yirinka

It is amazing, but I actually now have a social life, regular exercise and opportunities to train and it feels fantastic! I've been cooking, baking, preserving and reading, all the fun things that I have missed out on recently, and I have been steadfastly ignoring many a plaintive text from work ('Is anyone able to work a night duty PLEEASE!). Such a wondrous feeling is balance and harmony - but what a pity that I must now loose this sense of Zen and go to work tonight.

Thanks Paddy for hosting a wonderful night, and yes, in true Ronin style emerged for training this morning - and barely looked even a little queezy. Big Kev was at Dolphin-kai this morning, and all was well, with the dojo neither imploding nor torn asunder.

A nap, and quality time with the Air Conditioner is called for.

So much has gone on over the past few weeks and months I don't know quite where to begin...

I stressed myself sill over the study towards the end of semester, with a lot of very harsh time rationing going on. Evident number of times that I actually managed to make it to training, and as for social life - what social life? I gave myself gastric oesophageal reflux, and after a couple of days of on-going heartburn, I worked out that if I didn't have an aneurysm about to burst then I needed to actually medicate my way out. I scraped in my study, and as yet, I am not game to see my results (the ones I have back). For the moment, ignorance remains bliss.

I immediately jumped on a plane and flew to Darwin for the national trauma collaborative project. It was a good experience, and has given me a little inkling that I think I might want to explore the area of disaster response and management - we'll see where that leads me.

This weekend I am off down to Melbourne for my Grandmother's 90th! After that I will be very glad just to stay at home and relax. And I am really itching to get back into training.

Please excuse my slightly self-congratulatory tone. I just wanted to have a little smirk about the fact that I seem to have reasonable burpee-ability. I may be a very slow runner, but I was able to 'jump' the burpees when the super-fit in my cardio group could not. :)

So I think that burpees undoubtedly help with with ukemi practice, I think ukemi practice must also help with the burpee.

:P

Trained with the King this morning, as always it was... interesting, if a little confusing at times. He repeatedly called the kata number 3 'Ushiro' instead of 'Ukenagashi', and I'm sure he called number four number six, and so-on. Not too bad today talking wise however, we did manage to do some training. I was perched on at the end of the line, and not at all unhappy about being forgotten on the end. But I do think he has a bit of a 'thing' for avoma!

:)

What an amazing weekend! I think that after about a million repetitions and variations of Shiho Nage, I think I might actually have learnt something - three things even! Even an injured shoulder helped more than it hindered. If you can't raise your arms with a lot of strength, then you simply must move in ways without muscular effort.

In other matters I find that we have achieved some level of fame in the ethnic Malay community in Singapore: http://fuadhilah.multiply.com/photos/album/24

Note the astute comment below...

I am struggling with Jodo at the moment, it all seems too hard. Iai seemed beautiful tonight, not sure whether it anything to to with with they way I was moving... More likely just realising the innate beauty and grace of the movements. I am missing Aikido and missing dancing, but otherwise feeling strong and fit.

And sleepy...

I seem to be making a little bit of progress...

3rd assignment almost finished, but will still require a little more sweat, a moderate amount of blood and many more tears. I have handed in my application for the Outreach service, it is probably shit, but never mind, I am not going to think about it any more.

I am two thirds done with the tutorials, one more to go next week. I am still trembling before I go into the sessions, however yesterday I think I gained a fair bit of cred by actually arriving in uniform (I was going to work afterwards), and dispersing some sage clinical advice mixed in with the issues we were discussing. The numbers are shrinking, with 8 last week, 5 this week, and probably two or three next week. But I guess the good thing about non-compulsory tutorials is that only the most conscientious are actually going to show up, and they will be there for a reason.

I have seen the new uniform offerings and they actually look quite reasonable, good by those ridiculous high-waisted pants and 'libra fluer' blouses of yester-year. I believe that the shirt and pants style is the same as the Virgin Blue girls, which makes the prospect of the not-quite Virgin nurses seem quite amusing really. :)

I have my first tutorial today, and I am scared just in case all 24 students show up! What should I wear? Panic! Panic!

All sorts of uncertainties are popping up: The need to be liked, needing to lead and be in control of the discussions; needing to sound like I know what I am talking about...

Deep breath.

I will be 28
Have "whiskers" on my face from the masks
Can I go home yet?
Panic! We have no more milo....
Hope the wards have beds
Rectal trumpets and their insertion...
Red morning light
Survived another night

Acne Valgaris has always been a problem for myself and my siblings. My two brothers have tamed it over time; sibling the older with oral antibiotics, and sibling the younger with roaccutane. Although I have been contemplating the thought of oral AB's, I have avoided either thus far, using only topical AB's and nuclear strength face wash. I thought I had things reasonably under control, and I felt as though my skin was actually looking pretty good. Until today that is...

Which is why I had to kill and bury a staff member today, when she told me I should use an apricot scrub.

It's like trying to treat a multitrauma with natropathy, or a flesh-eating but with tea-tree oil.... And what makes you think that I actually wanted you well-researched and carefully considered advice? Don't you think that at nearly 28, I might have tried most products out there?

*Makes rude gesture*
"Swivel!"

AND THE RESULT IS.........


Hear nothing.

See nothing.

Maintain status quo.


Don't you love decisions made by a committee?

I'll be brief, because my 'lunch break' is almost over and I need to get back to it.

I know I have missed out on more brilliant training, and I'm tired of missing out. I have no life, instead I am nothing but an assignment-writer. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, I am not one of those clear headed individuals that know what they are going to say before they write, my writing evolves, slowly, making it a rather inefficient process. The second is I don't have the luxury this semester, of applying for extensions, I just don't. I have to get everything submitted early because I will have to go to Darwin in November for the National Trauma stuff.

I should not make this sound like a whinge because I am very grateful for the opportunities, I am just missing training and miscellaneous R&R time.

did you have to make these kinds of painful choices Paddy, when you were doing masters?

My new best friend, apparently...

I found out while on holidays (in Darwin - more to come on that later), that I have been chosen to take part in the development of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin!!!

Basically they are sending me with another from our unit (Senior Clinical Nurse, Acting Clinical Nurse Consultant, and all round super nurse) to go to train and be trained for mass casualty reception on the scale of the Bali Bombings. I can't quite believe that in amongst all the talent and experience in our unit that I got a place!?! So we apparently will have to do some teaching. Darwin has a relatively young and transient workforce, as well as be trained in all these new procedures etc. If some disaster does occur, then I think we will be sent up there "STAT" to assist, which is probably about as much excitement as is possible in civilian nursing.

The only downside is that we will be sent in November, which will be the end of the build-up or onset of the wet. It will be my first real experience with going troppo.

I am pretty stoked at the moment, my boss has offered me 6 months of acting CN (hell yeah!) starting August 16th or something. My subjects at uni this semester are on Leadership & Management as well as Clinical Education; the good thing is that I will be getting practical experience at both with the tutoring and the acting up. So as long as I keep up with the course work, all is sweet.

Something that is a little bit exciting is I will also get a new machine to play with at work, ECMO is coming, the process expedited by some evidence of its efficacy in Swine Flu, and is therefore, part of our pandemic planning.

* In intensive care medicine, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an extracorporeal technique of providing both cardiac and respiratory support oxygen to patients whose heart and lungs are so severely diseased or damaged that they can no longer serve their function.*

I was quite happy with the four people who got permanent level 2 positions, 3 of them should have been CN's years ago. I was also interested to hear that those who were unsuccessful at the interview stage were not placed on a order of merit like they normally have been, but have given 12 month acting positions instead. This suits me because the unit will have to expand over the next 6 months (again, more pandemic planning), and a larger unit will require more Clinical Nurses, and then they will have to re-advertise.

I could actually be in for a chance here, I got some really useful feedback on my last application. The trick was that you actually have to answer the questions they have not asked, rather than just answering the ones that they have asked. They're looking for the bigger picture of a organisation as a whole as opposed to a unit in isolation. Hopefully I can work in some of the concepts from uni, and then all the different pieces of the puzzle might fall into place!

I'm kind of excited because I discovered that I will be spending a good portion of this semester studying David Kolb's Cycle of Experiential Learning. I no that the reality will be a lot more dry, but in my imagination it goes something like this:

"Experience this - *Dolphin-Slap*"

I woke up this morning to find that the house stunk of smoke, my hair clothes and towel all stunk of smoke. No I haven't tried to burn the house down again, and no I would never allow anyone to bring their filthy disgusting smokes into the house, just the result of a little experiment. I made some tea-smoked Chinese BBQ pork last night, and it was pretty nice, although slightly tough. I probably should have kept it covered and given in 10 minutes uncovered after I applied the honey glaze. Nice, but smoky.

I visited the GP this morning and almost expected her to tell me to cut back on the ciggies while I had a upper respiratory tract infection. Next time, it would be best to do the smoking outside on a BBQ, or at least in the middle of summer when it is warm enough to fling wide every door and every window.

The idea was actually stolen from the book 'The Blue-Eyed Dragon' and restaurant of the same name (www.blueeyedragon.com.au). If anyone happens to be kicking around Sydney, I highly recommend this place. It is not just your usual Sweet-and-Sour Chinese cooking, but features regional Taiwanese dishes that are absolutely delicious; reasonably priced for such good quality; often with a good kick of chilli, garlic or both.

We went their with the Ronin's neice, her mum, and the Shosenji Cop and it was great. The restaurant is run by a Mother-Daughter duo that has mum (Jade Chen) out the back cooking up a storm, and Muriel Chen as the maître d'. The place is really made by Muriel's warmth and friendliness. She seemed surprised that we were there all the way from Brisbane after randomly discovering their book in a local library. She even let us smuggle in a bottle of baileys for the Ronin and the Shosenji Cop (it's BYO wine only). On that note, there also happens to be an excellent bottle shop next door, one of those that you explain what you are feel like and what you want to eat, and they found a beautiful Pinot Noir for us girls; except for Mia of course, 7 years is a bit young to be drinking. My own family started giving me small glasses of wine when I was about 12.

I bought a copy of the book,which Muriel signed, and she also gave me a free apron. I would have actually had a photo of us with Muriel, however the Shosenji Cop couldn't quite master the complexity of the mobile-phone camera, and sadly we came away moins photographic evidence. Good times.

The word form Sydney so far is that Mr Smithers is beside himself over the Shimamoto weekend and is threatening that all those who attended will be excommunicated. Are we flying into the on-coming storm? Only time will tell.

There are moments in life when you realise how petty and insignificant all your whinges really are. I am no stranger to these little reflections at work, but recently (thanks to FB) I got back in contact with a friend from college, she always was one of those really happy and bubbly people, full of confidence and intelligence. Then she started her blog, and this is what she had to say...

http://somenotesfromthetrenches.blogspot.com/

I got one spring off my braces today, which is one down and 3 to go! All the hardware is looking like it will actually be removed one day.

The other thing that is exciting is it seems that I will have 4 weeks of tutoring thrown my way. We are talking 12 noon on a Wednesday so it will cause havoc and mayhem with my current work, train and exercise routines, but for four weeks I would certainly give it a go! It seems that the uni is also giving me the opportunity to ease into the world of academic tutoring without a lot of difficult marking or anything.

We will see what happens...