I lay down on the couch to watch some TV yesterday after spending all my energy updating my blog. I thought I would be able to watch some nice late afternoon TV, the sort that used to be on when I came home from school and could afford to vegetate for a couple hours before getting on with my homework. I was shocked to discover that there is a lack of good TV watching to be had between 4pm and 6pm! That used to be school kids brainwashing time!! Fortunately, I was saved from my endless channel flicking by a visit from Mark and Cheyne. They had heard I was in hospital and wanted to come and wish me well. They brought over a beautiful bunch of flowers, which are currently brightening up the living room, and a chocolate easter bunny (someone knows how much I love chocolate). Cheyne also gave me some new MP3's to listen too. Mark and I had a look through our old mint issue coins, just to see what they all were. I had forgotten all about what the different coin sets were, but Mark managed to figure it out. It was most enjoyable to spend some time looking at things and learning along the way.
Cheyne was due to meet someone at Chadstone, so Mark and Cheyne had to leave pretty abruptly. After they left, I had dinner and watched Neighbors. I should add that Neighbors has changed so much since I used to watch it everyday after school that I could hardly follow this latest episode. After dinner, I watched Aladdin. I quite enjoyed the movie, and realized just how far animation has come even in just my lifetime. It's amazing how much of the story I couldn't remember from when I was a little kid too.
Wow, I am babbling...
After watching the movie I went to bed, and had to figure out how I could manage to take all my medications at the correct times... That was a bit of a challenge. I managed, and this morning I feel really good. I have spent most of today on the computer, so there is not much else to write about, except that I am planning to go shopping for Phil's birthday present later today. Probably after lunch. I will have to catch the bus down there and back.. I am such a cripple. Maybe I can buy him something online. Wow I am lazy.
-Andrew
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Last night, Cheyne and Mark came over to my house to visit me. They brought another beautiful bunch of flowers! I am fast running out of vases that are large enough to hold big bunches of flowers. They also brought a chocolate easter bunny to brighten up my day. Thanks so much, it means so much when people come and visit me.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Since I last wrote...
Well, my life has sort of had a dramatic twist since I last wrote a proper entry. I will break down the series of events into a logical day by day order.
Friday
I spent today doing homework, calling people, you know all the normal stuff that I have to do when I am not at any uni classes. I managed to get through a whole bunch of questions for thermodynamics, and squeeze in some study for the upcoming test before going to work. After work, I went to Chris's place, and we got ready to goto the foam party.
The foam party was awesome, and I would love to goto another one. Apparently they have them yearly. The foam was up around your neck when you were dancing on the dance floor, which I thought was so cool. It looks funny and feels funny too. It is almost impossible to spot people in the crowd if you are looking for someone in particular. I think next time we should wear glow-sticks, or hats so that we can spot each other in the foam! It turned out to be an awesome night, we only got home around 5.30am, so that was a pretty good effort.
Saturday
I slept until about 12.30 in the afternoon. Chris was up at 9am to get to a hairdressers appointment he had booked. (why so early in the morning, I have no idea) Once Chris finally dragged me out of bed we went to the football. Chris had gotten free tickets from a supplier at work, and so we took Paul along too. The Western Bulldogs were playing against Melbourne. Chris, Paul and I go for the Doggies, so we were all quite pleased when the Bulldogs started to win. They ended up winning, even though at quarter time they were about 2 goals down I think. After the game, we dropped Paul back home, taking the opportunity to have a quick squiz at his new place. It's very nice, quite homely.
Chris and I then headed to Brendan's 21st birthday party, which was being held at the rover hall. It was so much fun! There was a BBQ and cake, and the rovers presented Brendan with a special gift. (more about the gift when I get up to putting photos online!) We couldn't hang out at Brendan's party for as long as we wanted to, because Gavin had a party for his 20th on at the same time. Gavin's party was also mega fun, and allowed us to see what Evan is really like after hitting the grog. (I'll put photos of that up too... HEHEHE)
At Gavin's party I felt a sort of stitch in my stomach start to grow. It felt like the kind of pain you get if you drink too much before running a race or something. I didn't think much of it, so I went home and tried to sleep it off.
Sunday
I woke up and went about my normal daily business. I got ready to goto church, realizing that the pain in my gut was still there. I thought that it was a little odd that it hadn't completely gone away, but didn't think much of it. I though maybe it was something I had eaten. When I got to church, I discovered I was on Sunday school duty. (which I had forgotten about) Fortunately, Heather had a good idea, and got the kids to start writing cards to the church's sponsor child, Ramtula. He is turning 12 shortly, so the kids and I made him pop-up birthday cards.
I went practically straight back to sleep after church, to try and sleep off the pain in my guts, but it was not much use. Chris woke me to take me to a concert I had promised to go with him to. It was put on by a group of singers from all the different churches around the area. They sing twice a year, once at easter and once for christmas. The music was beautiful, and I am sure I would have enjoyed it much more if I wasn't doubled over in pain. Chris enjoyed it, I felt kind of bad that we had to rush off straight away after the concert because I was feeling so horrible.
On the way home we stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some medicine. I took the reccomended dosage, and it seemed to work a little. I could sleep at least. I woke up about 3 hours later in extream pain. The pain was jabbing me in my guts, and after I got Janet to have a look at it, she decided I had better visit the emergency room. Chris took me home first, and then Mum took me to the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully.
I had never been to hospital before, so this trip was quite an ordeal for me. Mum waiting in the line to see the triage nurse, while I sat in the waiting room doubled over in pain. There was a stupid woman infrom of Mum in the line that wanted to have a chat about all her aches and pains... I felt like telling her to buzz off, and let the real sick people get treatment. When it was finally our turn to talk to the triage nurse, they took me straight in and dosed me up with Morphene. (I don't know if thats how to spell it) They took blood, and a urine sample before leaving me with a tube hanging out of my arm. They hooked up this tube wo a drip to re-hydrate me because I had not drunk enough water that day.
I was admitted to ward 2 west, bed 16, around 10.30pm, and was put onto a strict diet of nothing. No food, no water. Not one single thing could go in my mouth.
Monday
The doctors came by early the next morning to see me. I had to be assessed as to weather they thought they could operate or not. Lucky for me thay thought they could operate, but that was only after hours and hours of waiting around. I went into the operating theatre around 8.30pm, and came out around 10.00pm. I told the nurse that they hadn't operated because they didn't get me to count to 10 with the anesthetic. I guess I was blabbing so much that they didn't have to encourage me too much to talk my way into the anesthetic. I guess at least the nurses found me entertaining, if not anything else. After the operation I was wrecked! I went straight to sleep, and slept pretty comfortably until about 9am on Tuesday.
Tuesday
I woke up to the noise of a jackhammer outside the window. They are building a hydro-therapy pool for the hospital rehab ward, so the building is almost never ending. Today I felt pretty good, even if "pretty good" was still limited movement and slow reflexes. Today I wasn't being starved. I was allowed to drink water in the morning, and by lunchtime I was allowed to drink cordial! By dinner time I had moved up to chicken broth, and by bed time I was allowed milo. I don't think I have ever gotten so excited over chicken broth in my entire life! It was the first food I had been allowed in 2 days, and I think almost anything would have tasted good to me.
Wednesday
Finally I am allowed to eat some proper food. I ate toast, and cornflakes. Whatever people tell you about hospital food, it is probably true. One meal there was quite enough for me. I managed to give myself a nice shower, and get dressed all by myself, even if it did take about 10 times as long as I usually take at home! Dad came to pick me up around 10.30am, and soon I was free. The hospital did however give me a pretty good selection of pills that I need to take regularly to manage the pain and risk of infection.
When I got home I spent hours reading e-mails and blogs... Catching up on the news since I went into hospital. I also spent a little time putting reminders into my phone so I don't forget to take my tablets. Anyways, I think I have blabbed long enough, and anyone who actually read all this should be congratulated, because I know I blab on alot! I'm going to try and post up some photos, but I don't know how successful I will be.
Thank you to everyone who came to visit me in hospital and everyone who sent me messages (yes, i was naughty and used my phone in hospital) It was so good to know that you were thinking of me. I really got alot of nice surprises during my stay in hospital. I also decided that it isn't that scary a place, all the staff are very nice, and actually care about you.
I hope everyone else had a less eventful start to the week than I did, and that this message finds you safe and sound.
Friday
I spent today doing homework, calling people, you know all the normal stuff that I have to do when I am not at any uni classes. I managed to get through a whole bunch of questions for thermodynamics, and squeeze in some study for the upcoming test before going to work. After work, I went to Chris's place, and we got ready to goto the foam party.
The foam party was awesome, and I would love to goto another one. Apparently they have them yearly. The foam was up around your neck when you were dancing on the dance floor, which I thought was so cool. It looks funny and feels funny too. It is almost impossible to spot people in the crowd if you are looking for someone in particular. I think next time we should wear glow-sticks, or hats so that we can spot each other in the foam! It turned out to be an awesome night, we only got home around 5.30am, so that was a pretty good effort.
Saturday
I slept until about 12.30 in the afternoon. Chris was up at 9am to get to a hairdressers appointment he had booked. (why so early in the morning, I have no idea) Once Chris finally dragged me out of bed we went to the football. Chris had gotten free tickets from a supplier at work, and so we took Paul along too. The Western Bulldogs were playing against Melbourne. Chris, Paul and I go for the Doggies, so we were all quite pleased when the Bulldogs started to win. They ended up winning, even though at quarter time they were about 2 goals down I think. After the game, we dropped Paul back home, taking the opportunity to have a quick squiz at his new place. It's very nice, quite homely.
Chris and I then headed to Brendan's 21st birthday party, which was being held at the rover hall. It was so much fun! There was a BBQ and cake, and the rovers presented Brendan with a special gift. (more about the gift when I get up to putting photos online!) We couldn't hang out at Brendan's party for as long as we wanted to, because Gavin had a party for his 20th on at the same time. Gavin's party was also mega fun, and allowed us to see what Evan is really like after hitting the grog. (I'll put photos of that up too... HEHEHE)
At Gavin's party I felt a sort of stitch in my stomach start to grow. It felt like the kind of pain you get if you drink too much before running a race or something. I didn't think much of it, so I went home and tried to sleep it off.
Sunday
I woke up and went about my normal daily business. I got ready to goto church, realizing that the pain in my gut was still there. I thought that it was a little odd that it hadn't completely gone away, but didn't think much of it. I though maybe it was something I had eaten. When I got to church, I discovered I was on Sunday school duty. (which I had forgotten about) Fortunately, Heather had a good idea, and got the kids to start writing cards to the church's sponsor child, Ramtula. He is turning 12 shortly, so the kids and I made him pop-up birthday cards.
I went practically straight back to sleep after church, to try and sleep off the pain in my guts, but it was not much use. Chris woke me to take me to a concert I had promised to go with him to. It was put on by a group of singers from all the different churches around the area. They sing twice a year, once at easter and once for christmas. The music was beautiful, and I am sure I would have enjoyed it much more if I wasn't doubled over in pain. Chris enjoyed it, I felt kind of bad that we had to rush off straight away after the concert because I was feeling so horrible.
On the way home we stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some medicine. I took the reccomended dosage, and it seemed to work a little. I could sleep at least. I woke up about 3 hours later in extream pain. The pain was jabbing me in my guts, and after I got Janet to have a look at it, she decided I had better visit the emergency room. Chris took me home first, and then Mum took me to the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully.
I had never been to hospital before, so this trip was quite an ordeal for me. Mum waiting in the line to see the triage nurse, while I sat in the waiting room doubled over in pain. There was a stupid woman infrom of Mum in the line that wanted to have a chat about all her aches and pains... I felt like telling her to buzz off, and let the real sick people get treatment. When it was finally our turn to talk to the triage nurse, they took me straight in and dosed me up with Morphene. (I don't know if thats how to spell it) They took blood, and a urine sample before leaving me with a tube hanging out of my arm. They hooked up this tube wo a drip to re-hydrate me because I had not drunk enough water that day.
I was admitted to ward 2 west, bed 16, around 10.30pm, and was put onto a strict diet of nothing. No food, no water. Not one single thing could go in my mouth.
Monday
The doctors came by early the next morning to see me. I had to be assessed as to weather they thought they could operate or not. Lucky for me thay thought they could operate, but that was only after hours and hours of waiting around. I went into the operating theatre around 8.30pm, and came out around 10.00pm. I told the nurse that they hadn't operated because they didn't get me to count to 10 with the anesthetic. I guess I was blabbing so much that they didn't have to encourage me too much to talk my way into the anesthetic. I guess at least the nurses found me entertaining, if not anything else. After the operation I was wrecked! I went straight to sleep, and slept pretty comfortably until about 9am on Tuesday.
Tuesday
I woke up to the noise of a jackhammer outside the window. They are building a hydro-therapy pool for the hospital rehab ward, so the building is almost never ending. Today I felt pretty good, even if "pretty good" was still limited movement and slow reflexes. Today I wasn't being starved. I was allowed to drink water in the morning, and by lunchtime I was allowed to drink cordial! By dinner time I had moved up to chicken broth, and by bed time I was allowed milo. I don't think I have ever gotten so excited over chicken broth in my entire life! It was the first food I had been allowed in 2 days, and I think almost anything would have tasted good to me.
Wednesday
Finally I am allowed to eat some proper food. I ate toast, and cornflakes. Whatever people tell you about hospital food, it is probably true. One meal there was quite enough for me. I managed to give myself a nice shower, and get dressed all by myself, even if it did take about 10 times as long as I usually take at home! Dad came to pick me up around 10.30am, and soon I was free. The hospital did however give me a pretty good selection of pills that I need to take regularly to manage the pain and risk of infection.
When I got home I spent hours reading e-mails and blogs... Catching up on the news since I went into hospital. I also spent a little time putting reminders into my phone so I don't forget to take my tablets. Anyways, I think I have blabbed long enough, and anyone who actually read all this should be congratulated, because I know I blab on alot! I'm going to try and post up some photos, but I don't know how successful I will be.
Thank you to everyone who came to visit me in hospital and everyone who sent me messages (yes, i was naughty and used my phone in hospital) It was so good to know that you were thinking of me. I really got alot of nice surprises during my stay in hospital. I also decided that it isn't that scary a place, all the staff are very nice, and actually care about you.
I hope everyone else had a less eventful start to the week than I did, and that this message finds you safe and sound.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Hospital
Just a really quick note to let you all know I am in hospital. They took out my appendix last night, and they think I may get out tomorrow. We will see. I am feeling fine though.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Thumbs up
The outcome of my meeting with the IBL manager was this: GO FOR IT!! I'm so excited. I have to try and get in contact with the people at Apple now, and tell them all about Product Design Engineering and why they should adopt me!!
I got a further 2 minutes of fame on the radio... I sent them an e-mail, and they read it on the show. I am quite enjoying the daytime radio programming on Joy FM. I actually an see myself becoming some kind of activist for equal rights, which is not something I had seen coming in my future.
Tonight is the foam party, I am so excited... I still haven't figured out what to wear, I guess I will just grab anything from the cupboard.
Yesterday, after my IBL meeting, I met with Diana to go over ideas for our winch project. I am still bamboozled by all the options and work that is involved in the assignment, but I guess thats pretty natural.
Today I am making great headway in thermodynamics, I plan to have all the questions down by the time I goto work this afternoon. At this rate, it should not be any problem.
Tomorrow will be fun, I am planning to sleep most of the morning away, and go to the football with Chris in the afternoon, then we have some birthday parties to goto. I should really organize some cards for Gavin and Brendan.
I got a further 2 minutes of fame on the radio... I sent them an e-mail, and they read it on the show. I am quite enjoying the daytime radio programming on Joy FM. I actually an see myself becoming some kind of activist for equal rights, which is not something I had seen coming in my future.
Tonight is the foam party, I am so excited... I still haven't figured out what to wear, I guess I will just grab anything from the cupboard.
Yesterday, after my IBL meeting, I met with Diana to go over ideas for our winch project. I am still bamboozled by all the options and work that is involved in the assignment, but I guess thats pretty natural.
Today I am making great headway in thermodynamics, I plan to have all the questions down by the time I goto work this afternoon. At this rate, it should not be any problem.
Tomorrow will be fun, I am planning to sleep most of the morning away, and go to the football with Chris in the afternoon, then we have some birthday parties to goto. I should really organize some cards for Gavin and Brendan.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
My 5 seconds of fame
I feel special, I smsed the radio station (joy fm) and they read out my sms on air! How cool is that. Lol. Clearly I get amused by little things.
The start of an exciting day
Ok, so I am currently on the train, making my way to uni. So far this morning I have checked all my emails, tested some new java games on my phone, and called Chris (who was running late for work), among other usual morning activities. All this extra activity made me think I was going to miss the train! I ran all the way to the train station, it almost killed me! Upon arrival at the train station, I discovered that the train was running 5 minutes late. Sometimes I wonder why I am so stubborn in walking to the train station... Lol
I mentioned that I got some new java games, these run nicely on my phone. I know what you are thinking, 'Andrew... Pay for games?' ... Thats what I thought too, just before I downloaded them off bit torrent. Lol. I got a games pack, it literally has 300 different java games in it, so its a matter of going through them to discover the ones I like. I already tried a couple, and I like bejeweled and Colin McCray rally... (and I know my spelling is really bad)
As hard is it may be to believe, the new games and not the reason why I have an exciting day awaiting me. Last night I got a call from the lady who organises industry based learning for Swinburne engineering students. I emailed her weeks ago to enquire about getting a placement at Apple computer in California, and she asked if I would be able to meet with her to discuss my options. So thats 2pm today! I am so excited. My future awaits.
It seems like recently, all my goals and dreams seem that little bit closer to being realised. I just really hope things do actually work out.
Anyway, getting back to this dream job at Apple. The job would see me working in a team to develope the next generation iPod. It sounds right up my alley, what do you all think?
Tomorrow will be another exciting day, not because I will be deciding anything about my future, but because I am going to a foam party! I have never been to one before, but from what I can gather, its like going clubbing, but instead of adding smoke to the dance floor they add bubbles! Bubbles like the foam u get from soap suds. Its not soap though, so it feels alot nicer apparently. I cant wait to find out what its like! Lol.
I think I have blabbed on long enough, just one more thing before I go on playing java games... Listen to 94.9 FM, its Joy FM's Melbourne frequency. They are really good to listen to during the day cause they play uplifting music and don't talk much. The other community station I really like is 89.9 light FM. They are the local christian station, and also play alot of music during the day.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Little rain
Why is it that with a little rain the roads back up like there is no tomorrow? I heard on the radio that the travel time on the Monash freeway is 74 minutes! Its days like today that I am glad I take public transport. The train takes roughly the same time day in, day out... So why the vast majority of people choose to drive at peak hour is a mystery to me.
Another interesting thing I heard on the radio is that there are still millions of trips made every day on the roads that are under 1km. 1km is not that far to walk, when I was young, I walked about 1 km to school. Not only would walking more often solve the road problems, but it would help solve our nations obesity issues too.... So why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?
Gay day
This week is national youth week, so today at uni we had the radio station come and visit to do a live broadcast. The day was sponsored by the Swinburne queer collective, to encourage awareness of gay and lesbian activities on campus. I didn't even know we had a queer collective! Joy FM is the Melbourne gay and lesbian radio station, and they interviewed several different people involved in the uni.
I was surprised to bump into one of the girls I went bowling with from first year on orientation day. Jodi, who is a first year student, has become an active member of the queer collective. She invited me to go bowling in Richmond, apparently they have gay night on Wednesday nights.
The queer collective seemed to have quite alot of support, with heaps of people hanging around under the sails.
In other news today, I managed to make some good head-way on our group project. I read through the requirements and started constructing a list of considerations for the success of the project. The task seemed basic enough, until I started picking it apart. I discovered that the project is more complex than I first imagined.
We had a team meeting, which ran over time, to discuss the engineering management project. I found this meeting really productive, due to the ground work I had done during the morning. A side effect of having a productive meeting is that we all got loads of work to look at over the weekend.
The weather turned really yuck today. Its only 11 degrees outside, and the people on the train are all in winter woolies. The lady sitting opposite me now has red fingerless gloves, which makes of wonder, isn't the point of gloves to keep your fingers warm? I guess one advantage is that she can still type on her phone.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Lunch time.
Yesterday was the last day of house sitting for Kelly and Ed. They arrived back from their holiday around lunch time yesterday. So I had to get all my things out of the house and all organised in the morning before going to uni. That was ok, but it left little time to prepare lunch for the day. Chris came to the rescue, and I discovered 2 brown paper bags in the fridge. It was my lunch.
I took the mystery bags to uni, wondering what Chris had packed for me. At morning tea time I finally got the chance to look at what goodies I had. To my surprise, one of the things Chris had sent for morning tea was a little bag of alphabet cookies! I tried to spell words with them, and managed to make out 'Andrew' and 'Chris'. There were no cookies left over, so clearly Chris had made it that way. He is so cute sometimes. I couldn't bring myself to eat such a beautiful gesture straight away, so it stayed arranged on the table while I ate some other food. Diana recons it was funny because I started to giggle at random intervals. Chris is so sweet, how romantic.
Another exciting thing that happened at uni was the lab activity for human factors. We examined the relationship between the complexity of a task and the time taken to perform it accurately. The results produced a method for predicting human behaviour. Quite exciting really. Another activity for the lab was testing the threshold of hearing for a couple subjects. I was one of the subjects, and we discovered that my hearing was better than one of the other subjects, but worse than the other. Another part of the lesson was in the computer lab, where we played with software analysing the strain that is put on different parts of the body when a variety of positions are achieved. The software also can tell you posture information, and predict what percentage of the population would be able to perform certain tasks. There was also a short 10 question online quiz, which counted for 10 percent of my mark. It took 20 minutes, and counted for as much as the winch did, why did I spend much more than 20 minutes on the winch?
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