Crazy Sex Rally

My final Fungus Rally, the Crazy Sex Rally, turned out to be crazier than i expected. Fungus rallies used to be extremely hyped up. Everyone would be FULL of excitement and expectation. But the futile battle with time has only weakened that unquenchable zeal to a state where rallies are deemed as no more than "routine". It's a sad reality.

It saddens me. Yet it motivates me, to an even greater extent, to make a difference with the little time i have left with Fungus. Pray for me that my desire might turn into determination.

As i mentioned before, last night's Crazy Sex Rally was much better than I had expected! I really enjoyed the games (i won a Leona Lewis album, which I gave to Dan), the videos (Aud, you're the main cause of global warming), and most of all the message. Peter Janetski delivered an insightful message about the dangers of sex and what God has to say about it. He substantiated his points with an array of statistics, which warranted numerous negative responses. But i found them particularly interesting and relevant. He spoke in such an understandable, concise and precise way. He had me captivated from the beginning till the end. Amazing.

One thing he said stirred up feelings of sentiment within me:

"The Vow of Abstinence is likened to telling your future spouse: "I loved you even before I met you. I love you enough to save the best just for you.""





*tired from setting up and packing up from 8am to 11.40pm

It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish

It's Not Where You Start (It's Where You Finish)
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields

If you start at the top, you're certain to drop.
You've got to watch your timing;
Better begin by climbing up, up, up the ladder.
If you're going to last, you can't make it fast, man,
Nobody starts a winner, give me a slow beginner.
Easy does it my friend, conserve your fine endurance,
Easy does it my friend, for that's your life insurance.

It's not where you start, it's where you finish,
It's not how you go, it's how you land.
A hundred to one shot, they call him a klutz,
Can outrun the fav'rite, all he needs is the guts.
Your final return will not diminish,
And you can be cream of the crop.
It's not where you start, it's where you finish,
And you're gonna finish on top.

Fantastic Goals!

There were a few International Friendlies played last night. Check out some of the spectacular goals scored! Thierry Henry is UNBELIEVABLE!

Supernumerary

"Momart is where private collections are put out to pasture, where works that are too big, too precious, too fragile or simply supernumerary to their owners' homes are discreetly tended by expert staff." -- Laura Cumming

Today's Word of the Day:

Supernumerary: exceeding what is necessary or needed; superfluous.

I'd like to draw a line of comparison between Momart and Soccer. While you have extravagant works that are "too big" and "too precious" at Momart, there are big-headed players on the pitch that are "too cocky" and "too skillful". I reckon these players should be put into "Socmart" and be discreetly tended by expert staff... they need constant attention and praise to feed their unquenchable egos.

I wagged another Phyio lecture today to play in MHS 07's first match in the 2nd Sem of the Campus Sports Futsal comp. (i should really stop wagging lectures). We were playing 5 on 6 because Stevie + Turk failed to rock up! (Stevie, you owe me an explanation bro. We slogged our guts out today)

Our opponents were "Team Europe". They were unexpectedly and unbelieveably skillful! haha! They looked like amateurs before the match, but they turned into absolute BEASTS on the pitch! They managed to take advantage of the extra man to grind a 2-1 victory against us :(

Caterpillars

Let's improve our vocab together. Philter's the word of the day. It refers to a magic potion that causes one to fall in love:

Some things you can feel coming. You don't fall in love because you fall in love; you fall in love because of the need, desperate, to fall in love. When you feel that need, you have to watch your step; like having drunk a philter, the kind that makes you fall in love with the first thing you meet. It could be a duck-billed platypus.
-- Umberto Eco

My weekend was sorta ruined cuz my NQA match was canceled due to the heavy rain which resulted in a waterlogged pitch that was deemed "unsafe" to play on -.-""" 3 weeks without soccer!

Had a short futal fix today with the soccer dudes. Campus Sport Futsal season starts again tomorrow! :) I'm looking forward to winning that trophy now that the Mauritians and the Turks aren't in the comp!

Oh, something UTTERLY DISGUSTING happened today. I started on my packed lunch on the train to Box Hill. I had some veg + rice in my mouth and i was happily chewing away until i noticed something peculiar in the veg. I proded the veg around looking intently at these 3 small figures; which turned out to be caterpillars!! LOL! At that moment, i couldn't believe what i saw and i continued to chew on the veg that was in my mouth! -.-"""""""""

YUM! I began to think to myself: "Am i a wuss? They're just caterpillars! After all, they're cooked!"

So yeah, in went the 3 caterpillars through the pink conveyor belt and into the white relentless choppers.. Green juice.. sweet, viscus, with a tinge of sour = yum! :)

Turns out.. i AM a wuss.

Camwhoring

Jan TRIED to hold a chin-up.. and failed miserably..

3D - Lame!

LOL - LOL LAME!

Yes, i totally forgot to blog about my camwhoring session with Ann, Jan and Sha. On a Sunday not too long ago, the Chin twins popped by our house to annoy us. I remember Jan rudely barging into my room while i was praying!

Anyway, Ann started playing around with my Mac.. and she's like "where's your Photo booth?"

Before i knew it, they started camwhoring with my Mac -.-" We took ~200 photos!! haha! Btw, they offered to pay me $50 plus a free movie ticket for camwhoring with them.

PS. Adri, you still owe me a homemade Chai Latte! :P

Lacie

My dad just got me a Lacie 500GB external hard drive. Ever since that "camwhoring" session with Jan, Ann and Sha, I've been rather conscious about the amount of available disk space left on my Mac. With the extra 500 gigs, i've got nothing to worry about! And i can start using Time Machine too! :)

It's been terribly cold these past few days - rainy and gloomy weather.. I've still got a little cough and cold lingering from last week that starting to really annoy me.

Gotta get back to studying for my mid sem next Monday!

Chasers - The Secret

I'm feeling a lil better today. I'm feeling rather cut right now cuz i'll probably have to miss my soccer match later this arvo. The match was canceled last week, i missed futsal with my friends yesterday, and i'll be missing today's match. Apparently, the flu virus is able to pass from the nose and throat region via blood and infect heart muscles. I'll still contemplating playing for 20mins or so.

This is one of the funniest vids i've ever seen! Check it out.

Amazing People

I decided to go down to Royal Talbot yesterday for my clinical placement despite my illness. I felt terribly sick after, but i'm still glad that i went because i got to meet 3 very special people. Janice and I were scheduled to be down at the Spinal department. For the sake of confidentiality, i won't be using the real names of these 3 very special patients.

The first person I met was Amy. She's ~45 yrs old and was admitted to the hospital after an unfortunate incident that severed her spine completely at L5. She was out in the forest gathering firewood with her brother. There was some miscommunication that took place. I wasn't too sure what happened, but i think her brother was meant to call out to her to make way before he felled a tree.Well, she didn't hear him this time and before she knew it the tree crushed her. She's now paraplegic with no control of her muscles from her waist down.

I say that she's special because she was very optismistic. She wasn't angry with her brother. She didn't hate God. Instead, she was telling Janice and I about her desire to get back to normal life in a wheelchair. She told us that she used to deliver letters for Australia Post AND fight fires for the Regional Fire Brigade! That's a very noble profession because they DON'T GET PAID! After she recovers she'll be doing a desk job for Australia Post and the Regional Fire Brigade. It was a pleasure talking to her about her past experiences working on a farm; milking cows and all.

The 2nd special person is James. He had a rather intimidating appearance - young (~early 30's), ear rings on each ear, blonde hair gelled back, and a rather rugged face that boasted many tough years. He was working in a steel manufacturing factory when a machine malfunctioned and crushed his spine at the C5 level. This means that he's lost control of both his legs and he's got minimal control of his arms.

James turned out to be a very funny and entertaining. Sure, he never once dwelt on his inabilities. He kept cracking funny jokes to lighten the mood. He would try extremely hard to do all the exercises that Theresa (the physio) prescribed. Again, he never expressed anger at the machine that crushed him or his employer. In fact, he's looking forward to going back to work with the same company to take on a teaching/mentoring role.

I think the 3rd person, Tim, is the most optimistic of the lot. He is the ultimate epitome of optimism; i've never seen anyone like him - ever. He's 35yrs old, works as a high-level manager for NAB, and trains as an elite athlete. He used to be an AFL referee till 2000, and he came in the top 20 in last year's Ironman competition. Cool eh? Who'd think that he would end up being a quadriplegic (paralysis in his legs and arms).

His story? A truck knocked him off his bicycle and sent him flying straight into a parked car; resulting in deep lacerations in his right arm and an incomplete fracture at the C3 region. He had a collar brace to protect another fracture at the base of the skull. He never once expressed a HINT of anger towards the truck driver. Instead, he was truly grateful that he was still alive; the fracture at the base of his skull was very close to his brain stem. He would have died almost instantaneously if his brain stem was damaged.

Tim remained optimistic about his situation. I asked him how long he'd been in rehab. He replied, "36 days". He'd been counting. He said that he was still in spinal shock and there was still a high chance that he would regain control of his limbs. (see, the fracture in his spine wasn't complete. The spine takes about 8-9 months before it is able to fully recover. Hence, Tim still had 7 months to regain control of his limbs; 7 months of hope).

Tim said that he was still young and had a lot to live for:

"I've got a wife and a daughter. I've got a good job. You know I used to be left-handed before this accident. And now i've got to use my right hand to do everything! How many people actually get to use one hand for half their life, and then their other hand for the 2nd half?"

Amazing. He had just regained control of his right foot and his right thumb the day before; and he was telling us all about it. THEN, he said something that pierced straight through my intellect right into my heart.

"You really have to care to be a Physio. I don't know many people who would do such a job."

I really wished then that God had unleashed gifts of healing. I really wanted to pray for him, and beg God to heal him. I wish God gave me healing hands. I wish I had a heart of true compassion.

These people have changed the way I look at life:

Am I optimistic? Or do I constantly drag others down pesimism with me?

Why am I complaining about my insufficiencies?

An accident could happen to me at ANY TIME. How would I deal with it?

Sick

A double rainbow over Crown casino (look carefully). This is the 2nd time that i've seen such a phenomenon this year. If a little vapour from a short drizzle could split the mild rays of a sunset to paint 2 breathtaking rainbows, i wonder how many rainbows God made for Noah after a storm that flooded the entire earth!

I can't paint a rainbow,
To brighten your overcast sky.
But I could stand with you through the rain,
Just to keep you dry.

"Take some panadol and get plenty of rest," was all the doctor could say. I didn't expect her to give me anything except my MC and maybe some antibiotics. I think this is the first time i walked out of a clinic without any antibiotics - fascinating.

Inflammation in my bronchioles. Slight fever. Muscle fatigue. Flu. Cough. All symptoms of a one of the nastiest viruses i've ever caught. I've never been hit so hard before. I was halfway through my PBL on Thursday when i felt a sudden onset of extreme muscle fatigue in my legs and arms. I'm not too fussed with the coughing and sneezing, but the muscle fatigue/ache really KILLS. I felt soo tired that I almost fainted. I grabbed a seat somewhere in the Law library and dozed off for a whole hour.

I've been sleeping SOOO much last night - from 8.30pm to 10.30am this morning. And then from 2pm to 3pm. I'd get up walk around for 30mins or so before fatigue overwhelmed me and forced me back to bed. I feel so weak and pathetic. I wanna do chin-ups. I wanna play soccer!! Shucks! i'm so weak that i can't even study! I'm bed-ridden!

Ahh.. I missed my prac session with the wet specimens today AND my futsal session with my soccer buds! :((((((((( I was really looking forward to it! I even rescheduled my 2nd torture session with Mike for this futsal session -.-"

The Olympics start today! That's something to look forward to at least :)

Torture Chamber

"Behind every corner,
A secret is sealed.
Beyond every turn,
The adventure revealed."

I went down to Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Hospital last Friday to get some rehab for my broken leg.

What? You broke your leg?!

I went down to Royal Talbot last Friday to participate in a research project (a hurdle requirement for my Physio course). The research project was entitled:

"Twitch Interpolation of the Ankle Plantar-Flexors: The Extent of Voluntary Motor Unit Activation Following Whole Body Vibration"

I assumed that all i had to do was stand on some vibrating plate and maintain my balance, so i didn't bother to read the research synopsis - BIG MISTAKE.

I wasn't allowed to eat 2 hours prior to the test, which was at 2pm. Naturally, my growling tummy made me particularly cranky. I had to walk for 30mins from Alphington station to get to the hospital -.-" I've got no idea why it's located in such a remote part of Kew.

On the way to the hosp, I had to walk on that bridge that you see above. It gets quite scary when you're in the middle. That picture up the top was taken before I crossed the bridge, and this one was taken after i crossed it. Sometimes we slog hard, taking small steps as we go along. We get demoralised cuz we don't think we're getting anywhere. Take some time to look back - history tells a different story.


I had to get the hair around my right knee shaved off to get rid of any resistance to the painful electrical stimuli that were to be sent through my right leg -.-" Basically, the aim of the test is to determine how much force my right calf muscle can generate with different treatments. So, i was taken to this portable caravan (the name "torture chamber" does more justice to its intrinsic nature) where i was strapped to a chair (very much like the ones you see in torture scenes in movies). I couldn't move ANY part of my body besides my right ankle. My right sole was placed on a force plate (a device that measures the force exerted on it in Newtons) and i was told to plantar flex as hard as I could. (Plantar flexion is the action you do when you tip-toe).

See, that doesn't sound too painful. BUT there was a twist that i was COMPLETELY unaware of. Mike (the researcher) attached electrodes to my knees and said that he would be sending electrical stimuli through my right leg to find the nerve that innervates my calf muscles. According to him, the electrical stimuli feel "weird, not painful".

It was WEIRD all right. And it wasn't just painful.. it was EXCRUCIATING! It literally felt like getting electrocuted! I could feel the electrical signal creep all the way from my knee through my calf and into my toes; causing each muscle to wrench in agony as it passed by.

He delivered 10 shocks (at the lowest intensity) to determine the exact location of the nerve. I didn't want to sound like a girl, so i sucked all the pain in.

Mike: "Hmm.. i'm surprised that you didn't wince. Most of them wince at the first shock. How's it feel?"

Isaac: "Weird."

I wish i had winced.

That wasn't the end of all the shocking.

There were 3 components to each test:
1) Plantar flexion without TORTURE (electrical stimuli) 7 repititions
2) Plantar flexion with TORTURE - 10 REPS!!!!
3) No plantar flexion; with TORTURE - 10 REPS!!!!

OMG!! There was a countdown from 10..9..5..4...3..2..1... BANG! before each electrical stimulus was delivered.. 20 shocks for each test. 2 tests to be carried out = 40 shocks + 10 shocks to determine the location of my nerve + ~10 more shocks to make up for the ones that weren't strong enough!

I was half dead after that 2 and a half hour test. Mike's supervisor (Ben) came in at the end of the test.

Ben: Wow! you've got extraordinary results. You're hitting 30 Newtons.

Isaac: What's the average reading?

Ben: About 15 Newtons. Any comments?

Isaac: Yea, it hurts a lil (JUST a LITTLE)

Ben: Hmm.. Mike, what stimuli are you giving him?

Mike: erm.. *looks at machine* 99%

Ben: o.O" I've never tested anyone with that before.

Mike: *looks at me* You seem to have a very high tolerance level. You didn't wince at the start and you didn't scream or anything.

-.-"""""""""""""""""

I would've given him 99% of HELL if i wasn't strapped to that torture chair.