I know I've been pretty terrible about writing in the blog. By the end of the week, it just feels overwhelming to write everything, but writing daily is a headache and a half. So... I'll try to be better about it, but, we'll just see.
Since I last wrote, I've started helping in the Sydney University Medical Psychology Research Uniton an Ovarian Cancer Quality of Life study. I do a lot of data entry, which makes my head spin a bit after 3 or 4 hours, but it gives me a sense of the study, which is good. Every two weeks there are talks I go to in another building where there are a whole range of cancer related people present: medical psych researchers, clinical psychologists, oncologists... it's interesting to listen to their commens. Afterwards, I talk to Lynley about it-- she works full time as a research assistant for the study. It's nice to be able to bounce my ideas/opinions off someone, since I'm too intimidated to say anything in the room full of professionals. Last week's tlak on the clinical use of questionnaires in adults made me wonder if they'd be useful in a pediatric setting. The study was run with 3 different groups: in the control group, no quality of life questionnaire was given before an appointment with the oncologist and the communication about many different things was measured. In group 2, a questionnaire was given, but the oncologist didn't read it before the appointment. In group 3, the oncologist read the questionnaire. The interesting thing is that there was no difference in topics covered/communication for groups 2 and 3, which implies to me that patients need to be briefed in what they should be mentioning to their oncologists in a simple format, such as a one-page questionnaire. My guess is that it would be even more useful for kids and their parents. Anyways, that's enough of that. I just think it's interesting.
I've been to the Opera House for two performances-- actually, two nights in a row! The first night, Rita got free tickets to Macbeth, so she, Marti, Marisa, Marisa's friend from home, and I went. I liked it-- it was a bit modernized, which made sense to me for the way the play was presented: it emphasized man's lust for power throughout history. Some of the other girls didn't like it, though. It was my turn to criticize the next night on a Butler outing to The Season at Sasparilla. It was a bizarre little play about a dog in heat and a girl's loss of childhood innocence and the place of women in the world...and the overwhelming monotony and pointlessness of human life. Every so often, colored confetti poured from the rafters onto the stage, which was pretty and I liked it...but eh. People raved about how artistic it was-- my roommate included-- but I don't believe that life is monotonous at all. I think that's an illusion of post-modern culture: anyone who lives life from work day to work day, without seeing their life within those days, is... pitiful. In my opinion, art should open people's eyes to the life within their lives, not tell them their lives are meaningless. What a lazy, cop-out thing for this play to do. On a side note, I did see Cate Blanchett in the theatre at intermission. Which made it worthwhile.
The weekend of March 23-25 I went down to Melbourne to see some camp friends. I liked it, as far as cities go, but I've realized... I don't really like cities! It probably relates back to why I didn't like The Season at Sasparilla-- there's nothing vital in city life. We hung out, shopped, watched 2 guys make candy at a candy shop (I later saw one of them smoking in the pub where we got lunch), made (salty) cho-chos, a camp favorite.... The best parts were walking along the bay and going to 2 playgrounds, which had nothing to do with reminiscing about camp or with Melbourne itself. I'm glad I went, because now I've been, but I wouldn't say it should be on anyone's must see list.
This past weekend, on the other hand, was very nearly life changing, except I already expected my life to lean this way, so it didn't change anything. I spent the past few days on a farm with 3 other people from the Butler program: Marti, Krisina, and Benet (they all go to Vandy, on a side-note). We stayed at Dairy Park Farm, which took about 6 hours to get to from Sydney. The dad, Grant, is 6th generation in the area, which is really long for Oz-- his family goes back to about 1820. Australia wasn't even colonized until the 1770s, and Bathurst (the first inland Australian city, and the nearest big city to the farm) wasn't founded until 1815. The point is, they've been there from the beginning. His wife, Liz, is from Sydney originally. They have two sons: Fraser, 3, and Henry, 1. They both have May birthdays, so they're nearly 4 and 2. Henry was, without at doubt, one of my favorite parts of the farm stay.
Friday night, when we arrived, the boys were already asleep, and Liz was just finishing getting dinner ready. We had all sots of yummy things from the farm: pumpkin, brocolli, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs...even their own lamb! Very cool, and it made us instantly realize we were miles from out apartments in Sydney. Dessert was homemade and partially homegrown, too: apple and rhubarb pie! Dinner lasted awhile because we chatted about all sorts of things, from where we were from to how many siblings we have to what kind of cars we drive (volvos, evidently, are un-cool in Oz, in case anyone was wondering... their slogan is "Another bloody Volvo"). We were wiped out by the end and went to sleep pretty early...maybe even by 10:30, but I'm not positive about that!
We woke up at 7:30 and got to meet the boys, and then had "brekkie" at 8. Afterwards, we grabbed our cameras and went to see a young bull who has pink eye: grant gives him medicine every morning. Bulls are so big! His head was pretty much the size of Henry. He's a pretty mild bull, as far as bulls go-- he's been handled from a young age-- but Liz was quick to remind us that you should never turn your back on a bull, no matter how trustworthy they might seem, because at any second they could go nuts.
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I'm really sleepy, so I'm going to cut this entry short and finish it tomorrow. I have a bunch already sketched out on a piece of paper... I just dont have the energy to finish it!
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