first first day

So today was the first day back at uni. Not for me, but for a lot of people I know. Feels weird not having a first day back at school/uni. It’s my first year in however many years of not having a “first day” – the first “first day” that I don’t have (if that makes sense).

I do sort of miss uni. I don’t exactly miss Pharm school as a place, since I’ve already been there about three times so far this year for workshops, etc and I’ll probably be there quite a few more times before the year is through. But I guess I miss the .. lifestyle (?) that comes with being a uni student.

I suppose this is all a part of growing up or something.

At the moment, I’m sort of caught between really wanting to study (because I think I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff since finishing final exams last year and also because there are quite a few things we weren’t really taught at all) and really wanting to read another novel (not any novel in particular, although I have received several recommendations that I hope to get around to some time in the near future).

In the past, the first day back at uni meant I read nothing other than course-related material until the end of exams for that semester. It wasn’t so much a self-imposed restriction/ban, but when I prioritised my reading, course work always came first. Since the intern program doesn’t exactly have semesters, if I used the same prioritising system, I might not read another novel until November/December, which is an incredibly horrific thought.

I think I should get back to reading ‘Brother Fish’ …right after I finish my online quizzes.

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time warp

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but working full-time has really given me a weird sense of time – both in terms of the time of the day and the day of the week.

Usually time seems to go too quickly, leaving me wondering what happened to the morning or where the afternoon went. The days overall seem to go by quite quickly too, although some days it feels like it should be the tail end of the week, but it’s only early/mid week. And then there are times when I just have no idea where I am in relation to the start and end of the week, and I actually have to think carefully about it.

I think it happens more when I have the Tuesday to Saturday roster allocation, since it means my work week starts a day later than everyone else.

On the plus side though, I think I have overcome the tired/exhausted phase of starting full-time work (fairly sure I mentioned entering that phase somewhere in a previous entry).

story of a story

Just finished reading ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s quite refreshing in a sense to read a fantasy novel after so long without reading from that genre. There’s just something about reading about made-up places with made-up people doing impossible things.

I’ve always thought it was quite a skill to be able to make up names for fictional places and people and creatures and whatever else comes from people’s imaginations. You have to construct a name that suits what you’re naming and that also sounds suitable to the characters who say/use the name. (Hopefully you get what I’m saying there…)

Also impressive is making up a language for a fictional civilisation, especially if you include long bits of dialogue in/throughout the story. There’s probably some sort of trick to it…

Back to ‘The Name of the Wind’: I really enjoyed reading it. Feels like I say this a lot, but it was quite different to other books I’ve read. This time, it’s different in the sense that it’s sort of a story of a story. That is, the protagonist is telling another character the story of how he became a hero. The hero’s history is pretty much the bulk of the book, but you get little intermissions where you go back to the “present day”, if you will, when the hero is telling the story.

But there are certain events in the “present day” that let you know that the story isn’t just going to end when the past meets the present, so, really, it’s more than just a story about a story.

[Caution: Possible spoiler in following paragraph] However, it did remind me a bit of ‘Harry Potter’, when you consider the very, very basic concept behind the story: evil person(s) kill kid’s parents, kid goes to uni to become educated in “magic” and to find answers, kid makes enemy of pompous/snooty guy but has a few true friends, kid builds up quite a reputation for himself at uni. But other than that, the two stories and the two respective protagonists are very different.

Another thing I liked about ‘The Name of the Wind’ was that Rothfuss seemed to anticipate all of my questions. There aren’t any holes or loose ends in the story (except for the ones he intentionally left for the purpose of creating intrigue).

All in all, I definitely want to read the sequel.

professionally developing

Back in the studying mood again. I attribute this to the two-day workshop I went to today and yesterday. I just hope that I can keep up this studying mood because I have to follow up on this workshop next year. (Plus, I’m sure a bit of studying will be of some help with pre-reg year.)

Parts of the workshop made me feel like I was back in 4th year tutorials. It was a good feeling. It was nice being back at PACE. Something tells me that I’m never going to get away from that place for good (not that I mind, really).

The only bad thing was that we had pretty good weather this weekend, and I had to spend most of it inside, as is usually the case. Then it started to rain when I left this afternoon. Didn’t mind the rain so much, since it made the air so nice and cool, but thunder and lightning don’t quite make for a pleasant walk.

As I walked home, before the thunder and lightning came on, I was thinking about the concept of continuing professional development (CPD) (after the thunder and lightning came on, I was just thinking about getting home as quickly and dryly as possible).

It sort of sucks (“sort of”? some would say it definitely sucks) that we have to keep paying money to stay registered/accredited and whatever. Would be nice to say that it’s not about the money and that we should be thinking of nobler things, but people can’t live off gratitude and rapport (although.. you possibly could, depending on how these were expressed).

I guess maybe if professional development events, etc were free (or cheaper), then more people may be inclined to participate and we may have a more professionally developed profession. But the economist part of my mind is quick to add that setting prices too low would result in demand far exceeding supply, and we can’t have that happening.

I wish it was easier to get CPD points but, at the same time, part of me relishes the challenge.

Monday-itis

Can’t believe it’s only Monday… Not that I don’t like Mondays (and not that I like Mondays either, for that matter), but it feels like it should be at least mid-week by now.

Have been trying to do pre-reading for my workshop thing this weekend, but just too sleepy to concentrate properly. Need to sleep soon. But need to finish this pre-reading

Music will keep me awake a little bit longer…

A tired old soul is never too tired to dance and sing

within itself

Had a weird dream a couple of nights ago. I have a lot of weird dreams. It’s probably more accurate to say “had another weird dream last night”.

In this dream, I was telling people about other dreams that I had had last week – actual dreams that I actually had just last week.

Yeah, I’ve had factually correct dreams before, and I’ve had dreams where I knew it was a dream (or someone else in the dream knew that it was a dream), but I think this is the first time I’ve had a dream in which I’m talking about previous dreams that I’ve actually had.

I guess it’s sort of like those dreams where you dream that you’re having a dream and then you wake up in the primary dream and realise the secondary dream isn’t real. But this time, I wasn’t dreaming in the dream. I bypassed the dreaming-in-a-dream stage.

But I guess you could say that, since I woke up from last week’s dreams and remembered them, they became part of “waking life” and were hence able to become part of other dreams in the same way that other parts of “real life” show up in dreams. Logical, isn’t it?

Before I finish this post, just wanted to say that I’m very happy at the return of “Talking about your generation” (Ten). Not sure if I was just in a particularly happy/laughing mood at the time but I just found last night’s show hilarious. That “human hotdog” game (or whatever it was called) even brought a tear to my eye from laughing so much.