Tuesday, August 29

Weekend wanderings

No doubt I should be studying for my test tomorrow (or not.. its mcq and they ask such peripheral questions I'm unsure studying is useful!) however I promised to update you masses on the dinner I cooked on sunday night. I wonder if its a reflection on how infrequently I cook that its blog worthy... No i think, I do cook but normally a more 'whatever goes' meal rather than planned and shopped for by me in advance! So Sunday night for Dads birthday I cooked a delicious paella with saffron, rice, chicken, chorizo sausage, and seafood - including mussels, squid, prawns, and ling. Delicious! It is a bonus that it looks so spectacular - the yellow rice with the red and green capsicum and peas, and all the colourful bits of sausage etc. Yummmmmmm. Then to follow up, mostly because I wanted to play with Dads mini blow-torch, I decided to make creme brulee. I had this plan of making them earlier in the day so they could cool like they were supposed to, but... well needless to say it didn't happen. But I made them just before having to go out and set the oven to turn off at the appropriate time. I came back and they were looking nice and cooked - all I had to do was sprinkle sugar and torch 'em! Dad said they were set just slightly more than they should have been - but not sure I'd have turned them off any earlier even if I'd been there. Anyway.. very tasty, and easy.. though the ingredients can't make it health food!!

My weekend (again) had a general theme of events that did a good job of distracting me from study. Sunday morning was a friends birthday brunch at her parents place which was pleasant. Saturday night was the med ball - everyone dressed up and looked lovely. I didn't end up going out afterwards and sadly got home before Dad and Kate - but thats cos our venue shut and wanted us out and theirs let them stay longer. I could have gone out but phone went flat and couldn't meet anyone and knew I had lots on.. then Ruth's Dad was there offering a lift... it was just too easy! Earlier that day I'd made the perfect breakfast for Tahnee and myself - french toast with maple syrup before we made a trip to town for Natty's birthday present. I zoomed back to Mum's after that to catch up with my grandparents before they headed back to Lonny. As I arrived I noticed Mum was wearing a nice new necklance and earrings - and as I soon found out a new engagement ring also. So that exciting piece of news and Hamish ringing assorted relatives kept me distracted on and off for lots of the day! I think its great, not so much because its conventional, but because they are great together. And hey - some more parties to celebrate that must be good!!

Friday, August 25

Busy busy busy...

I've had an up and down sort of time lately. Lots of good things are happening, but the problem is that I spend lots of time doing things other than study, then feel behind and stressed. And despite not having done much in the way of getting ready to move house that is feeling slightly stressful too - or perhaps because I've done so little!

However the house has started the process of transformation on the inside - turning from the peach colour I've mentioned before to a much nicer pleasant light colour - I think technically its of the mushroom spectrum. But don't worry - its basically a slightly warm white that is different enough to not be the same as the white ceiling.

Other things that have been happening included the Submerge/youth group 40 Hour famine sleepover. This was kinda fun and good etc although also hard work and various events unfolded to make it slightly more stressful for the leaders on empty stomachs and little sleep. But hopefully the kids enjoyed themselves. On the friday night of last week I went to an African dinner held by IMPACT (group of med people interested in helping overseas work). We were raising money for the World Vision/Ausaid (i think) 10X appeal-so the $2300 we raised turns into $23000 worth of emergency food relief. I never could quite understand who puts in the extra money but it sounds good to me.

I went to Rustica (rural health society at uni) skill night on Tuesday. They had various stations of which we could choose 2 and then food and drinks afterwards. I did airway management - learnt how to put airways in a dummy and ventilate them. The little airways were fine although I think the long tube one went the wrong way because you couldn't pump air in... ie must have ended up in the oesaphagus going towards the stomach! Ah well... I also did the venepuncture station so got to learn how to take blood from veins. I took blood from one of the other first years with amazingly obvious veins and it was really easy - and he was brave! I even (me the needlephobe) volunteered my arm but then once the tornique was on and the alcohol had been swabbed we decided my veins weren't as easy as the other guy and Chloe did it on him again. Poor guy! Mine were there and you could feel them but not see them, so the guy running it suggested starting easy as possible. Ah well.. one day I'll be brave. Am planning to give blood some day but not sure about that idea either.. it keeps getting put off!

Otherwise - another busy weekend ahead. It was Dads birthday yesterday and I said I'd cook him dinner on sunday. Should be delicious but will report later when i decide which dessert to go with the Paella! Also going out to dinner with him and Kate and my aunt and uncle tonight. Should be yummy!

Sunday, August 13

it must be the weather for moving house!

This weekend, Tahnee also moved house. I arrived in time to help with the last load of things from her car. We unpacked one of the boxes to find all her mugs wrapped in newspaper to make the first cup of tea since its been 'her' place (well and Andrew's, but he hadn't taken anything there yet!!). Hopefully many more cups of tea.. and other beverages will be consumed there and it will be a happy home. It was quite exciting unpacking her kitcheny things and putting things away - after deciding where away should be! When Tahnee had to go, I went to visit another friend Megan who's just moved out. See - its in the water or something. Or I guess, there is the possibility its the age and stage some of my friends are getting to. I'm getting to a similar age (give or take a year!) but am content for the time being with my two homes, and currently 3 houses!! It will be enough of a change for me to move from my family home to the new house - will enjoy living there for a bit (read maybe 'quite a bit') before I feel the need to move out! Hey... I'll have 2 houses each within about 10 minutes walk or less of my two different uni campuses! Hurrah. Posted by Picasa

houses

Well.... house is sold (you knew that, but the sticker finally appeared to support the evidence of contrasct signing etc). And we got the keys for the new house last weekend. We had a little party there on friday night - camping out with take-away Indian and sushi, sitting in fold-up chairs around a card table. Lots of fun. We also had sunday lunch there with another selection of people. We thought it was good to start out the way we want to continue - lots of friends and food regularly!! So now we have 2 houses for 2 months. This means there is lots of time to get the old one sorted and packed. Still, that requires starting.. and its another sunday night of a weekend where I've achieved nothing in the way of packing. Oops.
But back to the new house. Hurrah - the painters have started scraping etc to get downstairs rooms ready for a paint job. Above is just a little pic showing a combination of colours in the bathroom - maroon-ish on tiles, orange-ish wall, red-ish door. Mmmm. Bad light but it doesn't solve the fact its orange!! So... change is welcome. And we'll work on doing some other bits at some point, hopefully before moving in too much.
And for some reason, the only other photo I took was this, of the toilet. Nothing special - except the sticker that says in many languages 'remove before use'. Obviously no-one bothered with that because I don't think its a new addition!!! Ah well... easily fixed I guess. Posted by Picasa
An old pic I found on my phone!! What are friends for but to take photos with on public transport with tongues out!!?? Posted by Picasa

Purple Hair


About 2 weeks ago I got around to trying out the (8 wash!) purple hair dye I'd bought cheaply recently. Mum did it for me - complete with foil!!! It wasn't as vibrant as it might have been, but in some lights it was surprisingly noticable. It has faded considerably now (2 weeks later) but is just visible! I quite liked it.. maybe I'll do it again some day. I had a good excuse for finally doing it that weekend - my friend Eve had a party with 'hair' as the theme - pity it was barely visible in the dark!!! Posted by Picasa

doh

Just wrote a nice post about things I've been doing lately. Then my laptop went flat before I could plug it in properly. Oh well. I'll write some more later and just add a few pics for now. They're taken with my phone because camera has been separated from camera batteries due to my forgetfulness! And because I like gadgets.

Also I found (Jack showed me while we were getting distracted from writing essays!) a cool site for distractions. www.thecoolhunter.net has all sorts of wierd and wacky design inventions. Jack particularly liked the Selk-bags and plans to have all his house mates wearing them asap. I might pick out some highlights to put on here at some point.

Thursday, August 3

Comments Welcome

Apparently I'd removed the link for comments to be made! Oops. Well hopefully I made it come back now. Feel free to say hi :)
PS we get the keys for the hosue on Friday - very exciting. Must be weather for moving too - on monday I went with Tahnee to see the place she and Andrew just signed the lease for! Its nice - will be cosy, but hopefully good value and good location.
More on house soon... for now pizza while sitting on the floor?

Wednesday, August 2

Euthanasia: be one of the first to try....

I sent myself an email earlier in the day from my hotmail account to my gmail account, to send a copy of a debate I'm writing for university. The topic is that euthanasia should be legalised, and I'm arguing the negative case. There is quite a lot of information either way, and I'm undecided on what I think. But I will argue my point. Anyway, the hotmail account has taken to putting a footer at the bottom of the page about the windows live mail 'experience' like this:
Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail.
http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d

Meanwhile, i'd called my attahed document 'euthanasia'. And gmail, had displayed this in my inbox as:
Euthanasia; be one of the first to try....
If it wasn't from myself, I might have thought someone was trying to suggest something nasty...

bleeding practicals

I'm OK! Just in case anyone was wondering (ok.. probably not!) I survived the blood prac. There was a little gadgey you load up with a fresh needle and then you press a button and it pricks you - but only about 2mm in. Then you squeeze it really hard and get some blood out. I was reluctant to press the button but it didn't hurt too much. I got ot test my blood type - turns out I'm just common old O positive - but safety in numbers - it is the most common blood group. And thats assuming my analysis of the 'agglutination' is correct.