Go House Lifter!

A nice story from the Make a Wish foundation...

Crap, no more hockey!

Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes for winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Their team and fans deserve applause for their efforts and performance. And of course, thanks to the Oilers for giving our city some excitement in the springtime. There was definitely no shortage of effort, and all the credit to the Hurricanes for coming together for one more big game. As for the Oilers, thanks for the memories as I'll always remember watching game 3 against San Jose when Horcoff scores the winner in triple overtime. Hopefully next year we'll see a Battle of Alberta and the Stanley Cup returning back to Oil country =D.

Anyways, I regret not blogging recently because some topics that I wanted to talk about have passed and I can't really go back and type something out. It is as if there is a time limit on a topic, and once it expires the topic is null and void. However, one I think that can still be done is an apology. Devin, if you're reading this one I owe you an apology. It was a while ago when you needed a lift home and I should gave offered it. I apologize for not giving you a lift, I mean if a friend can't give a simple ride home, then what the hell? I'll try not to let it happen again, friends need to be there for each other, even in small things. I think its been part of a trend of bad decision making and I'm definitely unhappy with myself. Its humbling and a confidence breaker to step back and see you're not the person you thought you were. Sometimes I think that joke picture of the male brain on Maggie's blog is a compliment.

Now, if I can pull my act together and pass my online course, I'll be shipped onto placement in Camrose from July 10th to Sept 1st. Its pretty exciting to get to live on my own, even though I'll have about 6000% more work to do. Nevertheless, I hope to make the most of that opportunity and if I for some reason don't make it, I'll probably spiral deeply into some unescapable bout of depression. You will find me hiding in the basement closet never wanting to come out.

Oh yeah, I also am going to the Esks game on the 24th. So far its my family, however my dad won't make it so there is an extra ticket. Anyone interested in watching the Esks take on the Stamps gimme a shout.

Thats all for now...

Seize the Moment, Seize the Day.. 5 days later


Whups, I had started this a few days ago and kept it as a draft. Hopefully the finished product will have some sort of cohesion...

Anyways...

The "Seize the moment, Sieze the day" stuff is the theme and title song of my brother's high school graduation. So I had attended my brother's convocation at the Jubilee Auditorium. By the way, the song is actually pretty good and hopefully they'll try to record it somewhere. Anyways, recently I've been witness to a few milestones (a first car, marriage, high school graduation)and it has kind of forced me to think a bit (I know, I try not to strain myself).

So I started thinking back to my own graduation, and really not much came back. I never really thought graduating high school was a big deal. In fact, why are we really celebrating it? Whoop dee doo, we managed to get at least half the questions on our exams right... yeehaw? But I realize now that graduation was not merely about passing high school. I guess I might have gotten it then if I had truly listened to all the speeches I would hear. Graduation was also about transition, that one chapter of life was closing and another one was beginning. New changes were going to happen, and for better or worse, we're taking this time to celebrate the actual past that happened, and the bright potential future. Really, this is where all the cliches come but they're really the only way to describe whats going on...

Actually, hold those thoughts for another entry... This is where the blog takes an abrupt turn yet. This is what I get for not finishing a blog on the day I started it.

Today I was heading home from the U of A and decided to take the LRT. Now, as I was going down, I suddenly saw some shapes near the edges of the station. In fact, they were on the tracks. Great, I thought to myself, it was some people goofing around or what it looked to me was that someone threw a random bag of stuff on the tracks. Then I realized that it was actually an elder lady who fell off her powered wheelchair (perhaps she just got off the train, stayed on the spot for a little bit to find something?). I'm not going to describe it much. She was lying on her side as emergency personnel was helping her, and what looked to be her husband holding a considerable sized cloth covered in blood next to them. I'm not sure how to describe how I felt, but I saw the face of someone else and I went a bit numb...

This blog started off looking at milestones and celebrations to a tragic event. I can't even think about what I would reflect on. I'm a bit mixed in what to think or feel. I haven't exactly learned a grand lesson from all that has happened, but I'll be mulling it over for a while...

Clinical Reasoning

Well, its been about a week since I finished finals. My last two exams were a multiple choice exam and a practical exam. The practical (OSCE - stands for Observed structured clinical exam??) would have us assess a fake patient in either a physical or mental health aspect. I think I'll just talk about the OSCE now, it was quite an experience. There was actually a lot of material to cover, and in the end we would draw up a piece of paper that would only look at a little portion of that material. Basically, know everything or risk getting something you can't deal with. As well, to pass you had to get a mark of 70% or better. It did seem like an exam that you kick ass in or utterly utterly fail, but there were a few borderline marks.

I got to school about 10:00 am even though my test was at 6:50 pm so I could walk through mock scenarios a few more times under "Exam conditions." I thought it'd be a lot easier to know what to say after going through it with other people over and over again. I'm not sure if I would have done better if I just relaxed for the whole day and then come in near 5 to do the exam. I feel as though I need to go through the day focusing on that one event, even though thinking about the test sapped my energy because of nerves.

Now, the OSCE is set up so if you're doing a physical assessment, you've got about 6 minutes to take a quick history and then determine whats wrong. For a psychosocial part you've got 10 minutes to take a history and then go through an assessment. The physical portion is fairly straightforward, you get someone who "hurt" their right shoulder or left hip and knee. However, the mental health part can be tricky because their diagnosis can be major depression to mania. Depending on how the patient plays it, it can be very tough to handle the situation. In some cases, the patient refused to go though the assessment and other times they would be touching the student and rapidly talking.

Oh yeah, another thing that kind pissed me off was that my test had been moved back 40 minutes, so I said ah screw it, I'll come back later. Of course, when I get there about 7:10, I found out that they had been close to on time and that I got skipped. Crap! So my exam actually did get pushed back 40 minutes, but it was my fault. That was so awesome...

So anyways, I finally walk into the exam room and get my case scenario. Yay, its a mental health and my patient's diagnosis is Major Depression. Now, I kinda had an idea of what would happen. Major Depression would not affect someone's ability to tell you how to perform something, they can and know how to do it physically and cognitively. However, for some reason, there is just this void inside and it sucks up all your energy. Anyways, I walk in, start up the history and ask a few questions. Generally, I'm doing fine although I do need to speak up.

Now for my highlight moment!!

One of my questions is something along, "imagine you are at home and are about to goto bed. What should you do to make yourself feel safe?" Usually people will say check windows or lock the door (correct answer) but my patient says oh I've got a HANDGUN underneath my pillow. Oh fantastic, you're depressed and you have a handgun. Its a wonderful combination that mixes well, like Kool Aid and water....

Afterward we were talking to the evaluator of the OSCE, and he said to me it was funny the way my face looked when the patient said that. He also said he hoped that I acknowledged it in my written portion of the exam. I of course nodded politely and thought, good thing you aren't marking it! I'm so glad I have clinical reasoning...

But yeah, bottom line is that I passed it and am so glad that its done with!!! =D

Down but Not Out

My lack of effort or drive, whatever it is exactly, has cost me bigtime. I didn't really expect it to happen, but it did. What happened is this: I didn't get credit for one of my courses. I'm not going to bother getting into the specifics (fair or unfair, bullshit class or not?), except the bottom line is that I failed it. Now, I forget if I've mentioned it earlier, but I was heading toward my next clinical fieldwork placement on May 15th. However, that is no longer so, because a requirement of attending fieldwork is passing all previous Occupational Therapy courses. Therefore, when May 15th rolls around, I'm staying home.

I did not see this one coming at all. I was sitting in the computer lab and checking my email and it felt like a glancing blow to the face. I was in a state of shock but trying to immediately deal with it as best as I could. I immediately set up an appointment with the instructor and see what my options are in this situation.

After that appointment, it basically confirmed that I'm not going to fieldwork. To kind of compound it a bit, that was also the day that I was going to the oral surgeon to figure out the details of my wisdom teeth removal for the summer. That ended with me being at Westmount Transit Center, and during that time I actually stopped by and visited with my former Mandarin teacher. It was more or less a pleasant visit. When she asked how I was doing, I said good, but of course it was more like "I'm fucking crushed because I can't go onto placement."

On the long bus ride home, I forget if it was the same day or earlier, I had a long time to think. After recovering from the initial shock of all, I started to think. Maybe this could be a positive event after all. In fact, this could be the best thing to happen to me so far in OT... Yes, failing a course. Why? Because this consequence has given me a sense of urgency and a sense that I do need to apply myself. If in the end that isn't enough, than so be it. But I better not fail because I simply did not put in enough effort, that I couldn't put my mind to it and conentrate on doing the best I could. Me putting in a shoddy effort is insulting to those individuals who couldn't make the program but would have had the attitude and work ethic to succeed. I better not simply take up a spot and waste it.

Of course, I better walk the walk. Its all fun and exciting to do the whole "rah rah" thing but I better start this newfound energy for effort by making sure I pass my next two exams that are coming up... Wish me luck. =D

Well, that sucked

Blah, today I went to school for almost no reason. You see, in my program I have to select 5 modules out of a wide variety of topics (such as "Sexuality in rehabilitation to Splinting). So I went to school thinking, "Yay I'm going to knock off another one of the 5." But then it got cancelled. Weee! The kicker is that I had an contact lens appointment scheduled for that time but I had to move it. By the way, I did have an appointment even before that one. I have to goto another one because I could not insert the stupid f*cking contacts into my eyes (why did I censor myself?). It was almost a waste but I ended up signing up for a module sometime in June.

Oh yeah, also saw Silent Hill. My impression of this movie actually goes against the title of this blog entry. I didn't think this movie was as bad as indicated by movie critics, but I can understand why they scored the movie they way they did. However, I am convinced that the director thought it would be a good idea to tell the actors to base their performances off the CGI scenes from the video game...

Okay, time to put this one to bed. I thought I'd finish with what I thought was an interesting quote...

Chris Martin on "The Scientist": "That's just about girls. It's weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it's the downfall of global economics or terrible environmental troubles, the thing that always gets you most is when you fancy someone."

Movies suck!

Take a look at the top box office moneymakers at www.rottentomatoes.com. It is just astounding to see that of the top ten, only three of them collected generally positive reviews. Now granted, something like Scary Movie 4 is going to get panned by the critics but just wow, it is astonishing (but not suprising) the level of suck that is going on in the theaters.

I had been hoping that Silent Hill had gotten some positive reviews. While doing some quick reading, I also found something else interesting. I took this passage from Roger Ebert's review of Silent Hill.

"Dr. Shlain made the most interesting comment on the panel. He said they took some four and five year-olds and gave them video games and asked them to figure out how to play them without instructions. Then they watched their brain activity with real-time monitors. "At first, when they were figuring out the games," he said, "the whole brain lit up. But by the time they knew how to play the games, the brain went dark, except for one little point."

Kind of explains the whole too much video games makes your brain go dumb dumb thing...

But anyways.. about Silent Hill! Who wants to watch it Monday? Even though its gotten a bit crushed in the reviews, it apparently has a good atmosphere and setting to the movie. The visuals are supposed to be fairly impressive and that alone can set a really good mood. I'm hoping that reviews have some kind of negative video game bias and that affected the reviews. I would liken what I've read about the movie to something along seeing a really pretty girl's face and then being snapped back into reality when you actually hear what she sounds like. It would be like Jennifer Aniston with the voice of Fran Drescher (spelling?). Now that is a truly horrifying thought...

Alas, it is time for some more studying. Well, I've just got to power through and look for the light at the end of the tunnel...

Bellringer

I've got a bellringer test tomorrow, oh what fun that will be. For those that don't know what it is, I have an exam for my cadaver lab. There will be 50 stations where you have a minute and 15 seconds to identify muscles and such on various specimens. Well, after that I've got to start studying hardcore for my finals. Sigh, its that time of year where everything feels like its swamping you. Ah well, gotta work through it because I just have to. Good luck to everyone studying up for finals, and curse that awesome spring weather laughing at me...

Doesn't Even Deserve a Title

Check out this old interview with Mario Lemieux by Dan Patrick. Its an old one but funny. Even if you don't, my favorite part is the end:

DP: What's the best thing you did with the [Stanley] Cup?
ML: I slept with it.
DP: By yourself?
ML: My wife was beside me.
DP: So, you and your wife slept with the Cup?
ML: In between us.
DP: You spooned with the Cup?
ML: Just for a few minutes.

And another interesting link, I just have to say that the architecture of this building is amazing. =D

Jeez, I have nothing to say at the moment. I wish I was a great storyteller so I could type out something. In fact, I wonder how is it that other people can be such great storytellers. They can create such glorious narratives about the most inane events (One time, I ate food I microwaved by myself...!). But then again, I prefer having an easygoing life. Dramatics aren't a part of life I wish to have, but building Lego cities is...

Ichiro!

Can't believe I watched this baseball game, but Japan beat Cuba 10-6. Weeeeee... it defeated studying Anatomy. Now I go into the lab not knowing what is what. Again. Dammit. "Weeee... that is what you say when you are having fun. You refer to yourself and other people" (Mitch Hedburg, some year).

Go Heavy or Go Home!

That little saying comes from watching a UFC special on Rich Franklin. Its posted up on the wall at the gym he weight trains at. Yep, nothing like watching somebody else train their ass off. The video is here and is about 200 megs. If you've got a broadband connection, it can't take too long to download. For me it was about 25 minutes or so. Also, the first two minutes are awesome. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean. =D

Some other interesting stuff is that our OT class is trying to do a fundraiser for next year. Apperantly its quite a big deal, and what we're doing is setting up an all day cycling on a exercise bike marathon. Basically, a whole bunch of teams register for a fee (having 2-8 people) and have to keep the bike's wheels turning for 8 hours. For the registration fee, half goes to a charity and half goes to our class' grad.

As well, there is this pledge thing. Here is where I think this idea falls off a bit. If each person from the faculty can raise $100, multiply it by the number of students (90+) we can cover our whole grad. The only issue is, its a pledge and therefore we go around asking people to donate to our grad. I believe at least 90% of these pledges would go toward the grad. Really, I can't imagine doing that, "hey wanna donate to my grad? By the way, you probably won't be going." But I could still try to come up with pledges. The way I would do it is hold a Poker tournament with buy-ins, and give away prizes instead of having a prize pool of the buy ins. Or I can sell stuff, but the poker idea is more fun. I just can't think of stuff I already have that I can give away right now...

Alexander the Great!

So my favorite hockey player ends up burning Canada in mens hockey. Well, what are you gonna do? Everyone is going to become a hockey analyst and remark about the game and team that was put together. Me? It just means Smyth and The Six Million Dollar man can come home and get some rest for the Oiler playoff drive. Good luck to Russia now, since they're the ones to knock off Canada. I have to admit though, I felt good for the 'ole Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure, who was the previous most exciting player in the NHL! By the way, anyone ever feel that he sort of looks like Macauly (sp?)Caulkin (yes the kid from Home Alone!)? Except without those baggy drugged up looking eyes...

Anyways, let the hockey rants begin...

Weekend Update

Anyways, on to a relatively interesting weekend. I'll start with the most recent event, which was a very ruggish and daring outing to a beauty salon in Chinatown. Yeah... I'm serious. Continuing on, I was there for... I don't even know what its called. I just heard the word "Extraction" and understood it involved my face. This procedure also involved some sharp objects. Presumably this was all to smoothen out pimples and so on on my face. Now, I like to think I have a decent threshold for pain, but wtf? This is one of the few times my eyes started to water in response to some kind of physical impact on me. The other time being a punch in the face.

The day before, I helped out in moving some stuff from one house to another. This led to the usual surge of "growing up" thoughts, so naturally I kind of shut them out for the time being. I don't have any crazy stories from this, which is probably a good thing because that means nothing was destroyed.

Okay, enough of this post. I'm going back to the Somethingawful comedy goldmine. Now, some of that stuff is very funny, but also very offensive, hence the name somethingawful. Anyways, my favorite archives are the tales from the zoo... =D

Ahahaha...

Hopefully the link won't die right away but chcek out this headline.

Woman accused of being a condom bomber.

Waiting by the Door

I don't think I can really type out a relatively lengthy blog anymore. At least for this little while. I think I'll just pop in random comments for my own sake. Unless somebody want a blog about a cadaver lab...

Anyways, a sort of interesting thing happened today. Well, for some backstory, lets go flashback to my youth. Back in my elementary days the routine for me before I left school was to grab breakfast, watch tv, and than watch my mom drive off to work. As she drove off, I would stand at the screen door and keep waving until I couldn't see the car anymore. Than I'd bolt to the side window of the house and be able to catch a glimpse of the car before it rounded another corner.

I think its fairly undisputed that I'm a mommy's boy (whether I like it or not). So today I had to car as I needed to head back to the University for an evening class. Things have changed a bit, I don't stand at the door anymore to wave, but as I backed out and drove out of our neighbourhood, I could see my mom waiting by the screen door waiting until she couldn't see the car anymore. I don't know why I didn't today, but I know on Thursday I'll be waving back.

Traveling Tickle Trunk

Trunk does not actually travel or tickle people. Maybe I'll explain this later...

Anyways, Happy Chinese New Year weekend! (Though I'm a bit late)

Actually, this weekend should kick ass. I'm going to the Oilers/Canucks game, there is a very good UFC event going on, and its Superbowl weekend! Rock on! I'll try to actually blog later on.. because you know, its good for self reflection and stuff. =D

Nope!

I've been trying to blog but when I get down to it, I just blank out and decide that sleep is a much more enjoyable experience. I guess this blog will partly be a response to Dev's latest effort. Now, I'm fairly content with life and there is much positives to focus on than negatives. Actually, content might be the wrong word to use. Perhaps its more appropriate to say that I can accept what my life is at the moment. I can't say that I'm fully satisifed with myself.

Motivation has definitely been something I have struggled with for the past year. My work ethic seems to have flatlined somewhere. I think I might need some kind of book or guide for self organization and perhaps to get me inspired. My work has not been stellar and the "pile system" hasn't been all that great. It has really been the same old story for a long time. Its getting annoying, when I do set the time for schoolwork or whatever, I just would rather stare at the table than finish what needs to be done. Am I really that lazy that I just don't want to do any work? My sense of needing to do a good job or finishing tasks on time has dwindled away. Ah... fuck it...

In other news, I'm heading out to the Bryan Adams concert. I believe a number of other people are heading out there as well, but really I'm more going because my mom wants to. Well, for the concernt I will be looking toward the moment where everyone pulls out their lighter during the song "Everything I do." I'm sure that'll be one of the highlights of the show...

Ah man I'm tired... okay lets shut down one down...

Sick Day

Lately I've been very sick and have been stuck inside for a while. I'm not sure whats afflicting me, but the symptoms include the runny nose, sore throat, and a while ago headaches and fevers. All thats left is a slightly irritated throat so I'm still coughing quite a bit. I still need to just sit tight so that it doesn't get worse or flare up again.

In late November I had an allergy test and found out I had a similar ordeal with the people who are allergic to all kinds of things. Trees, dirt, grass, and for me, dogs. It is apperently a relatively severe allergy and one theory is that Ryan's dog and something else hit me...

Anyways, does anyone feel like hitting an ice rink on Friday? I talked with Kat a bit about heading to one of the outdoor rinks outside the North YMCA. Not sure about details, but I know I'm determined to get out there, I've been inside a little too much lately. >=(

Okay... thats all for now. Gotta rest up and get better.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hopefully everyone can take advantage of the holidays and cherish the time spent with your friends and family.

*Insert touching and heartfelt blog here*

Happy Holidays to everyone, have fun and be safe.

Nothing to do with school or writing structure!

So in very important Chris-related news, I broke my cell phone. So I now have a brand spankin' new fancy camera phone like everyone else does! Yippee kai yay mother... eh you know the rest. I wonder what else I can break and get replaced...

Quick question to everyone, any song recommendations for the iPod...?

Moving onto other news, I went to the Arashido Capital Classic Championship tournament. It was pretty cool because in addition to the "sport Karate" events (point sparring, forms) they also had events such as gi and no gi grappling, kickboxing, and pankration (amateur level). Anyways, I took this time to take part in judging forms and point sparring for the sport karate events. At first it was a bit nerve wracking because they were only going with three judges, and I didn't want to be the person who was way off base in giving scores. But overall I felt I was pretty spot on with my judgement and with what I was looking for.

As for the other events, it was cool to see a bit of the grappling. I didn't watch much of the pankration (basically strikes + grappling, but no strikes to the face on the ground and other modifcations). However, the kickboxing setup they had was hard to watch. Of course it was fairly amateur level, but there was practically no defense to be shown. It seemed like a toughman-style competition of swing your hands and hope your punches land. Now, my feeling on this kinda sport is you should either go full out and get KO'ed, or it stays like point sparring. Having a sport thats in the middle where you get sustained damage isn't worth it at a casual level. I'd rather be KO'ed then take repeated potshots to the face and body. It was hard to watch a match where someone was repeatedly turning around and getting chased out by shots to the head. Maybe its just the softie in me though...

That reminds me, I gotta start getting some more exercise. But thats hard, so screw it. =D

Anyways, is anyone else slightly disturbed that it hasn't snowed here in Edmonton? Then again, I don't want it to because I'm so miserable when its cold out. Not to mention its tough to drive the Mazda in winter conditions. Still, I'd like to paste Keith with one snowball this year...

Another rapid change of thought, I watched the recently released movie The Chronicles of Narnia (someone should make a book outta this movie!) and I enjoyed it. I thought the sets and imagery were done very well and really helped me get into the mood of the movie. I haven't read the books, but I think I will try to over the winter break.

Since its the holidays, I thought I'd try to look back and think of a memory to conjure up feelings of sentiment, or something like that. I don't remember how old I was, but I was at a BCAA (Borneo Cultural Association of Alberta) Christmas party and I came upon this little boy who was crying. (Hopefully I'm not making this memory up) I must have spent a lot of the evening trying to calm him down. It turns out he is terribly sad because all of a sudden his dad just disappeared. So yes, we looked all over the restaurant at which the party was being held at. I think we did some really retarded searching though, like under tables and the like. Eventually, we stop looking because "Santa Claus" has come out bearing gifts! I'm like, frick kid, I want to get my present, lets go, and maybe Santa will cheer you up. The kid reluctantly follows me, and then all of a sudden his face lights up! Thats right, it turns out that the person playing Santa Claus for that party was his dad.

Also, one year, they gave me pogs with a Power Rangers slammer. =D