type assessment in exams is a good and fair thing. 95% of the year-group freaked out about first semester exams but I put a lot of that down to fear-of-the-unknown. This time most people seem to have settled down a bit more which is good. These exams count for 70% so if people scored reasonably well in first semester, which most did, then you'd only need to pass these exams to be in the clear. Also, the fact that these exams cover the whole year might be daunting except that it means there's less opportunity to test fine detail. All in all, next week shouldn't be a problem!

The holidays came to a close a week ago and we had our Clinical Skills Exam, the OSCEs, on Tuesday. Mine went really well except for the Cardiovascular Examination: the patient had good blood pressure, normal pulses in his arms and neck but seemed to be lacking a heart! I couldn't palpate the heart apex which is not unusual but when I attempted to listen to his chest I became quickly worried when there were no sounds in his chest at all. I even listened on the other side of his chest to ensure it wasn't congenitally displaced but there was nothing at all! Fortunately some of my friends said they had the same problem but I asked the patient after the exam and he said his heart is perfectly normal....

The rest of the week, timetabled as 'Revision Week', has been relatively quiet with most days having a lot of free time. Wednesday lunchtime was Ann's Piano performance at Pilgrim Uniting Church, MedCamp 08 team meeting after lunch with her family & Christina, couple of lectures. Nick, Marg, Ashley and Jason arrived later in the evening and it's been great having them stay in our house, even if it does mean Stu and I are forced to move into the back room for a week. Thursday was empty until Team Education handover meeting at 5:30pm then straight to a fast Big Week Out meeting, then to music practice and finally home! Friday was a nice hospital visit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woodville followed by lunch in the city. The evening was dinner in China Town with Nick, Marg and the Family plus the Bartels too, followed by a great Village Visit, I haven't been visiting for some time so it was good to catch up with many people after holidays etc.

With all this free time you'd assume I'd be thinking "Excellent! Time for more study, more God and more relaxation" and it's true, I do think that. However it's been difficult to make my thoughts reality and there's just been too much computer gaming!! I think it's because there's no great pressure. I haven't been totally useless though, I've been revising the Kidney and I've had all these meetings with great action plans to do afterwards. Saturday was looking like a dud day until Ann phoned in the afternoon and suggested the small group get together so I picked up Joel and Christina and headed up to Ann's place in Modbury. We had fun but the best part was spending time sharing deep stuff and having the encouragement and support of the group. We even got to enjoy dinner with the family which was another nice touch to the evening, nice touch to my stomach too! It feels like God has been so present in the last couple of days. When I got home my parents, Nick, Marg and I all had a great discussion about Euthanasia and Homosexuality which was quite spontaneous but really good.

Today has been another good day with singing/drumming at Church this morning, playing with baby Angus and the Venter twins after the service too. Emailing for Schoolies and stuff got done this afternoon as well as doing work on the Big Week Out Knowledge-base website. Tonight was a good FRESH although none of the newer people wanted to come, too busy with work...??? Good response opportunity following camp (3 weeks ago). Opportunity for people to recommit themselves and to be prayed for so they can spread the message of Jesus amongst their friends.  Popped in on Ann at college on my way home to give some encouragement which was good as well. Back into normal Uni tomorrow for 3 more weeks before SWOTVAC & Exams. I'm also doing a Stomach Research thing for the next 2 weeks on Tuesdays so I need to take some medication first thing tomorrow and again on Tuesday for that. They're looking at the effects of this new medication on the rate of stomach emptying. They'll give me a meal of mash potato with an isotope in it then watch my stomach via a gamma camera for 4hrs. Quite thrilling, yes. Good opportunity for some study and reading whilst they're doing that though and I get paid $15 per hour. Hong Kong, here I come!!

Jasmine was lead demonstrator for the Marine Bio excursion yesterday, apparently went pretty well. Her research is a bit on hold at the moment due to some important lab materials still in transit form overseas which is a little frustrating to her. Last week I made a card then got lots of people from CCC, the 'family' and small group to write encouraging messages to Jasmine. Well, she received it today and I think she really likes it. I hope she's feeling very encouraged!
Love you, Jazz