Tuesday 22 May 2012

Argh! Exams!

I hate exams. Sure, as far as revising goes they're probably one of the better sets of exams I've had, maybe something to do with only having 3, rather than the 8 we had in standard grade, or the 5 at higher. Sure it's harder content, but more of it is related. I have less unrelated subjects flying around my head all at once. Biomed crosses over into chemistry so much, and psychology crosses over too, especially in the anatomy and chemical workings of the brain.
Still, I'm freaking out slightly (who doesn't on exam week), although much less so now my first exam is over. I think I did better than I expected.
What I am not enjoying, however, is being stuck inside on these glorious days of sun. I have been revising outside when I can, but my exams are all in the middle of the day, so we miss the best sunshine, when its warm enough to ignore the east coast wind off the ocean.
Perhaps it's also a good thing though, to keep me out of the sun. The main problem is that wind off the water means you don't notice the bright sun as much. It's really easy to get sunburnt if you're not careful. Having been burnt 4 times in as many months in Scotland, I'm trying to keep covered up. I don't know what I'm going to do at summer camp or our Switzerland trip, though. I think the SPF 50, UVA/UVB protection sun cream will be coming out, and it, along with my aloe vera might just stay with me the whole time.
Anyway, two more days and exams, and first year are over. Then I just have to get down to packing, washing the place up in readiness to move out, and bulling my brogues for next week.

See you all when this stress is all over.


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Location:Bedford Rd,Aberdeen,United Kingdom

Saturday 12 May 2012

So it's getting stressful here..

With exams around the corner, it's difficult to relax much. I don't believe you've had a poem from me for a good few months now. I read through the Hunger Games book in 5 hours flat, barely setting it down (reading is one of my "wind down" hobbies) and decided that perhaps reading should wait until after exams when I can read all the fiction I like without the prospect of textbooks on the shelf making me feel guilty. (BTW, in case you don't know already, the Hunger Games is brilliant - need to see the movie now, but that will also wait)
My brother was barely out of hospital a full day when he was readmitted, and now he's discharged again, with daily checks at the warfarin clinic, and an increase on his meds. We'll see how he is in the morning. I relaxed by making another batch of tablet, which I must remember to share out at the OTC on tuesday.
I don't have much other news I'm afraid. My mind is whizzing too much to remember the vaguely interesting stuff from the boring guff.
I have the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in a weeks time, so I'll hopefully remember to update you on that, if I don't update before. I'll try though. Blogging is almost a stress relief in itself, really.


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Location:Burrelton, United Kingdom

Monday 7 May 2012

Ramblings: I can't deal with scientific inaccuracies...

Really, I can't. It's on a par with my inner spelling- and grammar-nazi. I can not copy out lecture notes without correcting all the spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar I notice. Neither can I write lecture notes without adding asterisks and arrows with references and inconsistencies between different subjects.
I remember getting the distinct impression my music teacher at school hated me when we came to the Scottish section, because I had grown up surrounded in the music and was adamant she was teaching us wrong, when in fact it was just being vastly oversimplified. I remember fuming at being told that a march was a jig, because it was in a 6/8 time signature, and jigs were 6/8s. (except the problem with the analogy is that jigs can be in any compound-time, and marches can be 6/8s too)

I'm not vain. Really I'm not. I know I'm not right all the time. In fact very little of the time. There is a great deal I don't know. I make mistakes here, on my own blog. I only change my own lecture notes, I only fume silently in my own head (and now, apparently, here), and I try to avoid conflict about it. But I'm not sure where the line starts or ends. I like people pointing out my mistakes, because I can fix it and there's one less on the page, but other people may take offence if I were to tell them.

Anyway, this particular reference happened to occur just a few hours ago. It was in reference to "ketones" or rather, as it was meant to be, " ketone bodies". Basically the problem with mixing them up is that they are different things. Ketones are derived from oxidation of a secondary alcohol. Ketone bodies are triglycerides. Well it was in reference to a "carb free diet" so I was hesitant to say anything, also knowing full well that both ketones and ketone bodies are, technically, carbohydrates.
Really, had the tone of the article not been rather derogatory, I probably wouldn't ordinarily have become so annoyed. After all, it is a widely accepted phrase. Usually it's easy to brush it off without a thought.

I'm going straight to sleep when I get back. I likely will have forgotten in the morning and more than likely hating myself for some silly mistake in my essay. As much as I'm ranting, I do make mistakes too.

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Sunday 6 May 2012

Sorry Y'all

I know I've been away. It's been a bit of a busy time lately. My brother went into hospital last week and I wasn't exactly in the mood to be posting here. Anyway, he appears to slowly be getting better which is good.
So, in other news, I was at the sports club dinner on Thursday. I had been feeling ill all day, so it was hard to eat much. It was a very good night though.
I have one last week of lectures left, then it's exam time.
I got a ball gown in a charity for £20 and with a little bit of work on my sewing machine it's turned out perfect.
Other than that I have very little news.
See you all again soon :)

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