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!