Monday, August 31, 2009

SCORE! I didn't die!

One of my aims that I put up on Friday was "to not die". At least until next week.

The reason that I suspected that I might die was that I was going rock climbing for the first time. I'm a co-ord. I generally forget my left and my right, and most times don't know how to co-ordinate movements when using both arms and legs... The good news: I didn't suck as badly as I thought I would. More good news: I really enjoyed it! The bad news: I have random bruises in random places (for example: I bruised the palm of my hand).

Sunday: I was helping out at the Wanderers race (incidentally, a huge success), and was put down to help at the Bokomo tent.... On Saturday night, I was seriously regretting offering to help. But I had offered, and thus, I would go. So off I went at 6am. I nearly killed myself laughing - I spent the first hour making fruit look pretty, building banana towers and putting out milk... Then came telling people that they didn't have to buy breakfast - they could help themselves! I think it was a bit of an advert for Pronutro - they pretty much had Pronutro, rusks, milk (to have with the pronutro) and fruit. My duties were then to help keep the tent tidy (ie, put out more milk, throw away bowls etc.). There was this crazy old guy who scared me a little (he was a runner) - when he saw the tent he had a wise crack about Bokomo: " Dis bokmis en Omo". Then he tried to chat me up afterwards when he saw I was helping at the tent. Crazy. Yuck. And: How can people eat half an hour before a race?? I felt so queasy just thinking about it...

After the race started, we packed up the breakfast tent, I had a long chat with a person who used to go to run/walk for life with. She has downs syndrome, and quite often would forget my name, who my family was (all of us were regulars there and knew her rather well). I saw, her, said Hi, and she responded by saying "Hi, megan"! How cool??? I was so impressed - she remembered my brother and parents too. I think that was the best part about the race. The only thing was that she wanted to chat about her brothers and their wives and what they did, and I needed to go and see if the race organisers needed any more help.

It turned out they did, and I spent the rest of the morning (till about 10.30 when they ran out) pouring coke (they ran out of water too) into small paper cups. I don't do coke at the best of times, and having to open so many bottles gave me blisters over blisters. Eventually I was handing the bottles to runners, asking them to open the bottles, and then continuing pouring.

I left after we ran out of coke - I wasn't going to deal with angry runners, and went home to an ethics application. Fun times.

Later on Sunday night, I went to church for the first time in a very long time (see here for why). It was so cool. I didn't need to be anyone. It was basically me and God having a moment during the worship, which was totally cool. No-one around me bothered me; for some reason, the worship didn't seem pretentious, and I found myself being more honest with God than I have been (also in a very long time). So I will go back, and then see how it goes - if I fit, I will stay. If I don't, I won't. But it is a very big step for me. Yay!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

In the spirit of TMI Thursday

Warning: Do not eat while reading this! Or read this after eating! Or eat after reading this!

Last night, as I was preparing my supper-for-one (which, incidentally was a toasted egg, salami and cheese sandwich), the cats that I am cat sitting were eating their food. I flipped my egg, and one of the cats started vomiting. Right there, in the kitchen. Almost in the food bowl, and half in the water bowl. So of course I can't continue making my sandwich with the vomit about 30cm away from me. So I start to clean it up, which involves many trips outside, trying not to think about it, smell it or even see it...

Only to discover that the cat has chucked again. This time in the passage. And my sandwich was still sitting, waiting to be toasted. But I toiled away, cleaning up the vomit. Then I switched the snackwich maker back on, and put my sandwich in. The egg broke while I was doing this. Why does oozy egg always make me feel queasy? Anyway. I had to leave to door open to get rid of the smell of vomit and it made the house rather cold, but by the time my sandwich was toasted, it had gone and the floor was dry.

The thing that made me pathetically grateful: The fact that the other cat didn't sympathetically vomit while I was eating...

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Sunshine and happiness

This is a sunset, but hey, it still involves the sun. And its pretty!

But I actually wanted to talk about sunrise and the merits of getting up early. Lately, I have been sleeping in at every opportunity I get - the joys of working hard and stress, I suppose. But today, in an effort to beat traffic from the place I'm housesitting at, I got up super super early and left the house about 45 mins before the sun rose. As I got into my (albeit cold) car, the horizon was just light enough to see. Although there was still traffic, it flowed fast, and barely made any impact on my travel time. It was just so nice to be out (well, in my car out) with the sun coming up. It was super pretty.

The thing I like the most: I don't feel Űber grumpy! I know I will crash sometime this afternoon (hopefully not too early), but I feel rather uplifted right now. Which really helps, since this morning, I have to TA a lab...

Now here's something to be happy about: Its my last TA duty for the year!!!! YAY!

Monday, August 24, 2009

On religion

I've been wanting to write about this subject for quite some time now, but never got around to it. I have a lot to say, and not too much time, so I figured that I would start, then carry on when I have it on my mind next.

I'm a Christian. I used to go to church regularly, I even went to cell group, and was a youth leader at one point. I've organised a youth camp, a prayer weekend and been involved in numerous other activities. I was very happy at my church, until the cell group that I was involved in disintegrated. I still would go to church, but things were changing there, and I was also changing - I suppose you could say that I was broadening my horizons. For the first time, a significant proportion of my friends were not regular church-goers (if christian at all), and it really opened my eyes as to what a lot of other people as Christians.

In my honours year, I got busy with the huge amount of work that had to be done. I started getting hugely frustrated with the people at church - many of them seemed to only associate with other Christians, and seemed to look down on those who were not. Apart from that, I stopped enjoying the service that I regularly went to: The worship was getting more and more showy and pretentious, and I was hating it more every time I went.

So I simply stopped going. Now every time I see people from that particular church, I feel terribly judged! Maybe I'm just being oversensitive, but I really do feel that way.

So: The point of the post is this: Just because I'm not currently attending a church, doesn't make me a "heathen". I may not be growing in Christ, but I still believe in God, and Jesus, and the fact that I'm saved through his grace. That hasn't changed, even though I haven't attended a church regularly for over a year.

Another thing: I do actually want to look for another church, but I know that I can't commit to attending every week. The fact that it is rather hard to walk in to a place where you hardly know anyone makes a huge difference to me too - more stress is not what I need right now, and that is another off-putting factor at the moment!

Also, at times I rather like my angry music - it helps me get through the marking/data entry/ other mundane tasks. I also drink alcohol (I have a particular fondness for good red wine). But I don't think that this makes me a bad person... Or maybe I'm wrong! But somehow, I don't think so... Anyway, time to end this rant.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Tough as old boots but maybe easier to swallow...

So, Friday was a bad day, to put it mildly. Since writing about stuff helps me to let go, here goes.

I half wonder about my ability to be a scientist, and all that happened on Friday (see here) made that self-doubt ten times worse. I wonder if I will have the ability and staying power to finish this degree, and if I do, I wonder about my suitability as a PhD candidate (I still don't know what I will do after I finish my master's). If I go out and work, what will I do? Will I be able to do it?

Yes, yes, One Bad Day has done all of this to me. I'm not used to doubting myself, especially when it comes to things that generally, I'm pretty good at. Maybe it is the whole lab-work thing (I know that I can do field work, although I'm not sure how I would cope if I had to do field-work like Helen's*). Maybe it was just a whole combination of stressful things that, combined, made me just plain miserable (come on, who loses their temper at a machine?).

The one thing that I know, and that I'm proud of: I will stick with this project, even through horrible Friday moments, I will finish it, and be proud of the work that I've done. This is me, and even if I cry about my project many times, I will do it.

Yes. That sounds horribly like one of those "team talk" moments from the movies, where one guy (or girl) will stand up and give a moving speach to his/her team members, and they go out and win. I may not win, but at least I will try. My hardest.

*Helen is my hero - 3 months in the field, with only lizards to talk to? That really takes guts.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Its just not my day...

In fact, this week has been just plain awful. Today, however, is the worst. Nothing is going smoothly, and it is a battle just to get simple things done. For instance, one of the dvd recorder machines that I'm using was working perfectly well. Suddenly, it switched itself to black and white mode. I fought with the stupid F%&*#@$ thing for approximately half an hour. then gave up, only to find that, 15 minutes later, it was working fine again. Then a mouse escaped. Then a lamp blew up. So I couldn't even do 4 recordings!

And I'm housesitting, so everything seems worse. Luckily I have dinner...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

YOU! yes... you.... STOP LITTERING!

*begin rant*

Don't you hate it when people just drop a piece of paper or wrapper and walk off? Ok, maybe sometimes it is unintentional, but a lot of the time, people will just drop their rubbish, even if they walked past a dustbin 30sec ago. WHY??? Why is it so hard to carry your rubbish with you until you get to a dustbin? Do people think that the unsightly wrappers, bottles, pens and plastic that they are discarding degrades? Or do they expect someone else to pick it up?

Especially in the younger generation (wow, I feel old right now), there seems to be a prevailing attitude of entitlement. For example: "It is my right to eat/drink/go on Mxit in class". They also have the right to be there, in the class, so you cant kick them out. But aren't these people taking away the rights of others by doing these things? In the same way, because people litter, more people have to do the horrible job of picking up the mess made by others. Is this fair? (yes, its a rhetorical question).

Down with self-centeredness! I think that if more people looked at the world around them and realised how it affects them anyway, they might start to care a little more. Maybe if they cared more, they would change their behaviour.

*end rant*

Sunday, August 16, 2009

And in other news

I heard the most arbitrary item on the news the other day. It went something along the lines of " And in an effort to alleviate the crime in the area, one block of flats bought 30kg* of butter to smear on their drainpipes." I get the feeling that this was somewhere in China. Why is it that it is entirely possible that this actually happened??

I wonder if it worked...

* I don't recall the exact amount, but it was a lot. And I'm sure the number had a 3 in it, somewhere...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

No Reservations

I consider myself to be rather reserved. That is, until I get to know people, but even then... Anyway, last week I discovered that when I am under a lot of pressure, I talk. A lot. For example, in the last two weeks I have practically told my life story to about 5 people (including a petrol pump attendant!). I'm pretty sure I freaked the poor guy out, and left him there wondering if he should call a psychologist, either for himself or me. Yes - last week was that bad!

However, I took a good look at myself, and realised that I have come a long way in terms of being more open with people about myself. Which is a good thing - how can anyone get to know you if you don't ever let them in?

So, in a way, this post is a bit self-congratulatory. Well done to me! I've grown up a bit!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Crazy, crazy week

I haven't posted for some time, because of the above-mentioned craziness. I have had the 'flu for the past week and a half, which made my already busy schedule hecticer (real word...). For the record, I'm still sick, although I am getting better now (albeit slowly).

Last week I:
  • Tutored twice, and prepared for these two tuts.
  • Went to one tutor's meeting
  • Was a teaching assistant for one lab (on ferns)
  • Went to a tedious TA pre-lab for the above lab
  • Marked practical reports from the previous week
  • Sampled vegetation for my project
  • Changed bedding for 10 of my animals
  • Entered data for half of my July vegetation sampling
  • Went to see the doctor (not seeing that particular one again - EVER)
  • Voted on my diving-clubs' new committee
  • Did (and re-did, and re-did again) a presentation for my proposal meeting
  • Had the proposal meeting
And all this while sick... I would feel proud of myself, if I wasn't feeling so awfully tired! I do feel quite proud of myself for one thing not on the list: I was nominated to be secretary for the diving club, and I elected not to stand for the position - I would rather not over-extend myself in the next year...

So, that's the story from the week. I hope next week will be better but, I need to
  • Correct my proposal
  • Enter the other half of July's veg data
  • Clean the rest of my cages
  • Try and contact GDACE (again!)
  • Post letters
  • Mark prac reports
  • TA a lab, and attend the pre-lab meeting
  • Go to the monthly tuesday dinner
  • Go to movies with the girls on wed
  • Maintain the illusion of sanity....

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

NOOOOO!

I just had a horrifying realisation: The number of posts of the scary student answers blog (which I also contribute to), has exceeded the number of posts on this one.

Actually, it's not all that bad. I'm just being a drama queen, which may possibly be allowed on this occasion (I'm sick with flu).

Saturday, August 1, 2009

My! Grandma! What big teeth you have!

Or, in my case it was My! Grandma! What a big nose you have, and what a big noise it makes...

Im not being nasty, just being honest, and blunt (as usual). It was my grandmother's birthday yesterday, and since my grandfather is still in hospital, we decided that rather than her staying by herself for her birthday (it was her 80th, after all), we would fetch her and bring her to our house to spend the night, and we would make her a nice dinner. Since I was sick, my brother kindly offered to give up his bed for her.

I was concerned that my gran would get my flu, and pass it on to my grandfather, which would not be at all good. So I wore one of those surgical masks the whole evening, only taking it off to eat my supper. And felt like a complete idiot, walking around with this silly thing on my face, which kept sliding up (yes! Up!), into my eyes. I guess my face just isn't big enough for one of those...

Anyway. It kind of defeated the whole object when I was tucked up in bed, about to go to sleep, and obviously with the mask off, when my gran pottered in, and proceeded to have an extended good night conversation with me at close quarters... Nobody can say that I didn't do my best!

Later on that night, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and heard a very strange noise. It sounded like someone was shaking their feather duvet vigorously. After a few minutes, I was sure that it couldn't be the case - why would anyone keep on shaking their duvet for so long? Then I realised that it was coming from my brother's room. And that it wasn't a duvet shake, but rather, a very loud snore... So loud, in fact, that I could almost feel the walls vibrating slightly.

I wasn't sure if I would get back to sleep, now that I was fully awake and listening for it. Luckily tiredness won, and I fell asleep fairly quickly. Question: How is it possible for such a diminutive person to make such a big noise??