Are Razors Expensive in French Lands?

(This is a letter to my sister, who at the time was living in France.  Since she was completely inept at working an email system back then, I gave her the link to my blog.)

 

Hey sis!

It’s been ages since I’ve spoken to you.  What’s going on with that?  It’s literally been months, but I guess you and I have very busy lives at the moment.  I wish there were photos of you skidding down the mountain with your washing over your shoulder, or video of when you try to interact with the French.  I’m laughing now just thinking of what must be happening; kind of like cultural shock in the alps, right?

So mum tells me you got all the haemochromatosis information, which is good.  I’ve been getting the treatment and that’s fine (only when a phlebotomist does it, the doctors hurt me), but get the test when you can, eh?  It’s better to know.  Mum has to get tested now, and imagine if she has it, as opposed to just carrying it – that means that all 10 of the others have to get a test – what an inconvenience!

Anyway, how’s scrotus doing?  Tell him I say hello!  And Vic, too, if you still see her.  Okay, that’s enough name-dropping.

As you know, I had GAMSAT recently. It was pretty much a nightmare.  The exam started at 8:30am on the Saturday morning and went until some time past 5pm.  We got 1 hour and 20 minutes break, but I got sick about 20 minutes before the exam started.  So I had to deal with that, but in the end it was okay.  I smoked about a thousand cigarettes during the 1 hour break, but guess what?  I don’t smoke anymore!

Tom and Lucy from uni made a deal with me, that if they gave me a cold turkey, I would quit smoking cold turkey.  So they did, and I have, and it’s weird, but it’ll work.  I’ve been drunk, had a meal, and driven since I quit and those were usually the times I smoked, so I’m feelin good.

Mum tells me you still aren’t smoking, which is fricken awesome!

Anyway, I can’t think of much to else to say right now, except my graduation is in December, and you’re going to be here, right?

Au revoir, ma puce.

Adrian.

The Book-Hole

(Although not indicated here, this is my first blog entry on One Version of Things.  Originally, this was a follow-on blog from my original, but the site that hosted my original blog is now gone.  When you’re finished here, the link to the next blog – chronologically – will be on the top right hand side.  In this case, the entry is titled ‘Are Razors Expensive in French Lands?’) 

 

This is the second day of the mid-semester break, and I’ve already run out of constructive things to do.

A few weeks ago, there was stress.  Lots of stress.  Comfortable, familiar stress. The GAMSAT was monopolising my time, and I was spending hours at the university studying medically irrelevant but interesting things such as poetry and prose and, more frighteningly, political reviews.  Nice.

These study sessions were like a never-ending pursuit of knowledge and that perfect balance between a Red Bull high and a coffee high.  It was great.

The was a problem, though.  While I was off having fun with my GAMSAT study, all of the other work I should have been doing for my classes was falling to the wayside.  So, for the last few weeks, I’ve been playing catch-up.  So this meant even harder study sessions, with more coffee, and more people.  Oh, and less sleep.  Frequently, no sleep. 

So there was one night were I decided to get to bed early, as I had a test the following day. That’s why I left at 2am, instead of 4 or 5.  The test was at 8am, so I had loads of time to sleep. 5 hours? That’s heaps, right?

Wrong. I woke at about 11:45am that day, and obviously the first thing I did was say ‘fuck’.  I then repeated it. One more time, I decided, would be self-indulgent.

But now it’s the Easter holidays.  10 whole days without classes or assignments or labs.  Awesome!  Except I feel like there’s an empty hole somewhere. A book-hole.  What is wrong with me? Can’t I enjoy a week without stress and the seductive smell of a biochem text?

Have a great Easter break everyone.  Try to lay off the books.

Adrian.