It has begun.

Almost as quickly as it began my first day back was over. I only had 2 lectures today and with tomorrow being a day off it’s somewhat of a stunted start, however I like to think I’ve used that fact to an advantage as I’ve been familiarizing myself with more and more of the first few topics for both Chemistry and Biology. I nailed 100% in the first Chemistry quiz that actually counts for something, and another 100 in Bio but that one doesn’t count for anything. Still, they are confidence building results.

Most of  today’s Biology was focused on the importance of Carbon and other organic elements (H N C etc), and Chemistry was primarily an intro lecture with a little on the wave/freq relationship. (C=vl). I’m feeling pretty intellectually stimulated and looking forward to whats to come.

It Begins…

It’s the last night before uni starts again. My feelings at the moment are a mixture of excitement, fear and eager anticipation. Currently things do seem fairly surreal, and I’m sure tomorrows early start will only heighten things. For this week at least, I don’t need to go in Tuesday, so that will give me a little time to adjust.

Almost there…

With the timetable released and finally configured I might even manage to get a day off. I’m heading in tomorrow for a self-driven orientation that will help me locate my classes and possibly pick up some textbooks. I’ve been reading up on the GAMSAT and things are starting to become surreal, there is now only 4 Days to go – soon it shall begin.

Status Update

Tomorrow, well actually about 5 hours from now, the 2010 Semester 1 Timetable will go live. It doesn’t really bother me what times my classes land, as I plan to spend most of my days on campus anyway but it will be nice to begin to visualize the coming weeks. On top of this some content seems to have gone up online for Biology and Psychology, so tomorrow I will peruse those in a little more detail. (I really just glanced at them today). Over the past few days I haven’t done a lot. Occasionally I’ve been keeping up with Academic Earth lectures, and I recently found a great website hosting surgery videos (sometimes live).

Otherwise I’ve just been keeping up with a few movies, and generally maintaining somewhat of a persistent vegetative state. Naturally I’ve had a few second thoughts about the whole course as well as joining the Ambulance service (on a voluntary basis) but I’ve come to the conclusion that the course, and career are most definitely things I want to do. As for the ambulance work, I plan on at least attending the information session which is being held next Tuesday. I am also going to go to a kind of self-driven orientation on Thursday, with a friend – just to find the classes etc and generally get back into the feel of University life once again.

I project this blogs activity levels will increase exponentially as of Monday but things may be slow from time to time when I get busy.

In reflection I should note that these holidays have been long and somewhat fatiguing (it’s hard work doing nothing). In hindsight however I guess things did go rather quickly, it certainly doesn’t seem that long ago that I was weeks, and even months away from Sem’ start, now it’s down to days (6 to go). It’s been a ‘long winding road’ for me to get to the path I’ve reached now, and as I alluded to in the previous post it’s the road less traveled by. I have a lot of challenges to face the least of which being my own will but here’s hoping I make it. I guess the Ten Years From Now should soon read 9 Years and 11 months, but hey, who’s counting…

The Road Less Traveled By…

It never ceases to amaze me that the closer I get to something I want the further away it seems. Whilst that sounds dramatic my concern at the moment is only for the end of the holidays. I realize it seems strange that one would actually want to go back to study, the grueling pressure, the early mornings, the chilling maceration of your soul as you wait in the rain for an always late train to arrive… what a pretty picture. However, there is great joy to be had in actually doing something, anything, when you’ve been doing next to nothing for months on end.

What all of this comes down to is the fact that I can’t wait for Uni to start again, but as the days decline in number they seem to increase exponentially in length. The relativity of time is generally accepted, even Psychologically so I don’t really have cause to wonder why things seem so slow, however knowing the cause will do little to prevent me from complaining of the effect. I think the feeling is worsened by the fatigue embued from my still-adjusting sleep schedule, or maybe I just can’t get there quick enough…

The Current State of Affairs

Not a lot has been happening lately, I haven’t been home all that much. I’ve been occassionally viewing some of the Academic Earth lectures, but thats about all really. With 2 weeks or so to go until Uni starts I’m really just burning time.

The Concern That Is: YouTube

Searching for information on both Psychology and Psychiatry throughout the web invariably means stumbling across YouTube videos about the said topics. Whilst those related to Psychology included a lot of legitimate, open-source education programs, and informational videos about the topic, those on Psychiatry left me a little concerned. Most of the Videos tagged as Psychiatry target the US health system (which is not so surprising) but they do so in a sensationalist, derrogative manner. A lot of the videos are propaganda, labelling Psychiatry and the mental health care system in general as a false-science. Whilst I try to keep an open mind about everything some of the videos seem borderline conspiracy theory.

I’m quite certain the US (and possibly every other) health care system is far from flawless but some of the claims made on these videos seem beyond far-fetched, and some are quite extraordinary. My main concern however is not the negative light this sheds on the United States Mental Health Care industry, but rather, the effect the videos may have on viewers. I figure the majority of people looking for these videos are either students like myself, people in the industry, people who want to expand general knowledge or lastly, and most importantly, people searching for help.

People or friends and family suffering from mental illness, and/or a reduced quality of life due to a mental health issue may be using the internet to find resources to help them. Some of these people are no doubt looking for information before deciding whether to seek medical advice. Whilst it may seem common sense to a lot of people to see a Doctor (who can refer patients to a mental health specialist if necessary), I do fear a lot of people may choose not to seek help after watching these videos.

I’m sure it is not the intention of the videos to have people ignore medical help, but I can’t help feeling a little concerned about the effects the videos might have. Whilst free speech is a wonderful thing, sometimes one does wonder what these things lead to. I’m not suggesting the videos be revoked or necessarily censored but I am concerned they may do more harm than good.

Good News

After initially being told it may not be possible, my friend was able to succesfully transfer, so that’s great. I woke up early today, and was tired all day, so I decided to make it my day off, since I hadn’t had one for a while. I’m awaiting the semester start in nervous, excited anticipation. I hope it goes well. Time will tell I suppose…

The Road From Here…

As of Tomorrow there is 3 weeks to go until Uni starts. I should have my timetable in slightly less than 2 weeks, but I already have a pretty good idea of what it will be like. 5 days a week will be a little busier than i’ve been used to in the past but I’m not really concerned.

Returning to First Year subjects has it’s own sort of (self-attached) stigma. I’ll be reasonably older than the other students but I don’t think I’m at the point of a generation gap just yet. Either way it really is of no consequence, I just hope for group work I get paired with people that aren’t completely incompetent. I realize this is arrogant, but I have my reasons for preferring not to waste time. I’ll hope for the best and deal with whatever happens as it comes. I’ve had to do entire groups work before, so it’s nothing new if that is the case.

I’ve been brushing up on the Science side of things via the online lectures available at Academic Earth. I think they are a fantastic resource, and my hat goes off to the service providers and associated persons whom facilitate and manage this and related websites. In short, I think it’s a fantastic idea. Free knowledge is ever so empowering.

Most of my revision has been, somewhat unintentionally, focused on Chemistry. Partially because the early Biology topics are Biochemistry anyway, but also because I don’t have a High School background in Chem. I’m not too concerned, I did 2nd year Neuroscience several years ago with no background in Chem or Bio and did reasonably well so I know I can handle it – I just want to equip myself as best I can before the Semester begins – and afterall, I do have all this free time to burn, so it may as well be burnt at least semi-constructively.

I’ve also been following some Psych lectures from Berkeley via the ever popular YouTube. Again, free knowledge is awesome. I’m upto around the 11th-12th lecture somewhere, of what is something like a 30-36 lecture series, I’m hoping I can get most of it (if not all) finished before March 1st.

I’ll probably post more tomorrow, once I find out about my friends campus transfer status, for now, I think I’m gonna read some more Chem and maybe watch some TV.

Post Zero

This is the first post. Tomorrow will reveal the outcome of my friend’s application. Hopefully it will be good news.