That time of year again!

MANIFEST!
Unfortunately as a Student Nurse I am required to complete 4 full weeks of Mental Health Nursing and I am smack bang right in the middle of it!
Fortunately I have a presentation back at Uni today and therefore have the day off from Placement!!
Here's hoping my groups presentation is one of the firsts up so I can FLEEEEEEE and catch a train to Melbourne while it's still early
<3 Much love to all the cosplayers, I'll be going as Olivier Milla Armstrong but have to wait till tomorrow to cosplay
(It'd be interesting trying to explain Schizophrenia when dressed up haha)

No love for the Student Nurses

I don't think I can whinge about this enough, nothing burns my cheese more then a disorganised, late Teacher who has to be hunted down to attend a meeting s/he organised. UNLESS it is Terry* who has to be hunted down for a meeting s/he organised to tell us that the "lucky" few of us that will be attending Clinicals 2.5hrs away in a rural (Large) town, during the handful of weeks classes are still on and assignments are due, WITH the added bonus of a whole 2 days clinical to travel back to give a 10minute presentation with a group that we have to meet up with somehow prior to this presentation.

Confused yet?

Here's the skinny:
Clinical placement will be 2.5hrs away by car or a minimum 3.5 via train.
Group presentations will not be granted extensions
We have to find our own way back to give a 10minute demonstration during our 3rd week, they can't push it back until the 4th week is over
We have to liaise with a group of students who get to work on the assignment in classes that we are expected to keep up with in our own time.

And the cherry on the cake??
Some lucky buggers get to work 13hour days on placement and as usual we don't get any financial support for travel, food or accommodation.
*Terry is a gender neutral name :D
*whinge whinge whinge*

Sudden Potato Syndrome

It doesn't exist according to Google but I propose that it become a recognised health problem around the globe.
Symptoms involve:
- Sudden weather changes to near freezing
- Hibernation like sleeping habits
- Requiring a heart-attack inducing amount of caffeine just to start the day
- Enough sugar to kill a dozen diabetics
- Unusual layering habits in an attempt to avoid frostbite
- Unexplained naps
- Inexcusable laziness
- Over consumption of fast foods that are warmer than a sandwich and easier to 'make' for dinner than a can of soup.


To quote the mighty Shakespeare from Measure for Measure;
"I'll pray a thousand prayers for your death"
Or to paraphrase Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory:
Oh, Winter thou art a heartless bitch.

Things they say in honesty but should be lies or How to start a degree

Before you even begin the awe inspiring new year at the adults learning facility known as University you may be required to attend an educational day that tells you how long you will be allowed to grace their halls and how much money you will have to fork out once you have a job in the 'real' world.

My own such experience was full of sunshine and laughter a day that should be noted in my memory bank as the day they weren't joking.

As the second eldest child in a family that hadn't attended a university in well over 2 decades it was nerve racking and exciting. My older sister whom we shall call "Sissy" because I thought it sounded endearing and not offensive, had to defer her own first year due to the financial costs related to University.

I'm sure you understand those silly little habits we tend to have of sleeping and food that cut into time and money.As such I was determined that with my ever impressive bank balance, enough to last 1 year provided I still worked as a casual, I would not fall prey to the demons Billius Maximus and Foodicus Price-Go-Uppity.

But back to the 'jokes' they told us at the educational event...

To begin I recall a speech from students in their last year of study who with a broad smile on their face told us to "Say goodbye to your friends and family while you still can. You may as well be dead for the next X number of years." Naturally we laughed at this amusing little joke as their grins broadened.
In short I will end with this fact: I live with my best-friend, the boyfriend that is, and my best-female-friend   lives but a mere one hours train ride away and I ran into her by accident; which means I was in the Capital city and just texted to see where she was so I could find her and this was more then a month ago now. I think I need more friends >.<

Dying in bed or how to lie down with a sinus infection.

Technically it's probably not a sinus infection but as the Boyfriend pointed out, "You're not supposed to be in that much pain with a common cold", Which in the back of my mind registers as logic; Too much logic and I just go back to cringing as the pressure builds up to a monstrous amount and I take what has to be enough paracetamol and ibuprofen to make even the craziest drug dependent person question my sanity.

If you've ever experienced the pain associated with your sinuses attempting to blow out your eyeballs you'd understand. Just to make the experience more fun I am determined to clean the house and have a monumental veggie garden planted in time. In time for what you ask? Well in time to grow dear readers. As any well googled gardener knows snow peas are fricken expensive at the supermarket BUT can be grow just about anywhere in the good old land of Oz provided you have some sort of trellis like trellis to assist the early growth and at least 6hrs of sunlight a day.

I do love me some snow peas, thus fueling my desire to have a garden based solely around growing them. Logic dictates I should have researched first but no dear readers that would be logical and we can't have logic. Most people read trellis and understand that means the plant will be tall, I skipped that part and went straight to how soon I could be devouring the little green pods of awesome. I just hope the landlady doesn't mind next time she visits and I have a garden in our miniscule backyard.

Fingers crossed something actually grows.

You're Application Has Been Approved

I'm going to be AWOL for a short time again, Yes almost a month in between posts is a short time, as our rental application was approved this morning at 1000hrs.


I'm so excited I can't think of where to start packing. We can have the keys by the end of the week!!
Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong.

Hallelujah! or Houston We Have a Camera

After many torturous weeks within in which I have attempted to save money to buy Boyfriend a camera to replace the one I killed in Ecuador (See previous blog), He celebrated his 21st birthday and lo and behold was gifted a rather neat little red one. I can only assume the red makes it go faster.
Which brings me back to why I started blogging in the first place.

If anyone actually reads my blog they will know I was inspired by another blog and felt that it would be 'easy' and much more fun then studying to bitch, whinge and moan about the difficulties of being alive in a day and age when you can have a sook about anything and people HAVE to listen.

It had been so frustrating to not burn little baked goods and be unable to share my epic level abilities to master the most basic of recipes. But alas I may be moving very soon, fingers crossed, and will have to learn a whole new oven and anyone who has moved houses as much as I have knows that with great ovens come great responsibilities.

Namely the responsibility to not eat everything you bake and to actually *shudder* share with other people.
I figure one day I'll end up in a cardiac ward myself as a fat old lady who couldn't say no to a slice or cake but I'll be a happy fat, old lady. Perhaps I'll justify it by being an epic grandmotherly type who tries to fatten up everyone around me.
Happy Baking.

Cardio Cath Lab or the Ward?

The past week and a half has been pretty full on for me, to date I have watched 5angiographs, a TOE, multiple attempts at venepunctures, 1 stent procedure and a pacemaker change.
Naturally I am now conflicted as to whether or not surgical nursing is for me, one the one side it's very straightforward with set procedures done each day but on the other hand it's very straightforward with set procedures done each day.
I actually enjoy working with patients and I love getting to hear their stories, when I can, but unfortunately for me a nurse doesn't always have the time to chat with patients more and some just flat out don't want to talk anyway.
So far so good.

Clinical Placement!

Woo hoo!

I will be in the Renal/Gastric/Stroke/Chronic Pain ward!
It's going to be awesome but hard, challenging but worthwhile.
There's even a list of specific knowledge I will need to know:
Peritoneal Dialysis, Portacath, CVC and Grasby. Still not 100% on a few things and I need to better understand different cardiac drugs but I think it will be good to get back out there, even if it is a full time job which I'm doing for free for Four Weeks.

Dad Jokes; Tasteful or Tacky?

What is Beethovens favourite fruit?
BA NA NA NAAAAA

I personally enjoy the old man jokes. No matter how tacky or lame they are to others. They just work perfectly with my sense of humour and that's probably a bad thing...

So here's a bunch just for you!

Why did God make only one Yogi Bear? Because when he tried to make a second one he
made a Boo-Boo. 

What do you call a guy who never farts in public? A private tutor. 

What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea. (no eye dear) What do you call a deer with no legs and no eyes? Still no idea. 

What's long, yellow and fruity? An apple in disguise.  

What's the difference between a guy falling from the 1st floor and one falling from the 17th floor , the guy falling from the first goes, ' splat , Aaaaaaaargh " and the one from the 17th goes, " Aaaaaaargh , splat ". 

Where do kings keep their armies? In their sleevies. 

Why don't anteaters get sick? Because they're full of anty-bodies! 

Why do you go to bed? Because the bed won't come to you.    

What goes black, white, black, white, black, white? A penguin falling down the stairs

Why did the Koala fall out of the tree? Because it was dead


Why did the other Koala fall out of the tree? Pissed itself laughing


Why did the third koala fall out? It thought it was a game.


Why did the kangaroo drop dead? The koalas fell on it

Tacky, Terrrible and yet to the stressed Uni student they are small gems.

Things that will frustrate me to no end.

It's come to the end of my second week of university and I can't say it's too bad so far but there a few things that could be changed minimally that would make it so much easier for the student to learn.

For example the suggested pre-readings instead of stating "Do pre-readings before Tutorials" could be much easier and time efficient if they instead suggested a textbook, or chapter within a text, instead of suggesting the unit uses 7 suggested textbooks but no prescribed text. ((The difference is a prescribed text is one that the exam will be based on and the unit centered around, a suggested text means there are only a handful of chapters used in all.))

Another way in which I believe it could be improved is through the teachers use of time. Instead of spending an hour and ten minutes going over what we learned last week we could perhaps go over the homework for 10 minutes, then move onto this weeks work for the next 1hour 30minutes as 40minutes spent on the currents week work is no where near enough.

Furthermore there is the issue of groups. Whilst this may have been highly useful in primary school, because the smart kid did all the work, in University it is difficult to organise a sufficient amount of time each week to the the group homework that doesn't even contribute to our grade. I am also of the opinion that a group of Five people is much too large when the homework assignment is one question.

Finally would it kill the teacher to realise we haven't just come out of 20+ years in gastrointestinal studies we don't know what the hell you are saying/writing when you use abbreviations that will only be found in that one hospital. I swear nothing is more frustrating then not being able to read what the teacher has written on the whiteboard or when you ask and they think telling you the abbreviation is useful. -Sigh- Sometimes it is frustrating when they think it's useful to just write "Aldast Mechanism" when you can't understand what you just told them their weekly group homework is.

I wish Google could tell me what "Stress response. Rennin - Angiotensin Aldast Mechanism" was :/

Even Water has a chemical composition....

Another start to another long/short University year and this one is eerily similar to the last. The standard welcome, the plagarism warning and the reminder that patient privacy extends to social network sites like twitter and facebook.

Today was informative lecture that could only have been more educational if I hadn't done the pre-tutorial readings, try saying that ten times fast, so all in all it was actually a good refresher on the text. One topic that was covered was Nurse Responsibilities Related to Patient Medications.

But no amount of medicine can cure stupid so that is why the nurse is required to educate the patient regarding their medicines and addressing the issues important to the patient such as Why are they taking this medication, What will it do to them and How they take it.

Another issue is that many patients don't consider herbal remedies a drug because they are 'natural' and contain no 'chemicals' but as the lecturer pointed out even water is made up of chemicals.

A Dangerous Pastime I know.

Well I have been thinking at work since I got back from Ecuador; to quote Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast it is indeed 'A dangerous pastime. I know.", and I devised a rather nifty list that I am going to share with you all today.

Things That Would Be Awesome To Do At Work:

1. Hide behind the desk and pop up when the customer rings the bell for assistance.
2. Hide under the desk when they ring the bell for assistance and rock slowly back and forth muttering about 'Nam.
3. When answering the phone use an accent, any accent, improvise with words you *think* sound foreign.
4. Hunt a coworker. Bring in a pith hat and elephant gun so everyone else can join in.
5. Find computer chairs and race through the store. Ten points for knocking over customers, Twenty if they are young and attempt to flee.
6. Lock customers in the store by playing with that giant rollerdoor.
7. Set off the alarms by going out the emergency only exit, That one out back where you need someone to deactivate the alarm so you can get to your car 30 seconds faster.
8. Superglue. On everything.
9. Practice Zumba. They did this at a Borders bookstore. I really want to work in a bookstore that does Zumba.
10. Arm small children with water pistols and nerf guns. Create a war zone the likes of which no one has ever seen before.

I enjoy work but sometimes I think when I work. Sometimes I think so hard I answer honestly when the boss asks if I was listening and I tell her "No I was off with the fairies" but it's okay, she was talking to herself.

A Better Account of Ecuador

One of the 3 school buildings. I think this is the biggest.

So the first week was mostly volunteer work which involved teaching some little kids English, learning Spanish from little kids, digging a sewerage pit thingy so the little kids can have proper toilets at school, painting a school and trying to cover said sewerage pit because it absolutely pissed down rain. So in 30-40*C heat I dug through rocks and solid clay for 3 days.

They look so innocent

I even spent an entire afternoon painting in the shade (that was pretty awesome).

You can't tell but it's 2m deep.

I also tubed down the largest river in the Amazon for 3 hours all up. (2 were travelling to a jungle lodge where we stayed 2 nights). We also went to an Animal rescue shelter (Amazoonia) and watched a witch doctor or shaman as he spit on my sisters head! (Turns out he was sucking in air but it sounded like she got spat on)

Probably the best photo I took the whole time.

We traveled everywhere by motor canoe, it's pretty fantastic, and in the back of a small truck, that was so much fun.

They didn't let us hang off the back but we tried to.

Capuchen monkeys live in the middle of the town, Mishualli. It's pronounced Misa-hua-gee because the local tribe is the Kichwa people and that's how they told us to pronounce it.

Campbell and the Capuchen

I had my face painted by a local, I was El Loco Gato (The Crazy Cat), another girl got traditional female face markings and the third had warriors I think.

Pretty photo of green stuff.

We also got to watch how traditional pottery is made. Mostly it's made using clay from the riverbed and sand also from the rivers. It's polished using a stone and coloured the same way!

Pepito the adorable/evil dog that tried to steal my sunnies.

I trekked through the amazon for 5hours in one day so I felt pretty invincible, after I slept of course, Everybody was pretty tired afterwards.

Really old tree roots full of spiders.

There were 16 people including myself. 15 Aussies and 1 Canadian. The Canadian girl is fearless she climbed the waterfall and got lost at the top.

The kids loved taking photos with cameras

The waterfall is insanely beautiful, as was the butterfly house.

The third butterfly that landed on my back.

Memorable quotes:
It's so good eh (Canadians say this a lot eh.)
How good is it? Sooooo good. (All the time)
Why do they call it a rainforest? (As we were trekking whilst it rained)
We were in the Amazon?! (After the 5 hour trek)
Ah nooooo. (We kinda over-used this)
El Blanco Diablo (Cause we were white lol)

Mmm lunch time and a Cacao fruit!

Chocolate Cuppycakes and Flooding

For the weekend I have been visiting with good friends in a tiny old town called Rochester and recently it has been experiencing moderate to severe flooding. But this was way back in January so naturally as humans we assume the worst is over. This was my first time seeing their new home!

White Wings Chocolate Cupcake Mix

The town planned a street party to celebrate the flood relief and generally get everyone back to their normal lives, schools have been closed and businesses ruined, but it was canceled due to rain and a flood warning. It's the kind of thing that happens when I visit my best friend, at least her dogs didn't eat something inedible to go to the vet again.

Quite nice for a packet mix

All in all it really could be a lot worse. The flooding in Queensland is pretty bad I hear. During the worst of it all I was actually in Ecuador doing Volunteer work for a small Kichwa community so I didn't even hear about the floods until my stop-over in Los Angeles when Americans joked about my home being underwater. I assumed that it wasn't too bad since we've recently had the bush-fires but Australia is the land of the extremes, when its hot - it's roasting, when it's raining it pours but when it's pretty it's exquisite.

Just following the instructions

Ecuador for those that don't know is located in South America and is beyond beautiful, when you're not in the mud or falling into a river. The town of Misahualli itself is also pretty unique as it's a tourist town, but once you leave the small communities and head into the jungle it's a whole other world.

We always bake something together

Where Australia is green Ecuador is GREEN.  As we trekked through a small fraction of that jungle for 5hours we saw many amazing things, butterflies were everywhere and the tiny poison dart frogs were almost impossible to find but it was definitely an experience I'd recommend to everyone else.

And they're done!

How to make a crappy packet mix cake & What is this blog meant to be about?

I started my own little bloggy because a rather impressive blog filled me with awe, as a good blog often does, but this time it was made by a real person (read "real person" as 'someone I know'). This made me think that perhaps average people can create interesting blogs about things they are interested in, which for me includes pretending to be rather epic at baking.

If I ever master this thing called Blogging I'll let you know.

Onwards to the packet mix cakes and the how to;

Step 1: Buy said packet mix cake, for this adventure I chose 2 different mixes Greens Sweet Banana Honey Muffins and White Wings Moist Chocolate Cake.
(White Wings Moist Chocolate Cake was actually pretty good and didn't last very long out of the oven so there's no proof the cake I made ever existed.)
Step 2: Set up all required utensils and ingrediants.

Not everything's there but you get the idea.
Step 3: Following instructions on the packet. Well they're there for a reason.

You may notice that isn't a wooden spoon or fancy electric mixer but I was visiting my mums house and I'm pretty sure I had killed her electric mixer last time I was there. ANYWAY....

Step 4: I'm pretty sure it said this on the box but you actually have to spoon the mixture into a tray before placing it in the oven.

And as you can see I was experiencing difficulty doing it neatly.

I blame the young people who were 'helping' they mostly just mixed it for me using a silicon spatula and licked the bowl clean.

Unfortunately this was another case of baked good not lasting long enough to be photographed so here's a picture of a cat.

His name is Boots

He gets hay-fever but isn't he funny looking haha...

What's better then a Grilled Cheese Sandwich you ask?

Why TWO grilled cheese sandwiches of course!

Some people believe in destroying the purity of the cheese in bread combination but I personally prefer it plain. Some famous people who have damaged the image of grilled cheese are in fact Oprah and Martha Stewart, Damn straight I saw that episode Oprah.... Jalapenos do not belong in food.

I recently read that Maxis would give it's workers a grilled cheese sandwich after each milestone; That made me hungry, But any fan of The Sims (2,3) will know just how highly the grilled cheese sandwich is valued and obsessed over. For those that don't know about it, (How do you not know!?) in The Sims 2: Nightlife Expansion pack you can choose The Grilled Cheese aspiration for your Sims new life obsession: thus sparking an obesity epidemic almost equal in frustration to that seen in real life! How much more Simulated real life can you get than that?

In other news my web browsing also discovered that The Sims is the highest selling PC game to date! It's pretty awesome, I particularly loved the Magic something or other expansion pack for the pet baby dragons  but unfortunately has no life obsession for grilled cheese, plus the dragon kept setting my house on fire eventually leading to the death of my favourite Sim.

Sims aside I was hoping to share a photo or two of my epic lunch of TWO grilled cheese sandwiches but alas I don't own a camera and the one I borrowed from my best buddy and boyfriend took a swim in an amazonian river :/ oops.