Week One

Diaries, free vouchers and quirky sticker tabs from Bonnie who recently came back from Taiwan

/\/\4 /\/34T $3tuP. Thanks for the screen Hannah!

Awesome foursome's first day of 3rd year. One day we will look at this and thank me for capturing
these memories. 

 

Pandan toast... so delicious.. I can foresee that this will be my study/exam prep fuel 

Ah the joys of waiting for the bus and getting off $3 poorer.. I do not miss those days. 

After a good few months, all has gone back to normal i.e. I've returned to uni! Like always, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm going to miss all those days where I've not had to worry about occupying my time with study and just doing nothing without having a guilty feeling haunting me.. but on the other hand, I'm excited to go back, learn more and be able to take pretty notes and get into the swing of things. I'm also feeling a bit sentimental, I will only have one more year left of full time study, and I know that's something I will definitely miss.

One might ask, "why are you eating so much food?" Well, this time of the semester, I'm pretty free. My placement starts later on and my elective doesn't require me to go to weekly pracs (YAY). Actually I've been pretty on the ball with study this week, which is good. This semester, we are mainly applying the knowledge we have learnt in the past two years and figuring out what to do within a clinical situation. Pretty cool! I've been going through old notes and ordered a few textbooks the other day so I have a richer source of info. I'm surprised I got this far without owning textbooks *you should be impressed*, but I've realised that having some sort of professional library is important, even if it's as little as 2 books. I've compiled a list of textbooks I want to purchase, and it's pretty extensive. But I reckon it could really be useful.. I mean in a couple of years later when I'm in the big bad world I'll have no access to UQ resources i.e. books, free download of articles from prestigious journals, that kinda stuff! I'm just trying to prep myself I guess. And while I'm at it, I'll take this time to talk about some other random things that's been on my mind this week. 

On the days where I don't have to wash my hair, I use a shower cap to keep my hair dry. That requires me to put my hair up. I usually take this opportunity to experiment with hairstyles (when I'm not in a major rush/too tired). This is usually the time when I suddenly become a master stylist and create something aesthetically pleasing with my hair. Yesterday this happened.. I was so proud of myself and even thinking "yeah I can wear this one of these days" - ah that was wishful thinking. I attempted it this morning and it just failed. I don't know why this happened, but I think I've finally figured out that this is due to my hair being more flexible and easy to play around after a day of wearing it in a ponytail. When I do my hair in the morning, it just doesn't want to cooperate. I'm sure all the girls out there can relate. 

This sem, we've been given the opportunity to study an elective. The three are a) ergonomics, b) technology in health, and c) music and health. When I saw the last one, my face lit up and I was auto keen for this one. Music had always been my favourite subject in high school and I really do miss all those lessons, assignments, practice seshs, composing, analysis, aural skill tests, music history lessons and randomly watching musicals in class. I was definitely choosing this one. Besides, I had a glimpse at the ECP of the other electives and the ergonomics one required you to go to heaps of pracs, tutes AND lectures, whereas the technology in health one required class/discussion/participation to get marks (lame).. music on the other hand - two hour lecture each week, no tute, no group assignment, just a written exam and a literature review! Plus it actually interests me.. when I was deciding what to study in uni (back in the day), my recorder teacher recommended me to study music therapy because of my interest in music and health. Anyways, I was pretty excited to see what this course was about, so I rocked up to my 5-7 feeling keen. It did not disappoint! The lecturer is a really cool and funny lady - one of the few lecturers that make me laugh during lectures (that's a rare one!). We went through the history of music and it's association with health/healing over the different epochs (eras) - i.e. ancient, medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, 20th century, 21st century (sorry if this isn't in the right order, it's been a while). Lots of it was revision from music in high school combined with a bit of AMEB theory. We listened to Chopin, Bach, Pink Floyd, Ladyhawke and sang the tritone. We actually sung :') one half of the room sung F# and the other side sang C to create the tritone. Then the F# side resolved it and went to G. It was amazing - I felt like I was in music again! Never would I have considered the thought of being able to sing in a lecture! So good. There were lots of people studying this course, from different courses. There were OT, physio, speech, med, psyc, journalism, music students (from the people that called out). Although it was late, I didn't feel tired, and came out really enjoying the two hours of music :)

I was reading Luke the other day when I was doing my bsf homework. Luke 2:48 stood out to me. It says, "When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."This is when the Jesus (in his younger days) stays in Jerusalem to listen to the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone there was amazed at his understanding and his answers. I use a NIV application bible and occasionally read the commentary when I don't understand a particular verse/just for my own interest. The commentary here was particularly interesting. 

Mary had to let go of her child and let him become a man, God's Son, the Messiah. Fearful that she hadn't been careful enough with this God-given child, she searched frantically for him. But she was looking for a boy, not the young man who was in the temple astounding the religious leaders with his questions. Letting go of people or projects we have nurtured can be very difficult. It is both sweet and painful to see our children as adults, our students as teachers, our subordinates as managers, our inspirations as institutions. But when the time comes to step back and let go, we must do so in spite of the hurt. Then our protégés can exercise their wings, take flight, and soar to the heights God intended for them. 

Strong. I often think my parents are being too sheltering, protective and clinging too tight to my brother and I. It's hard on us and quite frankly it restricts us from maturing, experiencing life and learning to take care of ourselves. It is hard to deal with, not only for me, but for Jeff as well. I've talked to my mum about this issue in the past, and I know her and my dad are putting in effort to improve. I just thought this application articulated my thoughts so well. It's so important to give someone space to grow and learn, no matter how much you love them. Just thoughts.