Snowed under..

Man there's been so much working recently with the upcoming exams that I haven't really had time to contribute much to this blog. Every day has been about 7-8 hours of study, which gives me just enough time in between to squeeze in a couple of hours of climbing, running or piano. I've also been attending some meetings which have taken up time too, but in general things have been going pretty well.

I got my first barrier exam coming up in about a fortnight, which I'm actually looking forward to. I haven't really liked the idea of multiple choice exam questions ever, because they don't really seem to test depth of knowledge. In fact, I really feel a good series of short-answer questions (especially in the field of medicine) would be interesting and relevant to ensure proper depth of knowledge.

Anyway, I've started running since that last post and I'm feeling really good. Currently I'm doing 20 minute runs and getting about 4.5km in there, which is alright... and I'm absolutely SHOCKED that those guys in the olympics are able to run 3 minute kilometers, and maintain it over an entire race.... Seriously?

And finally, as soon as this barrier exam is over, then the climbing blog will go nuts. I've actually managed to register my domain which is awesome, and that's going to get moving real soon. I'll post here when it goes up!

Finding the edge of one's limits.

Often you'll be pretty satisfied with the way that your life is going, and where I'm at right now is no exception - I'm in a fantastic university course, I'm keeping fit, I have many good relationships and I'm working on developing a number of skills which will surely be beneficial in the future. My training schedule in terms of rock climbing and triathlon training is gaining some sort of shape (I'm planning to try to do a triathlon by next year), and everything is going fine :D

...

And then I got sick.

Well; I'd already had a flu shot so I wasn't really sure I had the flu, but with the setback of a severe sore throat, what did I decide to do?

Train harder. I actually ended up riding my bike from around Killara to Sydney Univeristy, which is a merry 23km trip, then from USyd to Cremorne; another 10 km or so. By this stage I was thoroughly buggered, and I called it quits after doing the cremorne -> artarmon leg. I got a train home - needless to say it was pretty tough, but a good experience. It also taught me a few things which are easily translated to many other things that you'll do in life:

• Planning can only get you so far. Yes, it is highly important to make sure you plan out everything in advance and try to cover as many unforeseen circumstances in order to minimize risk, but a lot of the time you won't actually figure out what risks are involved unless you're proceeding with the activity. Take for example, I'd set up the bike the night before and checked the brakes were working, the gears were fine, and it rode well; but I was still caught out once or twice when the gear change kicked in when going up a hill, and my lights had ran out of battery so I had to get new ones on the fly. Not exactly mistakes that you want to be making, and many may argue that this is simply lack of foresight; but had I not taken the opportunity to get out there, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to make those mistakes.
• Often, things really aren't that bad. I thought the route to the city would be gruelling and incredibly dangerous; yet here I was riding along the bike route that runs underneath the gore hill freeway, on essentially a straight-line to the city. Most of the ride is downhill as well, which made it pretty easy to get through. It is most certainly something I'll be doing more often!!
• Pushing your limits is a good way to reach the next level in training, and yesterday was a great example of that. I'd been stuck doing the same timing on runs for a little while, but this was a great opportunity to see if it actually would be viable to bike all the way to uni in the mornings, to save some money, and has also become a really good training tool. With petrol prices continuing to hike up, I don't see why I wouldn't use this resource more often in the future.

Anyway that's all I have to say for a little while. I'm currently working on something pretty big, and that'll be released over the next 6-12 months, whilst I'm training for triathlon. In the mean time, stay focused and set your goals - and make sure you're actively pursuing them! 

A sense of pride

There are times where I'm feeling really great, and this is one of them - which was triggered by the events of the last couple of weeks. I'm going to admit that I've been feeling a bit weighed down by a few things recently - such as decisions for later in med school, family, and just not feeling 100% about the training, but I'm feeling a lot better now. A large reason for this is that I actually managed to go and talk to someone about what was up, which really helped.

Sometimes friends just aren't appropriate to talk to certain things about. My best mate went away for the last week but came back and that helped me get out of the ditch a bit, but I also managed to talk to one of my tutors at the University last week, and she really helped me in clearing a few things up. It's often great to talk to people who have been through what you have, and know where your thoughts are aimed at. It's also just great to talk to people you have an awesome connection with - so don't keep things bottled up inside. This past fortnight has really taught me not to do that (and I'm already one of the guys who is pretty honest in speaking his mind).

But since yesterday, I've gained a real perspective on what the timeline over the next few years will be like. In two years, my friends will have finished University; yet I'll be doing rotations in hospital. In four years time, I'll be an intern at a hospital, working my way into surgery, which is going to be great. It's that level of comfort and perspective, just knowing that you have to stay positive, which will really keep you on track. So don't lose sight of that!

Finally, it's good to be studying/working at an institution that you're truly proud of. There have been moments at each of the Universities that I have been in, when I have walked through the gates and looked at the signature architecture of that university/school, and really thought: "Wow. I'm am a member of a great academic institution; but in the future, I'm also going to further the reputation of this place." Yes - you might complain that it sounds arrogant; but I really don't mean it in that way. I simply mean that you should feel great pride because you inevitably will be promoting the institution you studied at when you're achieving great success later.

Stick with that level of dedication and achievement. And always make sure you work hard at been a well-rounded individual; there is no other area in life more important than understanding as many things as possible - at least not for me.

Stay focused!

Lemming

Quick update on year 11 HSC chem course

Hey guys,

Things are going pretty well with the year 11 HSC chemistry course, and there's quite a bit of information up there until the water section, which I'll continue plugging away at over the next couple of months. Just wanted to put up a quick post to let you know that I'll be starting on the year 12 HSC chemistry course before I finish up my tutoring, which may be relatively soon (quite sad about that :\ ).

I'll get some more piano videos and other whatnot soon - I'm quite busy with a lot of other things at the moment and so I'll be posting some stuff about that soon.

Additionally, I've started posting some anatomy topics on hubpages as well, and currently there's two up: The anatomy of the trachea, and the anatomy of the knee - soon to come is the anatomy of the rotator cuff. Might put something up about embryology soon as well - we shall see.

Seedlings of achievement

Sometimes when you start a new project, you just need that little Push to tell you that you're moving in the right direction, which provides you with the motivation to really keep going :D

I got that motivation yesterday and it was sick. It's an insignificant event - yes, I will admit that the earning of 1 cent is not usually something to get excited about, but I am immensely excited!! :D it signifies more than just money; it signifies that I'm on the right path with what I'm doing.

Sundays..

Hey World,

Feeling a bit out of sorts at the moment. The last couple of months have been pretty odd, I've gotten and lost my training mojo a few times and just aren't feeling that 150 000% drive that I usually have. Although this might easily be attributed to my lack of sleep last night plus a couple of drinks, I think I just have to modify that aspect of my life a little bit.

Anyway, things are going well! I should be pretty busy as I mentioned before, in the next couple of months with the revue stuff, which is looking to be pretty exciting anyway, and my training's coming along nicely. I'm trying to add a few more posts to my climbing blog which will hopefully come along quite nicely in the next few.

What else... There have been a few fantastic articles on foodforthought at reddit recently, namely this one on how you measure your life, written by an economist, as well as another one written by Hemingway on the symbolism of bullfighting, which is also a really nice read.

And finally - Still rooting for the Lakers; they're having their first back-to-back of the playoffs today. Ridiculous!!! How could you expect to have a back-to-back when you've got games at home court? That's insane. This season has been without doubt the worst organized season of all time. Don't care if it was a result of the lockout, it's been silly and all of the injuries this year have proved it. Oh - and like I said as well, Pacers are gonna roll Miami. Better believe it.

Crossroads and Risk

At several times in life, it always seems like it comes down to a couple of key decisions that will really influence the degree of freedom that one will have on his/her pathway through life.

• Will I get a job after I graduate?
• Am I doing the right things in terms of the career that I'm choosing, and the pathway in which I have to be headed?
• How am I going to balance between the passion of working hard but also finding time to relax and enjoy the life which my job will be funding?

Often, it feels as if we are stuck making these decisions far too early in our lifetimes, which is a reason that I advocate people choosing their professions after they have matured from their high school state of mind. But - society doesn't seem to want us to work that way, and in certain professions, it is expected that the hours of work put in will correlate directly with "how badly you want it". 

Of course, this also reflects my parents' traditional asian view of my upbringing: work hard, do something stable, and get paid to do it. But - as I've been finding out more and more recently, it's about choosing your spots and making sure you enjoy your life as you grow up, not saving a pile of money to attempt to enjoy when your body is no longer capable of it.

Anyway, it seems like I'll be awfully busy over the next slab of year; I somehow managed to enrol myself to be the band director for an upcoming production, am starting to put in research applications for Honours (man I'm only in my first year of med school!) and still want to get out door for climbing...

And speaking of climbing, I got "the talk". The one where your parents grill you on responsibility and making sure you look after them in their old age - and the fact that you'll be unable to do that if you're a vegetable.... But come on - look at the high-risk nature of so many other daily activities... Even the chance that you'll get seriously injured in a car crash is pretty high! (Don't let me put you off driving..) All I'm saying is - if you're not prepared and you don't have the right equipment or training, then of course it's going to be dangerous - BUT, you have to control that amount of risk. Isn't that what a large part of medicine is all about?

I'll leave it there. More to come soon. :)

LAL-DEN Game 6

LAL-DEN (DEN, 113-96)

Look. Let's just say that I'm incredibly disappointed with how this series has turned out. I predicted that the lakers would win 4-2, and many of my friends thought that they'd finish with a sweep. But, like the lakers always tend to do, they just let Denver hang around and now they find themselves in a Game 7 situation which anyone could take.

Having watched only glimpses of this game, I probably can't tell you anything about how the game plan played out, etc. But, I did see this - Nuggets started the game 11-0, and when I was watching the 3Q, there was absolutely no hustle at all in the lakers. All the 50% balls were going the nuggets way - you ask me how the lakers would even attempt to put together a championship run if they got stomped so badly; the general lack of effort was disheartening to watch. In fact, even though I've been a laker fan my whole life, I am not sorry to say that today, I really felt like the lakers didn't deserve to be in the playoffs. The cocky mannerisms that Bynum has displayed all season, as well as his ill-timed, and poorly chosen words to provide motivation for the nuggets displayed how little he has progressed throughout this season. And plus, do I have to say anything at all when your top player has gastro and you have to try to ride him to win the game?!

But - I'll admit now that I've been a laker fan for life, and so I still hope that they use their one last shot to see if they can propel themselves into the second round; but if they show this complete lackadasical effort in the second round, they can except just to get swept by OKC.

Rachmanninoff Prelude, Op. 23, No. 4 in D maj

My recording of:

Rachmaninoff Prelude, Op. 23, No. 4 in D Maj (1901):

I've always wanted to do this sort of thing - get my piano posted, but to be honest I was always pretty nervous when I got onto stage. But I do enjoy playing piano and wouldn't mind posting some videos, so here's the first of (hopefully many) to come.

As many of you probably know, Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a composer in the Romantic Period of music. He was a composer of great talent - and both his piano concerto 2 and 3 stand as the greatest works in the piano repertoire, and certainly both lie as personal favourites. His music is also reflective of great hardships that he endured in life; the death of Tchaikovsky, a close friend and mentor, as well as harsh reviews on his compositions and complicated relationships pushed him into a depression, and often this pain is apparent in his music.

As a personal reflection of this music, it was close to impossible to get this piece to a level that I was satisfied with. In terms of accuracy, it's not the most technically difficult piece (and hence you can see my piano ability here is not the greatest); but in terms of capturing the spirit of the piece, this was the only recording I've had over the last fortnight that I've been remotely happy with. But I can say that when I was playing, I felt that sense of pain that Rachmaninoff must have been trying to express, and imagined an aching desire upon his behalf to belong.