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!