winnie, phil and an irish pint

I'm broke... well, almost. Today was the last day to pay for my plane ticket to Europe at the end of the year. Yes, it's final -- there's no going back now. Not that I'd want to. I admit, the fact that my savings account (which I've been sooo good about this year!) is almost back to zero is slightly painful, however, it makes my impending trip that much more real! The excitement is slowly building up more and more with each day that passes. Only three months now until I'll be in London! And not just London, but Scotland and Ireland! To be honest, I'm more excited about latter than I am about London itself. Maybe my friends are right -- if I'm going to have a pint in Ireland, then I'm going to have to start building up tolerance since beer consumption has never been my forte... hmmm...

And apparently, smart is cool. I mean, I've always thought so myself but now it's official -- it's on CNN so it must be true!! Well, smart is cool according to Winnie from Wonder Years. What makes it funnier is that my family's pet name for me is Winnie -- apparently they thought there was some sort of resemblance, whether in appearance or personality I do not know. But we really must be kindred if she thinks smart is cool too!!

The Wonder Years was great... and so is Phil...

when it rains, it pours

I know this may not be the case for most students here, but I have to say -- while basking in the comfort of my parents' house, heater and electric blanket on full -- I have to say that I love the rain. I love that in Dunedin, even though it's utterly freezing half the year, it doesn't rain much per se, so when it does you appreciate it that much more. Like an old friend who lives half way across the world but has come to visit for a couple of days -- just long enough to remember only the best about them.

Unless you're actually outside in the rain, which I try to avoid as much as possible, it really is lovely. I love the sound the rain makes as it downpours onto your roof; it's worthy of it's own Hemingway-esque poem.


I don't know why but I had the worst headache today and just couldn't concentrate at all. I actually started to fall into deep sleep a couple times during lectures. Could it be I'm going through some sort of withdrawal because I didn't have any coffee today? Surely not. I may enjoy my coffee, but I'm not... dependent... hmmm.... Maybe I should test it out and try not having coffee all week and see how I fare. Or maybe not.

I've been catching up on my US Presidential Election news of late, and am kind of worried and slightly disappointed at how it's turning out. I just hope that Clinton and Obama don't do anything to jeopardise the best chance of a democratic win. I'm still waiting for Al, but at this point I'm gonna stop holding my breath. Kirsty's promised to get the sixth season of West Wing out for me while I'm recuperating from my surgery in a couple weeks -- definitely something to look forward to.

I can't believe this year is almost over. I mean, it practically is already. Crazy. How did it get to be August so quickly??

daisy chains and dandy lions

It's the first Saturday in a long time that I haven't had to go into work, and it feels SO good. The whole 'work Friday night, then the next morning' is really hard to do I'm beginning to realise so it's nice having a weekend off. I got a chance to sleep in, have breakfast with my family, and enjoy the nice weather. Yay! Can you believe I'm even looking forward to getting some good study done? (I'm not afraid to embrace my inner - or not so inner - nerd.)

Good, warm weather always reminds me of Seattle. Misleading, I know, since it rains nine months of the year there, but the very last summer I was there (before moving back to NZ) was such a thickly warm, gorgeous summer -- and strangely enough, that's how I'll always remember my four years there.

Which gets me thinking of America...

Which gets me thinking of Boston...

Which gets me thinking of... yeah....

I feel like going for a walk. It's that kind of day.

0.5 of a doctor

Despite all my recents doubts of my impending career, I have to admit this is very exciting:

Although at this point, the only thing I could tell you is whether or not you were alive. It's okay -- I've got three more years (and the rest of my life!) to figure it out, riiiight??

sexy back

After nine hours of being on campus without a break - starting at 8am!! - followed by a quick dinner, I headed off to our first Funky Ballet session at Clubs and Socs. I say "we" because Boomi and I made a joint decision last semester that we'd take one of those seemingly stressfree, fun, just-for-the-hell-of-it random classes they offer for students, whether it's Beginner's Spanish, Judo, Tango, or in our case, Funky Ballet.

I liked the "Funky" part of it. Naturally I have no dancing ability whatsoever, but I thought under the circumstances it might be fun to have a go. I've never been a 'social sports' kind of person, and have for most of my life avoided situations or classes where I could very clearly predict me making an ass of myself. So why the change of heart? The answer is two-fold: first off, near the end of last semester med school was driving me crazy and I was in desperate need of anything... not med; and second, I knew, with the exception of my friend Boomi, I wouldn't recognize anyone there so... why not?? Anonymity is a powerful thing.

And surprisingly enough, it wasn't as painful as I thought it could have been. I wouldn't go straight to fun, but it was really... refreshing to do something so utterly random and new and different. Although I now know what it feels like to be at the absolute bottom of a class -- well, maybe not absolute bottom because the two guys taking the class weren't so hot, but they're guys so what does that say?? But you know what? Even that was pretty damn refreshing.

I didn't feel very funky though. Kind of disappointing, but there are four more sessions so maybe the funk comes later on in the class.

The funniest part of the whole night, however, was the fact that I forgot my actual shorts. I had planned on wearing shorts over my old tatty bike pants, but instead of shoving my navy blue shorts into the bag I packed my navy blue t-shirt instead. So here I am in the bathroom getting changed only to discover I bought two shirts and no shorts. Following? I had a half-second freakout, but then thought to myself, hey I'm twenty now -- who cares? Who cares if I feel absolutely ridiculous wearing only a pair of old tatty bike pants -- I'll just act like it was on purpose. Just own it, aye! And to be honest, it felt pret-ty cool. And that kind of led to a similar mindset throughout the entire class, embracing my un-coordinate moves and all. But I had fun, and that's the whole point, I guess.

Dancing along to Justin Timberlake, I may not have been much of a sight according to society's standards, but in Anna's world, I was TOTALLY bringing sexy back! (Though I would argue it was never gone to begin with!)

oh, to be a revolutionary

Anna: I read this really good article while I was at work yesterday about how those people involved in the terrorist attacks in Scotland/London recently were doctors... it got me thinking...

Kirsty: Yeah...?

Anna: Yeah... I think I would have been a good revolutionary. Like Che. I think I see a lot of Che Guevara in myself...

Kirsty: No. I don't think you're like Che... but you're definitely as hot. Your face would be good on all those shirts.



My sister is hilarious. The most unexpected response, but it proves how funny she is.

perfection

Before I die I'm going to take a boat out to Lake Manapouri and, enveloped by the absolutely perfect silence, listen to Chopin.