An emotional rollercoster, with Candy and a night with Danny in between

Arrrrgh, here I am, trying to get my head around the last few days. I feel as if I've been on a rollercoster, and as a result, its all jumbled up in my head, so maybe by writing it down, I can try to get sense of it all....

The best way to do this is day by day. So on Wednesday, I started a course called "Assertive communication for postgraduates". What does assertive mean? *looking for a dictionary...*

Assertive: 1. declare strongly; 2. insist upon.

Why did I decide to it? I read a brief overview about what the course was about, and I kept thinking, yes, I have that problem. For example, communicating ideas effectively with your supervisor and being able to speak at conferences. Anyway, I walked into the first session feeling a bit apprehensive (after all, I'd never done a course like this before, and you're in a group of strangers) but I walked out again simply blown away (and emotionally drained). We basically spent that session discussing our goals and fears of the course - basically why we were there, and some of the stories people told just made sit back and go "Wow!". Its a comfortable environment that allows you to explore firstly, what is assertive communication, which is more complicated than I first thought as everyone has their own views of what it is (we spent half an hour discussing it!). At the moment, I think assertive communication is being able to confidently state your opinions, and remain true to yourself and not getting 'lost' in a conversation. Hmm, reading back, its not quite that either. But to do those things makes you think about yourself and what aspects stops you from communicating assertively. And I immediately thought, I always stress out (or freak out) about things (big and small) and it prevents me from thinking and communicating clearly - maybe this is something that can be addressed in the course? Can't wait to find out...

With all these thoughts about assertive communication swimming through my head, I went and saw "Candy" starring Health Ledger and Abbie Cornish with Caroline. Cue a movie review...

Movie Review: Candy

Candy is an Australian film based on the best selling novel by Luke Davies. It tells the story of two young lovers, poet Dan (Heath Ledger) and artist Candy (Abbie Cornish) as they explore their relationship, and how heroin takes a hold of them and threatens what they hold dear. I have to say now that I think I held my breath throughout the film (metaphorically speaking) because it was so intense. One particular scene that comes to mind is when Dan and Candy attempt to go 'cold turkey' - I was holding my breath thinking, "Please, let them get through this". The performances by Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish were amazing - they made their characters so real and complex. The ending also was not the ending I wanted, but I think it was perfect for this film (and the right one) - it perfectly captured the idea that things in life don't always work out the way you want them to, and sometimes you need to be strong enough to realise what is right, even though your heart may cry out against it. So I walked out with a smile :)

My verdict: strap in your seat belt, you're in for an intense ride - but its worth it! It also made me a fan of Heath Ledger - I'd never liked him before, but his work here made me change my mind :)


And that was Wednesday! Thursday could be seen as a complete opposite to Wednesday - Mariam, Despina and I went to see Danny Bhoy at the Melbourne Comedy Festival! After sitting in the wrong seat in the theatre (oops!) we watched a very funny show! With stories ranging from Scottish breakfasts, national emblems, and where exactly do bagpipes fit in an orchestra he kept us laughing for the 1 hour show. He has a great sense of timing and tells his stories with a careless spontaneity. There were only two bad things: 1. We were sitting in the upper level (we had allocated seating) so unfortunately I ended up seeing the top of his head for most of the time; 2. There was a heckler in the crowd that kept on interupting with no brainer comments (think she was a bit drunk - they serve drinks before the show). But to Danny's credit, he just took it in his stride. It was good to be able to laugh and it was a good contrast to the thoughts that I had on Wednesday :)


Because I didn't get back until late on Thursday, I felt like I was running precariously low on energy when it became Friday. Well, it became pretty obvious when I arrived in the lab at 9:30am! (I know it seems normal for some people, but considering I think 9am is late...) Anyway, I thought "Its time for emergency measures...where's the coffee?" The problem, however with me and coffee is that it makes me hyper and this time was no exception. It lasted for the whole day! Thankfully, I didn't have to do any lab work (oh, actually, yes I did - I had to freeze a blood sample with Roza's help :) but I think I've lost the PBMC*...we'll wait and see), as there were 2 meetings, a morning tea speech for Ken Gayler (former head of the biochemistry department) orientation for the postgraduate essentials course and Brett's 21st birthday to go to. By the time I got home, I was very, very tired :P


I spent most of Saturday recovering, then Mariam, Despina, Maria and I went out to celebrate the fact we have finally all graduated (we were in three different ceremonies)! Woo hoo! It was heaps of fun, starting at "The Croft Institute" and making it up as we went along. Let's just say there was rain (though not too much when we were actually outside), falling down, talking about anything and everything and roast chickens! But on a serious note, it was great being able to talk about things and knowing that these three will "tell it like it is". Basically, they're not afraid to give you crap or tell you you're being stupid :) They're a good sounding board for when you're thoughts are all a jumble in my head.

So now, I'm a bit blerry eyed, but at least my thoughts are mostly sorted. I admit I have a stress problem and need to come up with a strategy to combat it. Once you've identified the problem, you're 90% of the way there - you just now need to find ways to solve it :) But that won't be easy either...

Oh, and the Apple Mojito at The Croft Institute is really nice...thanks, Chris :) and it was worth it walking up that dark creepy alley way that stunk of fish! I'd recommend The Croft Institute as a cool place to go!


And if you haven't watched it already, tune into "Nerds FC" which is on Fridays, 7:30pm on SBS. It is basically getting a bunch of nerds...sorry about the stereotype, how about unathletic, but VERY SMART guys and training them to play soccer. It is hilarious and the guys on the team are really cool and come from all different walks of life. If you miss an episode, go to http://www.nerdsfc.com.au Hurry up and watch it, as there are only a limited amount of episodes!!


*PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells - basically the monocytes and lymphocytes in your blood. You're just separating out these cells from everything else that's in the blood and trust me there is a lot of stuff in there!

Movie review: The Inside Man

I have to admit now that I did have some preconceived notions before I watched this movie - I had read a few reviews about it, which had rated it pretty highly (anything from 3 to 4 stars) and that the director was Spike Lee, who has his own unique style of film making. However, in the end, it was a choice between this and "V for Vendetta" but Chris had already seen "V for Vendetta".

Where to start? The first thing that I think of is that this film is very deceptive - on the surface it seems straight forward, but as you watch it, it becomes more complicated as you think "what is going on?". On the surface, its simple - a gang of people (led by Clive Owen) take a bank and its inhabitants at that particular moment hostage. Its then up to Denzel Washington and William Dafoe who play a detective and police officer respectively, to try and set the hostages free and make sure the gang gets caught. However, as the situation heats up, we realise that this isn't your typical hostage situation - it is a well planned take over where money is not the main objective and the lines become blurred when Jodie Foster's character enters the mix. Who she is exactly is never explained, but she wields a lot of influence in the hostage situation and holds all the trump cards for all the parties involved.

You would classify this film as a thriller - you wonder who will win - the gang or the detective? Or someone else? Its hard to figure out as each character is not what they seem....although William Dafoe looks scary to me no matter role he plays, so I thought he had a hidden motive anyway...

Anyway, I don't want to write anymore, else I'll give too much away. So the verdict? If you like thrillers with a twist, I'd recommend this movie.

Jury Service.

After being cancelled twice (and causing a lot of grief trying to reorganise things around) I finally went and did my jury service on Friday.

To sum it up in one word: interesting. I'd never been to the law courts before, and for jury service you have to go to the county court, which is a new building, so it has a modern interior design. After battling the rain and the automatic revolving door, you have to walk through metal detector and get your belongings checked out - like when you go to the airport and you're walking through all the various check in points. Obviously security is important.

Once you've checked in, you go through "Jury service orientation" where the process of being selected for a jury is explained. Then its just a lot of waiting around with about 100 other people, and all the tea and coffee you can drink. There were only two trials (a 4 day and a 10 day trial) running that day, and out of those, only one required a jury, which I wasn't selected for. When they let you go, you get your cheque (which is $36 per day for the first 7 days, then $72 per day after that). It was good to get it out of the way - when I first got the questionaire, I really wanted to be on a jury, but I was really hoping I wouldn't get picked, as it would seriously stuff up all the things I had planned for the next fortnight. (cue a lot of stressed out rearranging...)

After leaving the county court, I headed back to the lab because we were going to go and see a movie. But when I got there, I found out that everyone who was going had something else...so its back to the drawing board and we'll have to choose another day. So I went down to the pub instead where Ryan was celebrating "the completion of his journal review (well the first draft)" and then after that, Chris and I went and saw "The Inside Man" which was fun. And I ended up seeing a movie after all! :)

Its official, my blog is now my "pseudo therapist"

Its amazing what can happen in just over 24 hours...I sped up the purification process of my protein (by making it drip through the column a bit quicker), and it looks like we have some enzyme! Well, not much, but at least I can see a band on the SDS PAGE gel :)

Unfortunately, you can still buy the entire 5 seasons of Angel as a DVD box set.

But it seems like that my blog is now acting as a pseudo therapist...well, its much cheaper than seeing a real therapist and you can waffle whenever you want to, but unfortunately I don't get a therapist that looks like Jack Devine :(

Just had to vent right now...

Found out that you can get all FIVE seasons of "Angel" as a DVD box set for $210 at JB-HiFi! And I've already got seasons 1 to 3 on DVD! A very sneaky (and horrible!) marketing ploy....

Plus, I'm purifying my protein (which basically involves putting it through a column and waiting for it to drip through) and 16 hours later, only 100ml has gone through. Only 400ml to go....it looks like it will be a long wait.

Grrrrr. Arrrrrgh.

Those who watch Buffy knows where that comes from :P

At least its another beautiful, sunny autumn day - my favourite kind of day!

The facinating, facinating world of display homes.

The weather keeps changing and the annoying thing is that when you go out, its horrible weather, but when you're at home stuck indoors, it decides to be nice :P

A good example of this was when I went "display home" exploring on Saturday. This involves going to a place with lots of display homes (Caroline Springs) and exploring them one by one. It has been a while since I've last done this (at least 10 years) so it was good to have another chance and do some more exploring. However, the weather was pretty lousy, (lots of threatening grey clouds and a very cold wind that would penetrate your clothes and make you shiver) but at least the display homes were heated!

Hmmm, its surprising how interesting it is - because all you're doing is basically looking at different houses. In a way, they lack personality because no one lives in these homes yet - there are no personal knick knacks and have an "unlived" look (Basically, they are "cookie cutter" homes). The interest for me, I guess, is being able to see immaculately designed homes and make faces at how they were designed. Although they look good, they are not very practical! (but I guess you can get used to anything!)

A good example of this is how the master bedroom of a house is designed. A common trend was how there was no door for the wardrobe, or ensuite. I guess they were aiming for a more "open space" feel, but in some cases, it felt like a maze trying to find the wardrobe and the ensuite or you would have the wardrobe and ensuite on opposite sides of the room. But sometimes, you'd want to have a door - especially for the bathroom if you want to be quiet and let the other person sleep. My favourite one though was where the shower and toilet were hidden away in separate glass cubicles, with a bathtub in the centre of the bathroom, decorated with red and white tiles. It was a creative way to put everything in one room.

There were a lot of other similarities between all the display homes, but the good ones were the addition of a complete "home theatre" room, where you can use a projector to watch movies, and the the landscaping of the backyard and living area to entertain guests. But I guess those things are catered for families, rather than single people.

So that was display home exploring. Of course, the weather decided to improve when I got home, but when I went to see "Cooped" by the Spymonkeys (who are a melbourne comedy festival act) later that night the weather decided to be horrible again, but it was still a fun night :)

Book Review: "Anybody Out There?", Marian Keyes

One of the things I love about the easter break is that it is only a few days long, which means I don't feel too guilty about not doing any lab work, and it is long enough to read and enjoy a good book! [and I have to thank Roza, for lending this novel to me :) ]

The book in question is called "Anybody out there?" by Marian Keyes. Marian Keyes is a chick-lit* author who has already written several other novels, including "Sushi for beginners", "Lucy Sullivan is getting married", "Last Chance Saloon", "The Other Side of the story", "Watermelon" and "Rachel's Holiday".

"Anybody out there?" continues to follow the Walsh family, who are an Irish family who consist of five sisters - some of who have been the focus of previous novels. From eldest to youngest, they are Claire (Watermelon), Margaret (Angels), Rachel (Rachel's Holiday), Anna (Anybody out there?), and Helen.

Anybody out there? focuses on Anna's life and begins as she is recovering in Dublin after she has been the victim of a terrible car accident, which took the life of her husband, Aidan Maddox. As the story progresses, we learn about how she copes with his death, her job as a PR agent in New York for a cosmetic company, Candy Grrrl, (which is referred to as "The most fabulous job in the world" *lol*), how Aidan and Anna first met, and more about the Walsh family, where we learn about Helen's job as a PI (private investigator) in Dublin and Rachel's marriage to her fiance Luke.

Any of Marian Keyes novels are easy to read, with believable, likeable characters that addresses issues that anyone could be going through. There are also some hilarious moments in the book, including Jacqui's (Anna's best friend) view of how a man being a "feathery stroker" is an absolute turn off (this cracked me up, especially her defintion of a "feathery stroker"), Anna's mother and her obsession with spying on an elderly woman who would always get her dog to do his business on their front gate, Gus's obsession with accupuncture and Luke and his "too tight" pants, which is an obsession for all of the Walsh sisters (including their mother!).

What I enjoyed most about "Anybody out there?" was how Marian Keyes portrayed Anna. In past novels, she was described as the passive, always "out of it" sister, but here, she is brought into her own and she is a believable, likeable character that is different to her other sisters in the previous novels. She has her vunerable side (which is seen as she chases various psychics in an attempt to contact Aidan) and is not as confident as Claire, or understanding as Rachel, but she knows what she wants. The ending of this novel was different to her other novels, which for me was refreshing, as in the past, Marian Keyes tends to have her main female character finding the man of her dreams (which isn't bad at all!), but obviously this couldn't be done in this novel.

And keeping with tradition, there is a delicious male lead character (Aidan), although he wasn't as good as previous characters (Jack Devine - Sushi for Beginners; Luke Costello - Rachel's Holiday; Joe Roth - Last Chance Saloon), because he wasn't there for very long, but Nicholas, Mitch, Angelo and Joey (some of the other male characters in the book) made up for this.

So, the final verdict? A highly enjoyable read, with its funny moments, and an improvement on her last novel "The Other Side of The Story", which was a bit of a let down, with lukewarm characters. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to read chick lit with an Irish twist! However, if you want the full story about the Walshes, it is best to read Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday and Angels before you read Anybody out there? because some of the events in the novel occur in these past novels.

* For those of you not familar with the term, "chick lit" refers to a sub genre of fiction novels which focuses on the life/lives of a modern woman. It is also usually written by a woman, but there are some male chick lit authors. The important thing is that chick lit isn't confused with romance novels - they are two different styles :)

A week ago, I graduated.

That's right, I did. I had my graduation ceremony. After a hectic seven hours starting at 6:30am (I think it was, it was pretty early for a Saturday! *lol*) I received a piece of paper informing me that I have officially completed a Bachelor of Science , with honours (the important part)! But it is strange though, you don't realise how important it was until its over...

So let's start at the start. Graduation ceremony number 151 (well, that's what it says in the program). At 10:30am on Saturday April 1st. It had the dubious distinction of being on a cold and windy April Fools Day. Before the ceremony, I was just like, whatever, lets get this done. But on the day, the anticipation of getting your degree and the recognition of four years (or if you want to be really pedantic, its been about 18 years) of education to reach this point starts to sink in and reach fever pitch.

I don't know what it is precisely. Is it the robes, with the olive green sash? Being able to share this experience with your family, who are excited to celebrate this day with you? All the photos you take or are a part of? Seeing people you have studied with throughout the four years about to share the same experience as you? A lot of honours students were at the same ceremony, which made it extra special :) (Doing honours was like 'rite of passage' so seeing them there was like an acknowledgement that we had all made it!) The organ music that plays as the procession enters the hall that sounds so much like like a wedding march until one particular note is played? Seeing the Lord Mayor John So? Or the degree itself?

Whatever it was, it worked - so much so that by the time it was my turn to get my degree from the vice chancellor, I was a nervous wreck. So much so that the usher at the top of the stairs on the stage said to me "Now take a deep breath..." before I walked across the stage to get my degree. I think I forgot to nod to the vice chancellor too, but its hard to say...it was such a blur that I don't remember anything except that I waved to my family in the balcony as I returned to my seat. I can double check what happened on the DVD! After the ceremony was hectic too, trying to find my family in a swarm of black robes. But I managed it, and then we left to have lunch. You want food by that time :)

Since there isn't a lot to say about the actual ceremony and I don't want to ruin the experience too much for those of you who haven't graduated yet, here is my advice to those of you who haven't had a graduation ceremony yet:

- Think about what kind of photos you want. If you want to do outdoor photos, its best to do them when its light. It wasn't a problem for me, as it was during the day, but if you're in the evening, you may have a problem. If you want professional photos, get them done beforehand if you can. You don't have to wait as long, and you haven't sat through the ceremony yet and messed up your robes. Plus, they'll give you a fake degree for the photos! And if you're like my parents, there will be a lot of photos!
- Still on the subject of photos, if you want photos with friends, if they're graduating with you, make sure you take it ASAP, as they may be whisked away without warning. If you've asked friends to meet you beforehand, make you clearly state the time and place. You don't want them grumpy because there was a miscommunication between you.
- The robes are not that good at keeping you warm if it is a cold, windy day.
- It actually doesn't take that long to get the robes put on. You don't really need to be there an hour and a half early.
- If you're video taping the ceremony, make sure you get the person you want and don't switch off the camera beforehand. We are only on the stage for a minute at best. Otherwise you have to get the DVD, which is more expensive if ordered after the ceremony.
- Talk with your family (and maybe friends too) beforehand about what you want to do especially with regard to photos and about after the ceremony. Just to prevent any misunderstandings and to make it an enjoyable day for all.
- If photos are not your thing, there are plenty of other graduation 'souviners' available. There is should be something to suit everyone.
- If you're graduating with a bachelors degree, or a bachelors degree with honours, you don't get a hat :( You've been warned. You only get a hat if you've done a masters (black square hat) or a PhD (black squishy bonnet).

That's pretty much my graduation ceremony. The funny thing was, the final thing that hammered the point home that I had graduated was the surprise waiting for me when I got home. He was so cute!