Now a 2nd year

It’s true, I passed! Quite a delayed post, since I got the results almost 2 weeks ago. My final grade was a C for the written paper. This is pretty terrible compared to my performance in 6th year and compared to my flatmates. However (feeling the need to defend myself) this would be around 70%, not 50% which is what my mum was thinking. Regardless of the grade, I made it to year 2 and that’s what matters. Now the fun really begins. The results turned up at a reasonable time on Monday, so I wasn’t left waiting while I was working.

The MILE resit came back a few days later. Thankfully it was a pass as well although had I done the same for my first attempt it would have been a B instead of a D.

As with the Applicant’s Day that I helped out with at the end of last year I also went to the first Open Day. By a sharp contrast this was a lot busier and I only got a break when they were holding a talk on admissions. I total I took around 40 about the medical school on a tour but had to leave early as I was working. When we had around about 4 tours on at once each with at least 10 people, you get the idea of how big the turn-out was. The second years had decided to show off some of the more intriguing toys in the clinical skills such as Little Annie and something like the above. That one certainly got a few interesting looks but nobody seemed keen on getting stuck in, so to speak.

Had the house to myself last week which was certainly a breath of fresh air. Everyone’s back now and it really didn’t feel like a week. The folks turned up a day earlier than expected and that was quite a shock to my plans, but luckily nothing too serious.

It was my last day of work on Thursday which means I now have nothing to do during the day. That is, of course, until I’m forced into actually working by my parents. Although, the way the keep moaning about lack of money I’m going to be glad to be out of the house as much as possible. They’re acting like we’re going to need to cut down on electricity supply just to be able to survive.

And now the argument is over who gets the computers and who gets the TV. Honestly, I want to get back to Glasgow. Next week though my flatmates are going to view the flat that I picked on my own. I can’t pretend I’m not nervous about it all. I can barely remember the flat at all. Hopefully it’s better than I think I remember it, that way we might not have any arguments about it. Yeah…right. At least it’ll finally be over. Besides, the location is excellent - merely a few hundred yards from University Avenue.

A few geeky posts coming up, as soon as I work out what I was going to write. Still no word from the SRC on the IT job. Grr…

Sigh…

I had such high expectations of this week on Monday morning. Sadly, it didn’t deliver.

Exam results, being the most important, were either going to be out Today or Monday. Earlier the better, I was hoping to get it over with but sadly we have to wait till Monday. Not even just that, but “before 5pm” on Monday. Great - is that 9:05 or 4:55? I’m working 2:45 - 6, which I have a strong feeling will cause problems. It’s also my brother’s birthday so as soon as I get in I’ll be straight back out for a meal. Hopefully I’ll get enough time to boot up WebSURF, but I don’t know whether I’ll really want to. Not heard anything about the resit either, unless I’ve failed that and my grade hasn’t changed…

SRC IT job has also been left lying. I was expecting a least a bit of info. Perhaps they’ll wait till September to do interviews…I don’t know.

I am, however, going to be doing a Standard First Aid course in August. This may then lead on to me joining St Andrews Ambulance, which would be great pre-hospital experience (emergency med is still a loud voice in my head after year 1). Even if emergency med isn’t for me, there’s nothing like a bit of volunteer work on a CV. The course is 6 hours for 4 Sundays, which is quite a nice way to do it. Unlikely to clash with any possible work that I might happen to have (HA!).

I will (as I keep telling myself) try and fill out another phlebotomy job application this week. It’ll be into July before I hear (if I do this time) and probably into August before they let me loose. I don’t know how this would clash with an IT job, probably need to drop one or the other. At the moment though I have neither so don’t really need to worry about it.

I’ve found a new blog which I like - The Paramedic’s Diary. It’s exactly what the name suggests - a diary of the job of a London paramedic (originally from Paisley) without the constant politcal spiel found in other medical blogs. It’s also updated very frequently, which is more than I can say about my own, though I am trying.

I’m getting slightly bored of Stirling already, which can’t be a good sign. I get the house to myself in just over a week though which might remind me a bit more like being back in Glasgow - parent’s are quite a shock when you’ve been away from them for a while. I’ve also started eating a lot more and a lot of crap, which means all that fat I lost over the last year will end up back where it was. Sigh.

Woo!

Yesterday was a great day on all counts.

First, the papers were pretty simple and I’ll be major disappointed if I’ve failed, which I don’t think I have. Both papers were a bit unexpected though, hardly any diabetes considering we spent about 5 weeks going over and over it. Either way, it’s done! Thank god.

As soon as I got out the hall after the second paper I went straight to a flat viewing about 5 minutes away. This was a tough one as my other two flatmates were both away places and I had to make the decision to get it or not on my own. I had help from my current flatmate who refuses to live with us next year, much to our disappointment. In the end we went for it, which is quite scary. They could do no more viewings this week so if we didn’t get it we really would have no where. It’s not that bad either, the location is particularly excellent. Has a huge lounge, decent sized bedrooms and a reasonable kitchen. Bathroom is a bit on the smaller side but I’m sure we’ll manage. None of us are particularly fat so it shouldn’t be a problem. Can’t really describe it any better than that, so I’ll wait until I can get in and take some pics. Don’t get it till August 1st so that’ll be a while away.

Also got an email concerning interview for the SRC IT coordinator position I applied for. Couldn’t make the interview (Monday 6pm!) as I’m working in Stirling. Hopefully they’ll be able to find one which suits.

The MILE resit today went as good as I think it can. I’ve ended up with more pages of references than actual report but I guess that’s what they’re after. Noone has failed this resit in 10 years and hopefully I won’t be the first. Need to hand it in tomorrow morning before 9:30, then I’m going swimming cause I haven’t been for ages.

After that I’m going to clear the absolute mess of my room. Then I may just sit in the park and do nothing…excellent!

I’ve finished first year, bring on year 2!

Oh boy…

107 minutes!

Oh well, here goes nothing. I really, really need to pass at the very least. Seriously, a D is fine!

Oh dear.

Going 360

Yes, I should be revising, oh well.

This morning I went to Morrisons for the last time. The flat is getting cleaned as everyone prepares to head off home. One flatmate has already gone, another 3 including me next weekend and the last I don’t really care about. It’s been a hell of a year, I’m looking forward to the next.

Whilst on the idea about going round in circles, Google maps got an update this week with new street view (an examples). It’s pretty neat stuff as we expect from Google. Sure, it’s got privacy concerns and everything else but it’s very impressive stuff.

So late last night, after my last post, I got thinking about panoramic pictures and wondering just how easy they are to come up with. As it turns out, they’re not difficult. Here’s one of my room at the moment, both for prosperity and to show how tidy it currently is.

It’s quite big, I do apologise but the full version was 17MB!

I think I’ll be taking more of these around Glasgow at the end of next week.

3 more…

Damn, it’s getting close now. So close, in fact, I’m getting a bit nervous. Even worse, I’m becoming complacent - “Oh that’s not going to come up”, “We don’t need to know that much detail”, etc. I hope I’m right, I so really hope so.

I spend a record 11 hours in the SL (study landscape…it’s not a library!) today. Four of them were spent in a project room answering questions with two other guys. I’m not really sure how well that helps, but I’m sure it does more than me just reading notes repeatedly. Sadly my record will probably be trumped on Monday as I’m planning to be in for 9 and out at 11. Wednesday might be even longer as I really should take my time and pass the resit (if I don’t…all hell breaks loose).

Haven’t told my parents about it, nor many people in fact. My parents won’t understand anything other than the word “fail” so I don’t plan on telling them unless I fail the next one (which would mean I’d need to go to Progress Committee…ARGH!). The problem with not telling everyone comes on Tuesday night when everyone will be not “caring about gluconeogeneis, let’s get smashed” as the posters say. Yeah, I wish. I plan on slipping away surreptitiously at around 11pm without having had too much to drink.

I’ve had some support from a few friends but I can’t see them getting out of their beds to help me make some questions, we’ll see.

Come Thursday morning however, I’m trying to work out how best to celebrate (assuming Tuesday’s papers are decent). Hopefully it’ll be a really nice sunny day and I can sit in the park doing absolutely nothing.

It’s quite scary, that’s 1 year gone. Four more of them and I’ll be done. Very scary.