Week 63 - ATAR checking & Wardrobe sharing

Thursday #64 – I woke up at 7 this morning and headed straight to the front lawn to grab the paper and check if I could see The Scientist’s name in there.  With her HSC results released on Wednesday, she was driving me insane with her reluctance to check so I took matters into my hands and checked The Sydney Morning Herald to see if she made the honour roll for getting marks over 90 in individual subjects.  Sure enough, there she was with two subjects over 90 and I headed off to work excited to find out her ATAR at 9am.

I got there about 10 minutes early and found out that The BH&G Fan already knew The Scientist’s marks and was in fact the only person who knew them with The Scientist still refusing to find out.  The BH&G Fan filled us in and we tried to predict what ATAR she would get, agreeing that she should get over 90 as she’d hoped.  After claiming she didn’t have her PIN and the details she needed to check, we managed to find the email with the info and logon to the website before The BH&G Fan and I suddenly got nervous and assured The Scientist she really didn’t have to check right then and there if she didn’t want to.  We both breathed a massive sigh of relief when her mark came up and I honestly think the two of us were more stressed about it than she was.  Our hearts were beating a million miles an hour and we were super excited for her and proud of her.

At about 9.30 I actually started doing some work, albeit not very productively and before I knew it it was time for my lunch break.  I decided to head to the café and enjoy one last BLT as I knew that I wouldn’t be needing lunch on Friday given the morning tea that was planned to farewell me after 11 years with The Humphreys.

With DTM at Centrelink I headed straight to Maroubra after work and stuffed some more bags and boxes into the Mazda before driving back to Forestville.  We ordered some pizzas for dinner before heading back to The Bra to grab more furniture and crap as part of my never-ending move back north.  In theory the idea of gradually moving all my stuff each time I do a trip seems like the easy option, but in reality I rarely do trips there so instead I am just making the 45 minute drive much more frequently than necessary to slowly get a huge bedroom from the Eastern Suburbs to the Northern Beaches.

I spent the rest of the night unpacking clothes and trying to fit my massive wardrobe into DTM’s already full walk in robe.  It ended up being a pretty tight fit but I was expecting worse.  Not the best Thursday as moving house is up there on my list of most despised activities but next week should be an improvement.

Week 62 - Boozing & Waxing

Thursday #63 – woke up fairly early (for a non-work day) this Thursday as DTM had suggested (for a very long time) that we head to the zoo.  We got ourselves ready and headed off to the bus stop with plans to get off at Wynyard, walk to Circular Quay and get the ferry to the zoo – it all seemed so straight forward…

When we got to Wynyard we headed to the Coles Express there to pick up some supplies for the day and perhaps some lunch to take with us.  Before I knew it I had agreed to walk further away from the quay to some salad place to grab take away lunch.  As we headed down past town hall I wondered why we hadn’t just gotten off the bus there as I was fairly sure this was DTM’s plan all along.  We detoured via a post office (always a fun stop at Christmas time) and eventually made our way to the salad place at World Square.  It brought back uni memories as I was once again presented with dozens of ingredients and told to choose 7 to put in my salad…and just as I always did at the salad place at uni, I instead opted for the Thai Chicken salad which was one of the suggestions on the menu and didn’t require an additional 6 decisions.

As we were getting our salads DTM suggested that since it was getting late, perhaps we should postpone the zoo for another day.  I was a little confused as it wasn’t even midday but apparently 4 hours was not going to be enough to do the zoo justice.  Just how long he can stare at monkeys and seals I’m not sure…

So we headed down to Darling Harbour with a new plan to head to Madame Tussauds and admire the waxy celebs.  We ate our salads down near the water and as we wandered over to Sydney Aquarium/Wildlife World/Madame Tussauds it almost seemed as though plan B would be going ahead.  We’d decided to get a combo pass requiring us to visit the 3 aforementioned places in the next month.  I mistakenly thought we would now head into Madame Tussauds but instead we were off to The Star – because a casino at midday on a Thursday is totally appropriate…

We got ourselves some drinks and headed over to the computerised roulette so that DTM could throw some money away.  With that done it was time for another cider/beer as we sat in the sports bar and I judged the alcoholic gamblers in our midst.  With drink number 3 I started to wonder if I was in any position to judge.

We eventually left The Star and decided to continue our drinking at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel.  Having just found out that I would be starting work on January 3 and not January 2, we had resumed looking at holiday options for the week between Christmas and New Years since we had an extra day up our sleeves.  Over a few more bevs we settled on Darwin on the basis of it being cheaper to get to than Queensland, having a pool, and somewhere neither of us had been before.  The fact it would be the middle of monsoon season didn’t even enter our minds.

We left the PBH to finally head to Madame Tussauds…but not before stopping in at Helm Bar for another drink or 2 and some fries.  The fries were very necessary given the afternoon’s binge drinking…the cider possibly not so necessary.  We finally made it to Madame Tussauds 6.5 hours after we had starting drinking and the photos really speak for themselves.  DTM had tried to defend his alcoholic ways by claiming “you can’t go to Madame Tussauds sober” and I wondered if this had been his plan all along.

After an hour posing with wax and props we headed back to Helm Bar (as you do) for one last drink before heading home on the 9.00 bus.  We managed to sneak in a trip to KFC and I grabbed a popcorn chicken snackbox for dinner before running for the bus.  When we made it home we were well and truly ready for bed after such a big drinking day.  A different Thursday and an enjoyable one but not one I plan on repeating anytime soon.

Week 61 - Forgetting & Celebrating

Thursday #62 – after a couple of days with a temperamental tummy, this day kicked off sans breakfast as I headed to The Scientist’s to pick her up on my way to work.  When I got there (5 or 10 minutes after leaving DTM’s) I realised I had tragically left my pasta in the fridge at his house and couldn’t be bothered to go back (and consequently be late for work) so accepted the fact that I would have to buy my lunch, despite driving all the way to Maroubra on Wednesday night to cook the damn food.  Bugger. 

Work was fairly unmemorable, though there was some confusion over whether or not we should be saying our goodbyes as my possible jury duty meant this may have been my last week day at work (still had a couple of Saturdays locked in – woo!) but all in all ‘twas fairly standard.  After The Scientist had whinged about her shortened hours I had thoughtfully offered to swap with her and left at 3 with her finishing off the last 2 hours of my shift.  I don’t even remember what I had for lunch; I just know it wasn’t my pesto agnolotti.

When I got back to DTM’s (after posting in my AHPRA registration forms to become a legit doctor) I may or may not have watched some TV or busied myself on my computer – this weird kinda part time work schedule mixed with his lack of employment means all my days tend to blur into one and only really stand out if there are exciting trips to Bunnings or The Tip!  Just after 7.30 we got picked up by The BH&G Fan and The Apprentice to go to dinner in celebration of my finishing uni and The Scientist finishing school.  It was a joint celebration but I feel it’s worth pointing out that one of us became an optometrist along with only 41 other people in the state, while the other sat some exams along with 73 396 other people in the state...just sayin’.

Dinner was in Terrey Hills at a restaurant selected specifically because of the inclusion of a pizza with fries on its menu.  Yes, fries.  I’ve long been a fan of the Nachos pizza down in Manly and have no problems tucking into a slice with some corn chips and guac on top, and don’t even get me started on the wedges pizza I ate on more than one occasion staying with The Weather Girl in Paris, but there was something very odd about this pizza.  It was nice, sure, but it really did feel like they had made a plain margarita pizza and then dumped a pack of McDonalds fries on top – I’m pretty sure the fries and the rest of the pizza were not cooked together.  It was tasty – and how could it not be, it was after all just a salty carb fest with tomato sauce – but I feel like it could’ve been more complete with just a bit of cheese on top of the chips or something tying them to the base.  Take that for a food review Matt Preston.  We shared a couple of these pizzas as well as a few more before heading back to The BH&G Fan’s house to share the nutella pizza The Marge had bought for dessert.

The Weather Girl then dropped us back at DTM’s while I attempted to remove her old Warringah Council parking sticker to replace it with the new one she’d just bought.  Apparently she likes to recruit her front seat passengers to help with her stickers – a gym friend had just recently sorted out her rego sticker for her.  I made an absolute mess of her windscreen and successfully removed maybe half of the old sticker.  Oh well, any Thursday with pizza AND fries is alright by me.

Week 60 - Morning Teaing & ARIAing

Thursday #61 – I set my alarm just that little bit early today to ensure I’d have time to shower, eat and choose an appropriate outfit before heading off to work.  With the shower out of the way I made myself a smoothie (there’s a first time for everything) and decided on an ensemble that would easily take me from work and out to the city later.  My smoothie was surprisingly good and I headed off to work excited for my early mark and DTM’s “surprise” that afternoon.

The Former Non-Drinker just so happened to be turning the big two five this Thursday, so my work day was interrupted with some sausage rolls (and a similar spinach and cheese version of sausage rolls) and a super rich chocolate cake.  A very welcome morning tea indeed.  When lunch time rolled around half an hour later I wasn’t remotely hungry but knew that a night out with DTM rarely involved dinner so forced myself to eat half a beef wrap and saved the rest for later.

Just before 4 I raced out the door to try and make my bus to the city to meet DTM.  Having finally got my official uni results, he’d planned to take me out to celebrate.  I’m told we weren’t just celebrating my new title but also Easter, Christmas, my birthday, Hanukkah, our anniversary and any other possible event that could warrant him taking me out – we certainly wouldn’t want to have to go out twice.  He’d attempted to make his plans a surprise but after casually asking what I was doing on Thursday night while he was reading an article on the ARIA awards in the paper, I was able to put two and two together and told him I was going to the ARIAs.  He was amazed by my psychic abilities and I gave him permission to still buy me a ticket and pretend like it was a huge surprise.

When we met up at the entertainment centre we were surrounded by teenage girls dressed in stupidly high heels, ridiculous amounts of make-up and outfits that were both worthy of a school formal and at the same time super inappropriate – I’m not sure there’s ever an appropriate time for sequinned shorts so short half your butt cheek is hanging out.  We wondered if they realised they weren’t actually up for any awards and that the location of their seats pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t be on TV, I kinda felt sad that they’d dressed like it was their big night…and they were just gonna be sitting in the back of a huge arena eating popcorn and drinking overpriced Bacardi Breezers.  That said I was more than happy to take my seat at the back, in my jeans, with the $9 Smirnoff DTM had bought me, and watch all the action unfold down below.

Aside from some technical difficulties it was a good night, which if nothing else brought home the fact that I am not very familiar with Australian music.  The first sign came when I referred to 360 as a band and later found it was apparently just one man.  I am still unsure about his win for breakthrough artist as the bio they read out as part of his nomination for album of the year, clearly stated his debut album was released in 2008 and then bla bla bla he almost died and now he’s back.  That’s not really a breakthrough; more of a comeback methinks…I guess they weren’t counting on having a doctor in the crowd of musos who would actually pay attention to these things.  Russell Brand kept us amused and I finally maybe sorta caught a glimpse of what Katy Perry had seen in him…I can’t say I find him remotely attractive but he does make me chuckle.

My ears are still ringing a day later after Taylor Swift took to the stage in front of the crowd of screaming teenage girls.  I’m still not quite sure if they screamed louder for Taylor’s performance or for One Direction’s win of the “International Award” (whatever the hell that may be) which they accepted in a pre-recorded video…all I know is they certainly didn’t scream that loud for any of the local talent – which is perhaps a little ironic given we were meant to be there celebrating Australian music.  Oops.

After the awards (which sadly I didn’t win), we snuck into Cold Rock ahead of the crowds and emptied our wallets out to just afford an ice cream each.  I opted for white chocolate and Ferraro ice cream with Tim Tams mashed in…DTM got some strange mixture of things that sound like they should be cooked not served frozen in a cup – cake batter, cookie dough and a couple of other oddities.  We then made our way to the bus stop and hopped on the 10.30 bus with a rather drunken New Zealander who had remembered his hard hat but somehow forgotten to wear a shirt or zip up his fly.  His attempts to hit on the poor Japanese girl on the bus were kinda inspirational but I think most of the passengers were relieved when he finally fell asleep.  Well, all except for the girl next to him who seemed legitimately terrified at the prospect of him falling asleep on her.

Back at DTM’s we watched some of The Unbelievable Truth before heading off to bed.  It was a very nice Thursday and as much as I appreciated DTM taking me out to the ARIAs – it did not go unnoticed that he had once again gotten himself out of a promise to take me out to dinner.  I’m starting to think he’s never going to feed me!  Next Thursday certainly has a lot to live up to!

Week 59 - Bingoing & Bronzing

Thursday #60 – this Thursday kicked off with breakfast of some sort (possibly eggs, it’s hard to say) before we headed off to the RSL for some 11am Bingo.  Yes, bingo.  We sat ourselves down amongst the crowd of retirees as DTM explained to me some of the different games we would be playing.  I got lost in the complex terminology of postage stamps, sandwiches and race tracks and got excited when DTM bought me my very own ink splodgy thing.

Just as I was trying to keep a low profile (and maintain some street cred in the process) The Trophy Winner walked in and joined us.  With her two games of Bingo and giant ink splodgy thing it was obvious she was a pro at this.  I watched in awe as she seemed to have dabbed out the number twice before I’d even found it once.  It was intense (much like camping…) and DTM and The Trophy Winner started to get suspicious that I may in fact have gotten bingo and just been unwilling to yell it out.  Their fears were not completely unfounded…my heart skipped a few beats every time I was a number off and I hoped someone else would beat me to it so that I wouldn’t have to yell out in front of the whole room.  Stupid I know (especially since the room consisted of people who were probably quite hard on hearing and unlikely ever see me again or recognise me if they did) but I’m not really one for publicly yelling.  The one exception to this rule is of course at a premiere in which case I will quite happily scream my heart out if it means a photo with a celeb.

After bingo we continued our exciting morning with a trip to Woolies to get some groceries.  And just when I thought 2 twenty somethings couldn’t possibly fit any more fun into one morning, we headed off for an impromptu visit to My Birthday Buddy to sew a button onto a cardie.  I swear I am only 25.  With all that frivolity out of the way I dropped DTM home and headed back to Maroubra where I caught up with M-Dizzle.

It wasn’t too long before I headed off to the city for my spray tan ahead of the next night’s graduation dinner.  After a couple of recent stuff ups (due to my own laziness and resulting in a white outline of my fingers on my thigh) I spent a little extra time studying the positions in the booth before getting proceedings underway.  When I was done I wandered back out to reception to find the receptionist napping.  I tried to make noise by rustling things in my bag (to wake her without looking like I’d noticed) but had no luck so had to resort to plan B – walking back to the tanning booth and then loudly walking back out to reception.  Mission accomplished – my thongs smacking against the floor woke her and she remained oblivious to my previous attempts to wake her.

Having missed lunch (I’d snacked on some of The Trophy Winner’s wedges after the pokies break in bingo) I was absolutely starving as I made my way home and stopped off for some Thai at 5pm.  I ate my dinner up in my room and went to bed shortly after.  A different Thursday to say the least!

Week 58 - Tipping & Burgering

Thursday #59 – after the day from hell on Wednesday I woke up on Thursday morning and was able to convince DTM to make me another delightful smoothie for breakfast as I knew he would still be feeling sorry for me.  The smoothie was delicious and helped to take away some of the pain of the previous day which in summary had involved 4.5 hours sleep, a house stinking of someone else’s vomit, no time for breakfast, a 40 minute late bus, a 2 hour trip to work, a lecture on my lack of enthusiasm at work, no money so no lunch, an email suggesting I start smiling or don’t come back, a call from my mechanic and a $1600 bill for my breakdown on Sunday, another late bus, a bus with a disgruntled-would-be-passenger who kicked the door and smashed it pieces leaving us stranded on the side of the road in the rain waiting for the next bus, and arriving at The Mechanic 10 minutes after closing time after The Scientist lost track of time and didn’t make it there to pick it up.  Needless to say I was happy it was a new day.

After my breakfast and just when I thought our relationship could not get any more exciting with frequent trips to Bunnings and K-mart, DTM surprised me with a trip to Kimbriki Tip.  I agreed to chauffeur him and his old TVs and stereos there on the condition that if anything happened to my car (flat tyre stories were coming in thick and fast once news of our tip expedition got out) he was paying for it.  We set off to dump DTM’s 4 VCRs, multiple heaters, fans, stereos and big arse TVs and managed to squeeze in a trip to Bunnings on the way back home.  He sure does know how to spoil a girl!  With some new light fittings, shelves, powerpoints and doorbells we headed off to Chatswood for some printer cartridges and a camera case.

My chauffeur service does not come free and we swung by Grill’d for some lunch.  After the morning spent at the tip and Bunnings, DTM had offered to buy me lunch in Chatswood so I’d opted for burgers and chips I couldn’t possibly afford myself.  When we got back to his house I somehow busied myself for the afternoon and honestly can’t remember if I was watching TV, facebooking or napping – it’s possible it was a combination of the 3.

We settled in for the night and watched Total Recall on DTM’s stupidly large TV which unfortunately comes with constant commentary of “how good is my 64 inch TV and recliner” and “it’s just like Gold Class” which I’m yet to work out how to turn off.  Sadly the previous day’s drama and a few ciders meant even Colin Farrell couldn’t keep me awake and I ended up dozing off in the last 20 or so minutes.  I’ve since re-watched the end and am not convinced I missed a great deal.

With visits to Bunnings and the tip it was far from an ideal Thursday but free lunch and ciders certainly helped make up for it.  It was certainly a step up from the day before it!

Week 57 - Licencing & Not-Popcorning

Thursday #58 – another memorable Thursday morning which I assume kicked off at DTM’s but really can’t be sure.  I know I had work this Thursday so I’m gonna guess I woke up and drove myself to work for an 8 o’clock start.  At some stage in the past week DTM made me a smoothie for breakfast – I haven’t a clue if this happened on Thursday or one of the six other days but it was damn good and well worth a mention anyway.  Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, sorbet and guava juice all came together in a blended berry delight.

If I’m not mistaken, I finished work at 2 this Thursday and headed back to DTM’s via a quick trip to the shops for some chicken and chips.  I tried to quickly cram in some driving stats before heading to the RTA to sit my DQT.  After a nervous wait I was told I had passed and would now be leaving behind my green P’s and welcoming my grown up licence.  I swung by The BH&G Fan’s house on my way back to DTM’s as I was curious to check out The Scientist’s new cropped and darker do.  She wasn’t home but The BH&G Fan and I managed to chat for about an hour with car key in hand as I repeatedly announced my intentions to leave and we got caught up in another topic.  Eventually we got a call saying The Scientist would be home in 15 minutes so I hung around to see the hair. 

After approving the new look I headed back to DTM’s where we checked out movie times and tried to work out a plan for the night.  We headed off to Chatswood, parked stupidly far out from the kerb, hoped no one would crash into my car and got our tickets for End Of Watch.  DTM also splurged on some popcorn and stupid flavour burst crap which has something so unnatural in it it makes my noise tingle.  Having learnt this the week before I declined his offers of popcorn and watched the movie in hunger having not had time for dinner.  A celebratory/congratulatory trip to Ben & Jerry’s was made with DTM offering to buy me ice cream in light of my new licence news.  Some clusterfluff and cookies and cream later we headed home, relieved to find my car unscratched.

The rest of the night isn’t particularly memorable so I’ll assume we watched The Unbelievable Truth before eventually heading to bed.  Free movies, free ice cream and the ability to drive after a beverage – by all accounts a good Thursday!

Week 56 - Back-to-working & Bunningsing

Thursday #57 – after negotiating an extra hour of sleep when The Gentle Giant had texted me about my exam on Wednesday, I actually had time to eat some eggs and toast before heading off to work this Thursday.  When I got there it was congratulations all round as The Gym Junkie and The Gentle Giant asked how I had gone in my final exam and expressed some disbelief that my 5 years of uni was actually all over.  There still seems be a significant amount of denial in that place about the fact that I am actually leaving and will not be there teaching them Excel and dealing with their stationery woes as a fully qualified optometrist.  Shame.

Work itself was fairly unmemorable and a lack of funds at lunch time meant a 7 minute walk to the ATM and the discovery that Greek salads aren’t actually meant to have lettuce in them…who knew?! (Well The Greek Jesus and DTM apparently).  My day of just dealing with back to school and spending all my time with The Gentle Giant kicked in at about 2.30 as we sat down and went through the glue sticks, pens, scissors and other exciting products every primary school kid needs.  I was not impressed to be doing this again for another year but relieved to know it would be my last.

After work I headed back to DTM’s and at some stage probably ate dinner…I legitimately don’t remember but I think it would’ve happened.  I know for sure I didn’t get taken out for my continuously postponed finishing uni dinner.  I’m sceptical about that ever happening.  Instead, we spent our night at Bunnings looking at fans, gym mats, screws and hammocks.  I think we started watching Seeking a Friend for the End of the World but since it stopped 19 minutes in I can’t really recall.  We then watched The Unbelievable Truth and may or may not have fallen asleep before it finished.

After the biggest exam of my life on the Wednesday before, this Thursday was fairly chilled out as I tried to catch up on sleep and catch up on money since studying had severely impacted my earning potential.  Not an overly exciting one to read about but nice to know I didn’t have to worry about any exams (until supp exams come out in a few weeks).

Week 55 - Whinging & Sitting

Thursday #56 – woke up to the sound of DTM’s alarm this Thursday as he got up and headed off  to some job search seminar.  I assured him I was going to get up as soon as he left, shower, breakfast and hit the studying hard.  I woke up again just after 9.30 to the sound of my phone ringing and DTM asking what I was up to.  I confessed that I may have dozed off again for another hour or so but assured him I really was getting up this time.  As he talked up his plans to head the gym and be home in a couple of hours, I felt bad for still being in bed and finally got up.

After a shower and some eggs on toast I set about reading a text book.  Yes, it really is as exciting as it sounds.  It helped a lot and I now feel confident that in my final exam on Wednesday, if they ask me for possible differentials for a patient coming in with a tearing eye, I can list “emotional states” as a possible cause.  And let’s not forget the other gem, pigmented conjunctiva could be the result of racial pigmentation…and here was I about to diagnose anyone slightly tanned with some terrible disease.

When DTM got home from the gym he made himself some lunch and kicked me out of the room I was studying in so that he could have a nap.  It’s a tough life.  I went into another room to continue my reading and was interrupted by an email listing the exam times.  We knew our exams would fall on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week and that we would each be allocated our own 20 minute time.  A suggestion on facebook had led me to believe there was a possibility the order of exams would be determined by student number and I had been worried ever since, knowing that my student number was the first in our year of 42.  Sure enough, I opened the email and there it was, 9am Wednesday, the very first exam, moi.

I decided that was reason enough to wake DTM from his nap a little early and have a whinge.  Suddenly shit was getting real when I realised how little time I had to study.  The fact I am writing about this now just emphasises how little time there is when you factor in my inevitable procrastination.  He got out of bed and set about making my lunch while I rang The Marge for another whinge.  Neither of them had sided with me and agreed that it was an absolute outrage and completely unfair and instead thought I should use it as motivation to study and wasn’t it good I would be the very first person finished.  Jury is still out on that one, stay tuned for next Thursday when we’ll know more.

Shortly after lunch I decided my productivity was limited by the distraction of DTM bludging in the next room so I headed back south to my hood.  I caught up on some TV and sat myself down at my desk for the first time since moving in in February.  I tend to just study on my bed usually which works well for comfort but not so well for impromptu naps as I find myself too tempted to doze off and end up cuddling up to textbooks and highlighters.

A dancing injury sustained 3 years ago during a particular energetic performance of Cotton Eyed Joe meant sitting on my bed was often rather painful as I am apparently not meant to sit with my legs outstretched in front of me.  Truth be told I very rarely sit how I am supposed to.  If I manage to find a chair that allows for my knees to be lower than my pelvis then we’re off to a good start.  Once I’ve found said chair I then have to remind myself not to curl one leg under me and sit on my foot – terrible pins and needles ensue and I struggle to walk properly for a good 3 minutes afterwards.  If I find myself sitting on the right chair with my feet on the ground, I then need to remember to roll forwards until I almost feel like I’m gonna fall off the edge of the chair to ensure I am sitting on my “sit bones” and not on the base of my spine.  When all these things come together I can sit down and stand up repeatedly like a champion…when they don’t I end up in agony when I try to stand up and consequently look like someone 3x my age.

Turns out my desk chair is actually more painful than my bed which makes study difficult.  Well that’s not entirely right.  It makes standing up difficult so in theory it could make me really productive as it’s super painful to try and get up so once I sit down to study I’m kinda stuck there.  I found myself a template The Head Of School had given us in March (just think, that’s 7 whole months I could’ve been preparing instead of just 5 days) and set about filling it in.  I got myself on a massive roll but called it quits at midnight deciding a good night’s sleep would be more beneficial than finishing the table.  It’s been about 38 hours since then and I’ve not really revisted said table…oops.

Not at all a fun Thursday but it did feel good for those last 4½ hours when my productivity finally kicked in.  Here’s hoping there’s plenty more of that to come before next Thursday.

Week 54 - Eating & Labbing

Thursday #55 – this Thursday started off in a fairly unmemorable fashion…in that I legitimately don’t even remember it 5 days later.  I can only assume I ate some weetbix and possibly downed an OJ before setting about…doing something.  Possibly uni work, probably watching TV shows.

The excitement and memory kick back in at lunch time when an administrative error at Subway saw me score 3 free cookies instead of just 1.  So much macadamia and white chocolate goodness I’m fairly confident I more than undid any benefit of the chicken teriyaki sub.  I gulped it down watching The Doctors and learnt that I should be spending 20 minutes eating my meals.  Oops.  After lunch I headed into uni to meet The Italian and get our stories straight before heading up to the lab to do some more fun research project analysis.

The Persian Uniform Police and The Not Much Older Than Me Supervisor stopped us on our way into clinic and insisted we sample some of their baked goods.  We spent what felt like an eternity deciding and eventually walked away with a vanilla slice and rocky road.  After my cookie binge earlier I decided to donate mine to The Choir Girl and left it on her desk as we headed into the lab.

We spent a couple of hours bashing plates against the desk, washing them out, bashing them again, adding chemicals, incubating samples and repeating.  We held our breath as The Choir Girl added the substrate and hoped that it would be a case of 3^rd time lucky for our research project and that the samples would turn blue.  The good news is they did turn blue; the bad news is we’re such super nerds we were genuinely excited by it.

After a reasonably successful afternoon in the lab, I headed off to the shops to buy a first birthday present for The Cutest Kid I Know.  I tried to stay focussed but couldn’t help noticing that baby clothes were way cuter for girls than boys.  I managed to get a little outfit for him and drove home to get my statistics on.  After bragging for the best part of 18 months about my HD in stats (and the only mark on my uni transcript to start with a 9), it seemed only fair I would be stuck with the stats part of our research project.  I was back in my element with pages of formulae in front of me and for once in this 5 year degree felt like I knew what I was doing.

Not a particularly exciting Thursday but with free cookies and lab results I can’t complain too much.  Here’s hoping next Thursday is at least more memorable.

Week 53 - Parking & Trying On

Thursday #54 – woke up this morning a little later than planned and enjoyed the rare opportunity to be able to sleep in on a weekday.  Had to head to uni to scan some patient documents for a case report, and foolishly thought it would be quicker to drive rather than get the bus there.  The drive itself was reasonably quick, but as is often the case at my stupid university, looking for a park took longer than the drive there.

The parking situation at uni is usually terrible based on the ridiculous amount of 1 hour spots and the fact it is virtually impossible to attend any class and get back to your car in an hour.  If you happen to only have a 1 hour class then you might manage to score yourself a 2 hour spot.  If, like most things in optometry, your class runs for 2 or more hours, you find yourself parking so far away you almost need to get a bus from the car to the uni.  Since I was just popping in for some quick scanning, I was excited about the prospect of actually making use of one of the conveniently located 1 hour spots.  Somehow, these were all taken and I had to make do with a 2 hour spot which was about a 5 minute walk from clinic.  Not too bad.

I scanned my files and was about to head home when The Greek Jesus and M-Dizzle were heading to the food court to grab some food.  Knowing my fridge was empty (as it most often is) I thought I might as well join them.  It took us a little while to work out where so many people at uni were dressed like Germans (or in some cases just randomly wearing animal ears) and it was a sad moment when we realised we were missing our last Oktoberfest.  A sweet chilli chicken wrap later I was on my way back home to get stuck into some uni work.  In theory.

I managed to write up a few drugs in preparation for my upcoming end of year therapeutics oral exam and then headed off to The Weather Girl’s for din dins.  The Marge was coming over to cook up a feast while The Weather Girl went through her clothes to establish if we wanted any or if they should go to clothes heaven/Vinnies.  After losing a chunk of weight in training for Tough Mudder, The Weather Girl no longer fit into most of her clothes and was planning to sell them at the markets.  Anything which didn’t sell was up for grabs and The Marge and I were there to make our lists of what we wanted should no one be willing to pay for it.

After an exciting night of trying on clothes which may or may not make their way to my wardrobe, I left with a brand new Alannah Hill Capelet which The Weather Girl had impulsively bought due to the massive sale and failed to wear since.  Apparently I can just “pull these things off”.  I’m always happy to accept free designer goods so wasn’t one to argue.

Not a particularly productive Thursday but it’s always fun to try any potentially free clothes.  If someone buys that Ted Baker skirt I have my eye on I’ll be ropable! 

Week 52 - Scrubbing In & Journal Reading

Thursday #53 – kicked off this Thursday with what felt like a sleep in as my placement this week was in Chatswood – a convenient 15 minute bus trip from DTM’s.  He insisted I leave early (adamant that there would be traffic) and I consequently got there a good 15 minutes before The Italian.  I headed off to Boost Juice and got myself an All Berry Bang for brekkie.

As The Italian and I walked from the train station to Vision Eye Institute, she could barely contain her excitement at the sheer volume of shops we were passing.  A decision to email The Most-Evil-Corporate-Giant-In-The-Optometry-World and ask them for a job in Chatswood instead of The Shire was soon made, as she contemplated handing in a résumé to all the local optoms.  We whinged about the stupidly hot weather and our horrible clinic shirts not being designed to withstand temperatures over 30 degrees and were shocked to discover this would not be an issue. 

Once we made our way to the right floor, we were led to a change room and instructed to take our clothes off and change into scrubs.  We felt like proper doctors, from our weird little booties to our shower cap and face mask, we were rocking those glorified pyjamas like it was nobody’s business.  A quick photo shoot later we headed back out to The Slow Talker for a rundown of what cataract surgery involved and what goes on at The Vision Eye Institute.  We observed 3 surgeries and were on edge with multiple instructions to stand in a corner and not touch anything.  Getting up close and personal to the microscope meant standing with hands behind backs.  I enjoyed the ipod mix as a bunch of movie soundtracks were played throughout the surgeries and tried to control myself when I glanced over at a visibly shaking Italian, unable to contain her amusement as Timon and Pumbaa came on singing Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

We got a 2 hour early mark and headed home a couple of hours after we got there – another productive placement for The Dynamic Duo (as The Combover so aptly named us one day).  I headed back to DTM’s for some chicken and veg and my productive afternoon of case reports was slightly sabotaged.  I stayed there trying to write up my patient’s case history while DTM headed off to the hospital.

After a quick trip to Bunnings and a cheeky serve of Pad See Ew, I eventually got into the swing of things and sat alone at the table reading journal articles on keratoconus while DTM got stuck into his Smirnoff watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Not an overly thrilling Thursday and no sign of the ice cream and free movies that had been so commonplace a year ago but still an alright day considering.

Week 51 - Shiring & Cidering

Thursday #52 – woke up early this Thursday and set off on the bus to meet The Italian at Central.  With no time for weetbix due to the alarm going off stupidly early, I managed to sneak in a cheeky bacon and egg roll when I got to the station. 

We’d agreed to meet a little early to give ourselves plenty of time to find the practice we were attending that day.  The one time all year that I had entrusted The Italian with the task of looking up where we were going, we found ourselves in Miranda.  The part-time-hairdresser-part-time-barista flirted with The Italian as she ordered her coffee and we couldn’t help thinking she had perhaps overshared when telling him where she lived and that she would be working in the hood next year.  We set off down the street to find The Optometrist/Dermatologist/Skin Cancer Guru and were impressed to have made it there 10 minutes early.  We were less impressed to see the big “we have moved” banner and had to quickly haul arse back to Gymea.

This was all a little too much Shire and a few too many trains for my liking and it was decided that The Italian would no longer be looking up where we had to go.  When we got there we were only 5 or so minutes late and The Purple Receptionist seemed unbothered by our tardiness but confused in general by our presence…apparently The Optometrist/Dermatologist/Skin Cancer Guru had told her that students had finished coming for the year.  Surprise!  With a hectic morning, we sat in and watched probably close to 20 people having skin cancers cut out and some having them frozen off.  We tried out best not to faint and at one point, when caught looking a little pale, The Cheerleader’s Mum sent us off to have a cup of tea or coffee in the kitchen.  We interpreted this as our chance to raid the Tim Tam jar.  Special thanks to The Italian for looking woozy.

Most of the patients were unperturbed by our presence and happily stripped down to their underwear in front of us.  There was some confusion when we explained we were optometry students and not in fact training to be dermatologists, but this was fairly reasonable given that we ourselves were confused by what we were doing there.  Watching people get their face chopped up and seeing bits of skin floating in specimen jars hardly seems relevant to prescribing glasses.

After a massive Portuguese chicken burger lunch, we enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon and managed to end the day with some free sunscreen samples.  Score!  We were given the option to stay on until 6 but after explaining where we lived, The Optometrist/Dermatologist/Skin Cancer Guru decided it would be wise for us to avoid the train at night.  We felt safer already.  I headed off to DTM’s and enjoyed a couple of ciders before we headed off to Chatswood to hit up the RSL for some dinner and drinks.

Dinner ended up coming in the form of KFC as DTM was keen to try the new crispy rods…much like all the other KFC chicken products but with a large stick through the centre – genius.  We got decidedly tipsy at the RSL before heading back home to have another drink and watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  It was a Thursday a little out of my comfort zone (given it was largely spent with 80 year olds down to their undies) but nonetheless a good one since DTM had arrived home the previous day.

Week 50 - Minimally Preparing & Regretting It

Thursday #51 – this Thursday kicked off with another early start as I had once again put off my study until the day of my contact lens oral exam.  I got myself some weetbix and set about learning what I probably should have already known given I was about to see my last ever contact lens patient that night.

Before I knew it, it was time to head off to uni and down some lunch before clinic.  My Clinic Gossip Girl was at the café so I sat down and ate my lunch with her and My Future Work Colleague.  After managing to spill a considerable amount of food on myself, I was forced to defend my hometown amidst accusations that Northern Beaches people don’t know how to eat sandwiches.  An inspirational pep talk on how horrible my upcoming exam would be was just the right send off for a clinic I was already terrified about failing.  In an unusual stroke of luck, The Mysteriously Pregnant Lady was not supervising my bay and instead I was treated to the joys of A Whole Lotta Make Up.  I was instantly comforted by this and despite not knowing what marks A Whole Lotta Make Up gave me, I am confident I didn’t do anything to too badly screw up my final general clinic marks.

Then it was time to try and squeeze more hints out of My Favourite Supervisor ahead of the exam in a couple of hours’ time.  M-Dizzle, The Greek Jesus, The Italian and I all gave our tute a miss; opting instead to study, and sadly missed a self-timed clinic photo of the red group...it was the rest of the group’s loss really.  With our cramming done it was time to see a patient ahead of the test.  After my patient I then waited anxiously for The Plural Confuser to call me in for my test.  I was the last one of the three of us and it was every bit as awkward and horrible as I had imagined it would be.  The Plural Confuser assured me I hadn’t done as badly as I thought I had but it’s hard to know if she was telling the truth or just being nice as I was once again having a breakdown in front of her.  It seemed like an appropriate send off to clinic really, as I got myself all caught up in a page full of power crosses.

M-Dizzle and I headed home and I helped her out with her massive dumpling order…not because she couldn’t eat it all on her own (which was what The Hippy Engineer was keen to prove) but because she was being a nice friend and I wasn’t planning to cook dinner.  I wasn’t remotely hungry but if there’s one thing I know it’s to not turn down free food or drinks.  Not an ideal Thursday but one I was glad to get over and done with.

Week 49 - Barely Studying & Not Testing

Thursday #50 – when my alarm went off at 5.30 this Thursday I was pretty certain it was all a cruel joke and promptly hit snooze after a quick check of my messages.  Ten minutes later I was woken up again but this time I was super grateful as it meant my creepy dream in which I was getting sleazed on by some old dude was brought to an end.  I stayed in bed a little while longer before finally getting up, packing my stuff, and heading back home to Maroubra.

After my plans for a big Wednesday night of study had failed (due largely to my own lack of willpower and slightly to a skype sesh with DTM in Hong Kong) I had decided to head home from my house-sitting duties at the crack of dawn on Thursday to maximise my study time before uni.  It all sounded so promising.  Despite heading off at 6.30am, it was probably after 10 before I started to look at some notes.  The only good thing about my unproductive morning was that I was able to work out that The Sleaze in my dream was inspired by DTM sending me a pic of Jerry Lawler which I had looked at in my semi-conscious state at 5.30.

After a couple of hours study (if that), I showered and dressed and headed off to uni to grab some lunch before clinic.  With My Favourite Supervisor in bay 3, it was looking like a good afternoon of clinic.  When my two patients both happened to be optometry students who were coming as a course requirement and not because they had any visual problems, things were looking even better.  M-Dizzle and I managed to get some hints out of My Favourite Supervisor about our upcoming contact lens oral exam, and spent half an hour or so cramming before contact lens clinic.

We’d been told that our exam would either be this Thursday or next so had to prepare for a test which we only had a 50% chance of having.  I managed to get two patients out the door in under 2 hours (not bad considering clinic runs for 3) and spent the next hour wondering if The Plural Confuser was going to suddenly surprise me with a test.  No such luck.  I guess now at least I know that there’s a 100% chance the test is next Thursday.

I waited for M-Dizzle to finish up and snacked on some tabouli sandwiches with The Italian.  When we finally headed home I wasn’t too hungry and made myself some garlic bread for dinner.  I washed that down with some cookies and cream ice cream and headed off to bed.  A step up from last week but still not the best Thursday ever.

Week 48 - Breathing & Housesitting

Thursday #49 – I woke up this Thursday in The ‘Bra on mid-sem break, had some breakfast and starting packing some bags to head to DTM’s.  It had been a fairly crazy week with DTM and The Drunk Bro receiving a call late on Monday night and flying out to Beijing the following day to be by The Cabbie’s side, and I had been placed on indefinite house sitting duties.  I packed a whole bag of uni notes, some clothes and any food I had in the fridge that I thought might go off, and set off to DTM’s hood.

With limited access to wifi and no roaming on their phones, any contact from DTM had to be acknowledged promptly or else it could be another 4 or 5 hours before he could send another message.  Of course this meant DTM sent me a whatsapp just as I was in the car driving to his house.  Instead of being a good, responsible girl and pulling over, I made the most of the red lights and read and attempted to reply whenever I was stopped at lights.  For the first time ever, I managed to get to DTM’s with very few red lights.  Typical.  As I set off from one red light after having finally hit send on my message, my heart skipped a few beats when the unmarked police car behind me pulled out his siren.  I changed lanes hoping he just wanted me out of his way but when he followed me to the middle lane I realised I was going to have to pull over.

As he got out of his car I was fairly sure I was having a mini heart attack as I tried to work out what to say when he confronted me about my mobile phone use at the lights.  I calmed down slightly as I saw him walk over with a breathalyser in his hand and was relieved when he told me he was doing some random breath tests.  I had another moment of panic when he wandered around to the front of my car (where the green P never seems to want to stay put) but he didn’t mention anything and I can only assume he was satisfied with my beautifully displayed back P (and perhaps felt sorry for me having them in the first place at 25).  Having not had a drink in about a week, I obviously passed the test with flying colours and was sent off on my way…a little shaken and offended that he had “randomly” decided after driving behind me that I might be drunk.

When I got to DTM’s I checked the mail, brought in the paper, put the dishes away and watered the plants – I was feeling all kinds of domestic.  When the home phone started to ring I wondered whether or not I should answer it and decided when it had been ringing for almost 20 seconds from a private number, there was a good chance it was actually someone calling to speak to me.  DTM was on the other end and commended me for answering his home phone.  He really made it feel like a bigger achievement than it actually was.  He updated me on The Cabbie’s condition and told me to make myself at home.  The phone rang a couple more times and each time I debated whether or not to pick it up, thinking all the time that it may be DTM calling back from China.  It wasn’t, but I did get to speak to The Other Cabbie and fill him in on the situation so I had officially completed all the tasks that DTM had set for me.

I decided uni work could wait and set about watching Sex And The City on DTM’s stupidly large 64 inch TV.  At 1am I was still awake and unable to sleep in this rather bizarre situation – staying in DTM’s bed while he stays in a hotel in Beijing just did not feel right.  I popped on some Friends and tried my best to get some sleep ahead of work the next day.  By no means a good Thursday but a semi-productive one.

Week 47 - Double Clinicing & Comedying

Thursday #48 – this Thursday started off much like the week before with some weetbix at home in The ‘Bra.  I attempted to get organised and did a load of washing (excited that after almost 5 months with a broken washing machine we now had a new one) and tidied my room.  With that out of the way I sat down for some pasta, knowing that an evening with DTM rarely meant dinner.

M-Dizzle returned from her morning of errands and thoughtfully offered to drive me to uni for clinic that afternoon.  It was win win.  I didn’t have to get the bus and she didn’t feel bad about driving down the road to get Oporto.  I got into clinic and readied myself for a patient; only to find out I would have to wait 90 minutes for the second round of patients to show up.  I got through my patient with a reasonable mark and no tears so clinic was an all round success.

After general clinic it was time for a quick tute ahead the night’s contact lens clinic with The Plural Confuser.  After a painfully drawn out 3 hours with two patients, I finally wrapped up just after 8pm and panicked about how I was going to squeeze in a debrief with The Plural Confuser AND make it to The Comedy Store for the gig DTM had won tickets to earlier in the week.  I waited for The PC to wrap things up with M-Dizzle and asked her if I could have my debrief the next day.  She obliged and I ran out of clinic, assuring DTM I was on my way and would make it there in 15 minutes.

I hopped straight in a cab and made it there just in time to see Legs 11’s Cousin kicking things off on stage.  It was a good night of funnies with a few beverages thrown in for good measure.  Despite living 10 minutes by bus from the venue, I agreed to walk almost an hour to get the bus back to DTM’s hood, via KFC for a cheeky 11.30 dinner.

It was a fairly full on day of uni but with some stand up comedy and a few champagnes it turned out to be a pretty alright Thursday.  The evening was topped off when DTM showed me the present he’d bought me that day!

Week 46 - Getting Pumped Up & Crashing Right Down

Thursday #47 – for something different, this week I woke up in my own house and headed off to uni after my not-so-usual-anymore weetbix.  The Italian and I were scheduled on for colour vision clinic and were expecting just another standard day of red-green colour problems. 

When My Twin Chinese Horoscope Supervisor came to debrief us, there was some scepticism (mostly from the supervisor herself) over whether our patient would actually have the blue-yellow colour vision problem he had been referred for.  Short Skirt Short Jacket and The Quiet One had initially tried to claim this patient on the basis that they hadn’t yet had a patient who wanted to join the police, but when he suddenly became more interesting My TCH Supervisor opened it up for us to fight over who got to see him.  With everyone being too polite to say anything I snapped him up and we went about our testing, doing everything monocularly and taking twice as long.

As the results started to indicate a tritan deficiency we got a little excited (in a nerdy kind of way) and My TCH Supervisor started making calls about what to do next.  Despite the fact that we had already been told he possibly had a tritan defect and all we did was run some subjective tests; it somehow felt like The Italian and I had made an amazing discovery.  Things were going well in clinic and we were on a bit of a high when it came time to see our next patient.  A slightly more boring deuteranope, we had done our testing in record time and were ready to pat ourselves on the back when My TCH Supervisor announced that I would have to explain the patient’s condition to him.

It should have been easy, and it was, until I got up to the bit where I had to name colours and I froze.  Surely I can blame The Farge’s colour vision problem for my own inability to describe colours?  My TCH Supervisor jumped in and all was well until the patient left and she asked if I knew why she had asked me to explain.  This led to a conversation about my confidence (or lack thereof) and a light-hearted comment that my only problem is me…which inevitably led to tears.  I tried super hard to keep them in but I think The Italian knew they were coming.  My TCH Supervisor (presumably unaware of how embarrassingly frequent these clinic breakdowns are) escorted me out of clinic, holding my hand, and went for a walk in the sun trying to make me feel better.  Having to discuss all the things in optometry that I’m worried about passing did nothing to help my confidence battle…her suggestions of adding to Malibu to Hot Chocolate may just do the trick though.

After a strange morning of highs and lows I headed back home.  I had some lunch, changed my hairdo, put on some make up and switched my shoes so that by the time I returned to uni that afternoon for contact lens clinic it felt well and truly like a different day.  With The Plural Confuser as my supervisor it wasn’t looking like I was going to get out of clinic early that night.  As is often the case with The Plural Confuser, I left that clinic not really knowing if I had gone well or terribly…just part of the fun of optometry at UNSW.

When we headed home, M-Dizzle and I were in agreement that pizza was the way to go for dinner.  I justified it with the “I’ve had one of those days” and M-Dizzle just ordered without the justification.  Some Mediterranean Lamb and a phone call from DTM later I decided to call it a night.

For a Thursday which had started so promisingly it certainly didn’t end up as one of my best.  On the nerdy bright side, The Italian and I are the only students to have seen a tritanope in clinic and unlike My TCH Supervisor, we didn’t have to spend 20 years in colour vision clinic to see one.

Week 45 - "Studying" & Fattening Up

Thursday #46 –  I once again woke up early this week at DTM’s and managed to scoff down some fruit salad before heading to uni.  I’d taken a bunch of notes and textbooks to DTM’s on Wednesday night with the intention of being super productive and studying for my exam that Friday.  I was pretty good with studying on Wednesday night so didn’t feel too bad about leaving my car there to pick up after uni on Thursday afternoon and take my notes back home to The ‘Bra to study that night.  It was a seemingly flawless plan.

When I got to uni, The Italian and I were told we could spend the morning studying rather than following around optometrists aimlessly, as we had been doing for the previous 8 days.  This would have been great news had they told us of their plans on Wednesday and we could have actually brought notes with us to study.  Instead we killed time the only way we know how, Google Maps and singing random names to the Barbara Streisand song – not actually one of Babs’ hits but the Duck Sauce song “do do do do do do do do do do do, do do do do do do do do do Barbara Streisand”.  It started in Red Eye Clinic and doesn’t show any signs of getting old.

We decided to give ourselves an early mark since the brief for that morning had been to study and we had left our study notes at home.  I headed off to DTM’s, craving hot chips and gravy (the gravy was The Italian’s suggestion and took me back to my primary school days when Quit It and I would often stop by the chicken shop after school, being the health freaks we are) and just fatty foods in general.  I rocked up at DTM’s, said hello and informed him of my lunch plans.  He was actually being good and going for a run so resisted my offer of a healthy fried potato lunch.  When I returned with my chicken salted chips (sans gravy) I was for some reason surprised to see DTM tucking into them.  I’ve never seen the man say no to chips with chicken salt but wasn’t expecting him to eat half my lunch since he is apparently training for a marathon.

With lunch over DTM headed off for a cheeky 10k run and left me to “study” for an hour since I was not feeling keen to head home straight away.  I caught up on Friends (which probably wasn’t necessary given in 10 years I never missed an episode) and continued my healthy eating regime with a Wispa Gold choccie that The Italian had recommended.  Since it was 2 for $2 I later tucked into a Picnic as well, just for good measure.  When DTM got back from his run he tried his best to help me be productive and work out why I was in a bad mood (I thought the next day’s exam made that fairly obvious).  He managed to briefly cheer me up before I inevaitably remembered I had an oral exam in less than 24 hours.  I did not get a lot of study done by the time I finally left DTM’s that night.  I headed home and tried my very best to cram for Friday’s exam.

Not a particularly good Thursday but significantly better than the day which followed it.  The fact I probably gave myself a cholesterol problem and/or diabetes just add to the awesomeness.

Week 44 - Anatomying & Take-awaying

Thursday #45 – after watching DTM’s return to the stand up scene on Wednesday night, I once again found myself in The Northern Beaches on Thursday morning.  For the second week in a row I scored a lift to the bus stop with The Cabbie and somehow ended up at uni 40 minutes early.  It seems 6 months of living in The Eastern Suburbs has completely ruined any concept I once had of how long it takes to get to the city from the beaches.  This wasn’t a complete disaster though as it did give me time to grab a bacon and egg roll and an OJ for brekkie.

When 9am finally rolled around it was off to another exciting day at The Centre For Eye Health.  This 2 week rotation at uni involved 4 hours a day of following around optometrists and watching them run scans and occasionally answering questions about what said scans mean.  At the end of it, there’s a big scary oral exam where we’re asked questions on the past 5 years of optometry until we can’t answer any more.  The general consensus is we aren’t expected to pass.  Can’t wait for next Friday.  Short Skirt Short Jacket came to tell The Italian and I that we apparently had an early mark this Thursday and we’re still not completely sure why but took it none the less.

A cheeky trip to Oporto on the way home and I was ready to get my study on.  After a solid afternoon nap, a few annoying phone calls to DTM and a trip out to get some Thai for dinner I was ready to hit the books.  I revisited first year anatomy and was stunned by how little I knew about the very thing I’ve been studying the past 5 years.  With some chocolate on hand my study streak continued until midnight when I decided it was best that I get some sleep ahead of another exciting day at The Centre.

Not a particularly fun Thursday as I realised how unprepared I am for next week’s exam, but a fairly good one food-wise as I realised every meal I’d eaten that day was take away.  Good for my tastebuds, less so for my wasteline.  With the oral looming, it’s unlikely next week will be any better.

Week 43 - Case Presenting & Celebratory Shopping

Thursday #44 – it was another early start this Thursday as I left DTM’s to head into uni for a 9am start.  I managed to score a lift to the bus stop with The Cabbie and somehow got to uni early, despite leaving later than I had last Thursday.  This proved fortunate as once again I had not had time for breakfast at DTM’s, so picked up a ham and cheese croissant and a hot chocolate to down before clinic.

I bumped into The Greatest Shavee upstairs and was asked some rather deep questions for 8.45 in the morning.  She kicked things off with “how is your life?” before delving further with “why is your life good?”  My inability to answer her second question had me in all kinds of doubt about my answer to her first question and suddenly my perfectly good Thursday morning wasn’t looking so good anymore.  We’ve since discussed this and she is apparently working on her small talk skills.

I headed down to clinic for another day of red eye and tried my hardest between patients to finish case reports which were due that afternoon.  When 3 o’clock hit, The Italian and I headed off with Short Skirt Short Jacket and The Quiet One for our 2 hour oral exam.  We each presented a case we’d seen in our 2 weeks in red eye clinic and then answered questions on our case/diagnosis/management.  It all would’ve been fine had the examiner not been The Bitchiest Straight Guy We Know.  I volunteered to go first just to get it out of the way.  I humoured The Bitchiest Straight Guy We Know with a bunch of differential diagnoses, even though my patient walked in with a referral telling me he had a corneal foreign body.  It continues to frustrate me that I am examined on my ability to identify a bunch of possible diagnoses which I know are wrong – surely in the real world optometrists aren’t sitting there looking at a foreign body thinking “hmm well it could be viral conjunctivitis”.  Nevertheless I came up with a solid list of what it wasn’t and based on my mark am beginning to wonder if maybe The Bitchiest Straight Guy We Know is aware of how I feel about his stupid assessments.

3 hours later we got out of our 2 hour exam and another half an hour later The Italian and I managed to get out of the building.  With a couple of student cards which weren’t working, a staff card from reception and a comedy of errors involving getting stuck in both an elevator and a stairwell, we finally made it out and were determined to celebrate after completing our exam.  We went our separate ways but being girls we both ended up at the shops.  After a skirt, a bag and two pairs of shoes I decided I had better leave before I put myself in more debt.  DTM didn’t seem to understand my sudden shopping spree (and fair enough given my catchphrase for most of the past 5 years has been “I’m a struggling uni student”) but I pointed out that he was in no position to judge and that his recent purchases were part of the reason I needed to go shopping.  Watching him buy a ridiculously huge TV, new bed, 2 seat recliner and 27 inch display for his laptop had made me incredibly jealous and desperate to buy myself something the first chance I got.  With my tax return back and Centrelink’s start of semester bonus making its way into my bank, this Thursday seemed like the perfect opportunity to hit the shops.

With an oral exam it was by no means a good Thursday but it was certainly a relief when the assessment was over and hitting the shops to buy shoes did take me back to my very first Thursday without free movies.

Week 42 - Photoboothing & Dinnerdating

Thursday #43 – it was an early start this Thursday as one of us had to wake up at 6.30 to get to uni and the other got to sleep in indefinitely, since Thursday isn’t 1 of the 2 days a week they work.  I said goodbye to DTM and remembered that the downside to living on the northern beaches was having to allow almost 2 hours to get to uni.

Luckily I managed to get there slightly early and had time to scoff down a bacon and egg roll and a juice before clinic.  This Thursday was Foundation Day at uni; a day for celebrating the university’s birthday by getting stupidly drunk.  Sadly The Italian and I were on call (and felt super important telling people that), so despite not having any patients that day, we had to remain within 15 minutes of clinic at all times and getting drunk wasn’t really an option.  We helped out at the clinic’s stall by posing for photos in the photobooth and occasionally letting others in too.  We dazzled The Persian Uniform Police with our singing and earnt the accurate description of "hot mummas who can sing too".  Apparently we were encouraging contact lens appointments but I can’t guarantee our photobooth enthusiasm actually helped achieve that.  Regardless of that, we still somehow managed to walk away with a lollybag for our efforts.

After a rather large lunch we headed back to clinic for more bludging and waiting for 5 o’clock to come around.  Eventually it did and I set off to the city for my dinner date with The Hot One.  Rudely she kept me waiting and I tried to look busy/important/popular hanging on the street corner near central while she trained her way over.  We picked ourselves up a bottle of wine and joined a long queue for Chat Thai.  When we finally got to sit down we were starving and our wine was a little warm.  We sorted ourselves out with an ice bucket and I left the ordering in the capable hands of The Hot One – after all she is of Asian descent so surely she knows best.

After din dins we parted ways as she headed back to where everyone’s new favourite “reality” show is filmed and I headed home to hang with The Bra Boys.  I watched what I thought was the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy and almost threw the remote at the TV when the plane crash didn’t feature.  If I see one more ad for that damn season finale promising me it’s the end for one of those annoying characters and then just another non-ending episode I will be ropable!  No movies or ice-cream and minimal DTM, but posing in photobooths, singing in clinic and dinner dates with The Hot One all make for a very enjoyable Thursday!

Week 41 - Sleeping In & Sleeping On TV

Thursday #42 – this Thursday I enjoyed a bizarre sleep in, waking up just after 10, alone in DTM’s house.  He’d had to head off to work early and since I had the day off I was under strict instructions to go back to sleep and stay as long as I liked.  When I was half-asleep at 7am this sounded reasonable; at 10.30 as I showered and locked up it suddenly seemed very weird to be home alone in someone else’s home – not even Macaulay Culkin had to deal with that one!

When I finally got back to my own home, I made myself some brunch and headed up to bed to watch my favourite 90’s rom com While You Were Sleeping.  For some bizarre reason I was utterly obsessed with this movie as child and had what can only be described as an unhealthy crush on Bill Pullman, who is 34 years my senior.  At one of our many free movies recently, Peter Eyebrows had featured in a trailor and I began to explain to an uninterested DTM how Peter Eyebrows had played the title sleeping role in my fav childhood movie.  He couldn’t have cared less and I can’t be sure I even finished my story but what I do know is this: it made me wanna watch that movie again and it is still just as magical as it was all those years ago.  Bill Pullman’s luscious hair no longer does it for me.  Sandra Bullock’s 90’s fashion suddenly looks ridiculous.  Peter Eyebrows’ eyebrows don’t even seem that bushy anymore.  But when Sandra Bullock’s voice over comes on at the end and tells us “Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack. And I told him, "It was while you were sleeping”” – all is forgiven!

When M-Dizzle got home and found me in bed eating chocolate and watching Ringer, I explained my hectic day to her and we both decided she needed to watch While You Were Sleeping.  I was initially worried that my 30 minute synopsis may have spoiled the movie for her but then realised how much I had enjoyed it despite several viewings and am confident that even with my sometimes word-for-word run down, M-Dizzle will still be moved when Bill gives Sandra that snow dome!

I wrapped up my day with Hamish and Andy’s Euro Gap Year and a non-season finale episode of Grey's Anatomy (despite some very misleading previews) and once again returned to bed.  When I wasn’t sleeping, I was in bed watching other people sleep on my TV – it was a super energetic Thursday by all accounts!  No free movies but I did rewatch a classic so that has to count for something!

Week 40 - Homemaking & Teenageing

Thursday #41 – this week DTM and I acted like proper grownups and headed off to the Homemaker Supa Centre to look at furniture.  After already assisting with the heavy lifting side of things when DTM decided to move rooms (and by heavy lifting I mean catching sofa beds as DTM pushed them out the window), I was now being called on to help with the interior decorating.  We knew we would be in good hands because the shopping centre spelt super with an A.

Despite sucking me in with the promise of a bigger bed, we instead found ourselves looking at bigger TVs.  DTM just so happened to have gone to highschool with Mr JB, so we got to talk TV for what felt like an hour.  Plasma, LED, LCD, 3D, panels, PAL, NTSC, sound systems…I could not care less but apparently it was of the utmost importance that DTM sell his current 46 inch TV and upgrade to at least 55 inches (by Saturday night this had turned into “I think I need a 70 inch TV in my room”).  After sussing out the TV options (and as far as I can gather not actually getting any closer to a decision) we started checking out beds.  I smiled awkwardly as the shop staff asked questions about “a wriggly partner” and could feel my cheeks burning up when The Old Dude At Domayne started describing the “lumps and bumps” that ladies have and “that’s what we love about them”.

It was in one of our last shops that DTM stumbled across a reclining lounge with drink holders and an arm rest which lifted up to store remote controls and other essential items.  He tried to justify the ridiculous amount of money it would cost to have a lounge take up his entire bedroom and I tried to be the voice of reason…which was difficult given how awesome the lounge was.  Eventually we left the Supa Centre with no bed, TV or lounge but with the promise of a fancy lunch.

Upon discovering it was raining; DTM decided I didn’t really want to be taken out to lunch in this weather so instead we headed off to Officeworks (which felt very wrong after working for 10 years for the competition) to try out office chairs and get some business cards, before heading home for grilled chicken and veg.  Not exactly what I had envisioned when he’d told me he would take me out somewhere.  After lunch I decided to head back home to pick up some clothes and my laptop and to leave DTM in peace for a couple of hours to “get some work done” and go for a run.

We reconvened later that afternoon and had a beer before heading off to yet another free movie.  We managed to get dinner from 3 different take away venues before heading to the bottle shop to grab some vodka.  Bottle of Smirnoff in hand we swung by 7eleven on the way to the movie for some juice to mix with our vodka.  In case the evening’s activities thus far hadn’t already made us feel like teenagers, we then got our tickets and sat down to watch Katy Perry’s 3D movie.  I know I shouldn’t admit this; but the songs were damn catchy and I almost shed a tear when her marriage to Russell Brand broke down.  Almost.

We got the bus back home and wrapped up yet another Thursday with free movies.  If my weeks continue on like this, I may need to reconsider the title of this blog but I’m not complaining.