July: Penguins and Porsches

As you can tell from the lateness of this post, yet again have I found myself getting up to loads of things and trying to pack as many activities in a single day as possible. As soon as the sun makes an appearance, seemingly so do many friends I thought had forgotten about me, and I find myself accepting various invitations, from football to tea drinking. The World Cup began quite slowly, but from the quarter finals onwards, the matches started getting more exciting. And who better to share such a spectacle with than your football-loving buddies at a friend's flat?

So Spain won it all in the end, and with me being an avid Holland supporter, I did feel some disappointment at them having lost the final. I have to admit the tactics they used were a bit dirty, wanting to disrupt the Spanish passing game, but I didn't really like everyone's response afterwards, saying that Spain 'deserved' to win the tournament; they lost their opening game to Switzerland for crying out loud, while Holland were unbeaten in both the run-up to the final and their qualifying games! There was a long debate between friends of mine on my facebook status, with friends sharing my sympathies and accusing others of not being true football fans for not feeling some sadness at Holland losing. Holland remains the best team never to have won the World Cup, and they deserve much better judging by the number of high quality players they've fielded throughout history.

One of the more bizarre stories emerging from the World Cup has been of a match-predicting octopus. I can't believe how stupid people can get, believing that just because a hungry octopus chooses food from a box with a country's flag on it, that it knows that the team will win. What I find more absurd is how long news agencies allowed the story to go on for.

 The field near my grandma's

I went paintballing with a bunch of Imperial guys, first and second year medics. When it came to sorting the teams out, I found myself with all the inexperienced people doing it for their first time. But it didn't matter; by the end the other team were sulking because we'd beaten them badly, them claiming we were 'camping'. And for those who don't who don't know, camping means to sit somewhere and wait for people to come so you can easily get the kill. What we did was think tactically and use the advantage we'd gained by winning the round before to employ more defensive tactics and let them bring the flag to us (it was a capture-the-flag-and-take-it-to-the-opposition's-base setup). Just for one round did we employ these tactics, but they carried on moaning about it. Still, it was a fun day, and after initially thinking we'd get battered by the ruthless paintball veterans, I left with a pleasant feeling of victory: real, hard-earnt victory that relied on teamwork.

One definite highlight of this month was going to Wales for a few days, staying at my friend Annas' house. Although the weather a lot of the time was terrible (what did we expect, it was Wales!), we still managed to see all the places my friend hung out at, as well as watch a very forgettable Predators film. But most of the time we stayed at his house and played Pro Evo (I'd much rather have preferred Fifa, a preference I'd made as audibly as possible after my every match loss). One of the more memorable cinema experiences I had was watching Inception (not in Wales... I've changed the subject now), and I'm sure I don't need to go on saying how great a film it is. Truly a masterpiece!

I've been to the park a few times, taking advantage of the weather as much as possible. A few of us from uni met and soaked up the Regent's Park sun, playing with the various balls and frisbees we'd all brought, before deciding to make a funny film with the cameras we had. All was going well with filming multiple takes of one scene (we knew this could be a comedy masterpiece), until memory cards started filling up and batteries run out, causing us to cut filming short and promise to return more prepared with more props and better script ideas. Another park trip involved meeting up with friends to train for the half marathon we signed up for in October, but since we hadn't seen each other for a while, the lap we did of hyde park involved more conversational strolling than jogging. Still, a half marathon hardly needs training for, does it? And what's summer without the obligatory trip to the zoo with my mum and little brother? We saw all the usual animals, taking into account the feeding times advertised, and I could comfortably say that otters are by far the most interesting/adorable, feeding time or not! (which is why they were the subject of my AS level psychology observation). There were so many spectators watching the penguins get fed it was almost impossible to see anything, and the area where the monkeys were free to roam amongst visitors was much more lively than when we last visited.

I've been on a few outings with my friend who I went to Scotland with, and calling him a car enthusiast is definitely an understatement. Cars and motorsport are practically his only hobby, but I was flabbergasted by what I saw when we stopped outside his home: a Porsche 968 parked outside his garage door, seemingly unused and looking absolutely stunning mashaallah! We took it out to our bowling trip in central London, and the roar of the engine was too phenomenal, like it was a caged tiger wanting to be unleashed. Driving past prompted looks from passers by, and I can almost understand why some socially-depraved individuals resort to buying expensive cars to compensate for their lack of personality. It was an old Porsche which certainly had character; the white leather seats fashioned to give maximum comfort to your body. All in all it was a very cool experience indeed!

From what I could not imagine to be a more unique experience that riding in my first Porsche came the next unique experience: riding in a Porsche around a racetrack! And not a normal run-of-the-mill racetrack at that; this was Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix! After arriving quite late (as is the theme with my friend and his outings, which is how we completely missed the Farnborough air show), we were briefed, I was given a tyre-smelling 'passenger' bracelet with the Porsche name on it (this was a track day specifically for Porsche club members by the way), and before we got onto the track, I had a chance to see some other cars speed along the start line straight. Most of the cars were flashy customised 911s, but there were a couple of lotuses and an amazing Ford GT40, and I even I know that that was one classic car! We got talking with the co-owners of the Ford, people who run a classic car refurbishment company, and they said it was worth a million pounds! Such a beauty, and for a person who's not really 'into' cars, this whole day was turning out to be a once-in-a-lifetime moment, with me getting my video camera out every few minutes to record something new.

 As you could probably guess, all the Porsche owners looked as if they had a bit of spare change, and I tried to blend in at lunchtime, flashing my wristband at the Porsche centre (which apparently wasn't the one that said you were a member, but I let my swift walking and air of indifference grant me entry past the steward). Inside they had a few old cars, and upstairs was where the food was being served, with me being surprised at how free everything was, feeling quite guilty when I asked for a posh bottle of orange juice without paying for it. Whilst sitting down at a table, I scanned the room to look for the most likely candidate who earlier made us skid off the track and onto the gravel; the rules were that there was to be no overtaking on corners, but there a few road-raged impatient Porsche drivers who didn't listen, and because of the wet conditions, we lost control of the car after we made way for the aggressive drivers, taking the corner all wrong and ending up with gravel in our brakes (which we subsequently had to get removed by driving really fast around the Silverstone outer-track place). Overall it was an exhilarating experience, and after sitting in the car for some intense laps of the circuit, I decided to just be a spectator and watch the rich men play with their fast toys; I think I prefer it that way.

So with the month drawing to a close and loads of friends going on holiday, leaving me here, I decided to cheer myself up by finally buying a new laptop, and leave the expensive touch-screened former love of mine to be fixed another day. This month will also be remembered for my brother when he 'bus case' (as my friend colloquially puts it); found not guilty for carrying an offensive weapon during that protest at the end of 2008, with our martial arts expert a tad bit more experienced than the prosecution's (holding the world record for the number of black belts: more than 40!). And oh yes, a new season with Cricklewood United was approaching fast; could we improve on last season's display, and more importantly, could we afford to play another season with the student budgets we all had?

[This blog post has taken absolutely ages to slowly write out, and I set it to the 16th of August just to make me feel better. It was probably the day I decided to start :P]

My month in status updates:

is almost as interested in grandma's ornaments as much as in grandma herself!

Giving tours of my uni has only made me love it more

Holland were robbed... (or robbened)

Inception; what a film!! :O

has only just learnt that turning up to an asian wedding on time isn't normal >_>

has decided that getting dropped home in a vintage porsche is better than a replacement bus service

maybe should look out of the window before putting sun-cream on next time

is on his new laptop; no fancy unfixable touchscreens this time!

We've been muscled off the silverstone racetrack, and now have to fix the car if there's any hope of getting home. Otherwise a great day to have a friend with a porsche :)

The Gratitude Attitude

Since the turn of the month, as swiftly as the weather has changed, I've sensed a nationwide shift in mood, and especially in myself with university routine looming near, I find that there's a strong feeling of lethargy in the air. As if I've been overwhelmed by the amount of 'free time' I've had, I feel I need a structured timetable back to take control of my life.

Coincidentally (or not), there's this book I'm reading called '59 seconds', a sort of self-help book, written by a professor and containing some interesting psychology-related stuff, and it's one I'd recommend reading. It's not that I've particularly reached a phase in my life where I've turned to such books, but the front cover was catchy (it's how I judge books; and yes, I know the proverb warning me precisely against doing such a thing), and I had vouchers to spend. It's actually a very interesting book, and you may see further blog-posts based on its content. The first chapter is on happiness, and contains studies on how happy people can become by doing certain simple things.

Part of this chapter talks about the 'gratitude attitude', something you experience especially when you've lost something, adding credence to the saying, 'you don't appreciate something until it's gone'. The comparison they give in the book is when you walk into a room that smells of freshly-baked bread; you notice the smell. But when you stay in the room you notice the smell less and less, until it's part of the 'background'. But when you leave and re-enter the room, you notice it again.

Some researchers asked two groups of people to write lists; one group had to list things they appreciated, and the other group things that annoyed them. After following both groups up, they found that the 'grateful' group were significantly more happy, living healthier lives and were more optimistic about the future. So actually just taking a step back and thinking of all the wonderful friends and assets we have at our disposal will ultimately make us 'happier' people. (I'm sure there's a debate as to what being happy is, as is discussed in the book, but you get the idea).

I know it's easy saying this sitting on my perch, relatively unscathed from what life has thrown at me, but really when we do reach that stage where we feel that nothing could get worse, as if everything in life that could go wrong is going wrong, think of people whose situations are worse. You haven't got a penny to your name? Well, there's someone somewhere in exactly the same situation as yourself but without any legs, or in the middle of a war zone or famine. We don't really have to be doing much to be taking advantage of how lucky we actually are; for example the gift of our lungs, organs built specifically to take air in and provide as much surface area for blood to carry oxygen and release carbon dioxide with. In the time you've read this blog-post so far, you've breathed at least twenty times, and probably without noticing much. There are people out there who can't breathe by themselves anymore, and have to depend on machines to stay alive; just to put things into perspective.

Having the 'gratitude attitude' not only would make us happier people, but it would be a step towards us using our physical and mental faculties for doing good. Charity is one of those things, and as it happens is also on the list of what can bring you genuine 'long-term' happiness. With Ramadan around the corner, now would be a better time than ever to list down all of the little things, the people, the opportunities that we take for granted and should be appreciating more.

You can stop focusing so much on your breathing now, unless you want to carry on...

Turkey

Since I've left blogging about Turkey quite late; re-adjusting to London life, I've put the memories of what I thought and felt in Turkey to the back of my mind, so it's slightly difficult to recall those memories exactly, but this is what stood out for me:

Important issues out the way first: Food.  We weren't disappointed when we thought Turkey would have a kebab shop around every corner, but with vendors competing against each other for prices, we found that quality was lacking sometimes (but then again, that's what you get when you economise!). There was this one place that serves koftas (near the tram stop in Sultanahmet); it was absolutely delicious! We did have to spend slightly over what we'd usually pay, but it was worth every lira. I have a video of us trying to describe the experience of eating there (which might not see the light of day since there are so many to go through). There were fish places next to the Bosphorous that served cheap but nice food, and we steered clear of the proper restaurants that tourists would visit, but overall I think we did get a well-rounded food experience. And being the budget-savvy travellers we were, we stocked up on breakfast food and snacks from supermarkets we passed.  Turkish ice-cream is certainly unique with its consistency (which I can't quite remember because it's been so long), and every so often we'd bump into roasted sweetcorn stalls, which we did intend to eat at but couldn't find the opportunity to. Still, I'm sure I know what sweetcorn tastes like. I remember the first tram we took from the airport; once the doors opened at one stop, we knew we had to eat there sometime, with the smell of scrumptious food wafting in; we called it the kebab stop. What was slightly disturbing was when we heard that not all the meat served is halal (especially in tourist parts), and even more disturbing was that they used pig or donkey meat as a cheaper substitute for lamb! After that news we did take our precautions, but it is slightly difficult trying to believe people say the meat is halal when they're serving every different alcoholic beverage you could imagine.

The people were extremely friendly and welcoming; I've found that with other places I've visited, when a person starts a conversation with you, they either expect you to buy something from them, or to become your tour guide (a generously-paid tour guide that is), but not here. The people would go out of their way to help you, not expecting anything in return (the way it should normally be if you ask me!), taking their time out to direct hapless travellers who can't read a map. Now would be an opportunity to talk about our guide who was recommended to us by a friend; an extremely nice guy, who didn't have the best grasp of English, but any language barriers were overcome by simple hand movements. He took us on a cruise of the Bosphorous (not in his own boat, just using his citizen discount thing), then we went to various mosques with companions of the Prophet (pbuh) buried in them, as well as a cable car ride up to a place where we could see the whole of Istanbul. Oh yeah, I'm talking about Istanbul here; maybe I should've mentioned that at the start. We had our guide for the whole day, and I would recommend getting one if you wanted to see places not really frequented by tourists. He was even kind enough to introduce me to seven Turkish girls (yes, seven, all at once) whilst waiting in the queue for a cable car, saying that I was available for marriage. Let's just say that I've had less awkward cable car journeys in my life.

The places we visited were awesome, and I mean really awesome. There are the standard tourist haunts in Istanbul (the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace), which are breathtaking in themselves, but then there are the places almost hidden away that you have to trek through suburbs to get to. I felt somewhat special walking through the crowds of mosque tourists kept at bay by the wooden barrier, as if I had a VIP pass to go and pray. And what was especially magical was praying early every morning in the Blue Mosque, joining the single line in prayer before going back to bed in the hostel, avoiding the stray dogs on the way back. What I love about Istanbul is that there's a story behind every piece of architecture, with every Ottoman sultan wanting to leave their mark on the landscape. And it's also sad in a way, to see all of these beautiful buildings and wonder what could have been. But more on that later. One outstanding experience was when we were taken to an old mosque; the oldest mosque in Istanbul in fact, built in 717 with a companion of the Prophet (pbuh) buried there, and seemingly run by young students who memorised the Quran. We noticed that on the ceiling you could see a faint image of Mary painted, from when it temporarily became a church. The same with Hagia Sophia, the monstrosity of a building dominating the landscape, where inside it was adorned with both Islamic calligraphy and murals of angels and Jesus (pbuh); too much to take in if you ask me.

Istanbul wasn't the only place we had the pleasure of visiting; after some meticulous planning and haggling for coach tickets, we decided that we wanted to go to Fethiye (on the partial advice of our guide, who kept changing his mind over how beautiful/expensive/pointless certain places were). Fethiye is a seaside town on the south-western coast of Turkey, a journey taking 14 hours by coach, and due to our intentional timing, it meant that we'd be travelling by night so we wouldn't have to fork out for a hostel. After we'd barely left Istanbul, the girl behind me in the coach threw up (and predictably the same happened on the journey back- but not the same girl), so with the smell of vomit wafting through the coach, I flicked through the Turkish-language TV channels on the screen in front of me and tried to get some shut-eye before we arrived.

Fethiye is an amazing place. Once we arrived we dropped our things off at the hostel we booked (which had a scenic view, friendly staff and guests, and where we caught some of the World Cup), and went for a lovely walk before taking a minibus down (through a village covered in England flags and full of what you'd call 'chavs') to Olu deniz, a beach renowned for its beauty. And we weren't disappointed; as if taken from a postcard, everything looked perfect. With the mountains towering over us, the sun shining and the water as clear as crystal, we hired a pedal boat in the Blue Lagoon and just took the whole atmosphere in. We had the option of paragliding off the highest mountain peak into the sea, but instead went the safer route and booked a cruise for the next day.

The boat cruise of the twelve islands around Fethiye was probably the highlight of the whole trip, where completely chilling was the idea. The weather couldn't have been better and although the boat was full of sun-searching tourists, that didn't stop us from having our fun. Every so often the boat would stop at an island, and we could dive off it into the lagoon, which I have to admit was a little unnerving once you got to the diving platform, but enjoyable when you'd done it. My swimming for the day was cut short when I decided to paddle my way over to a cliff and climb on a rock, and get pricked by a sea urchin, leaving me with some very painful and deep splinters on my foot, which would have to get looked at once we got home. The rest of the trip involved us getting off at a couple of the islands and having a walk around, having lunch on the boat, and towards the end, ride some cool waves whilst standing at the front; the boat swaying and rocking, rising and falling like we were in a storm. I would definitely recommend visiting Fethiye, as it's a place that could definitely get away with the title 'paradise'.

So with all of the great places, food and friendly locals Turkey offers, what are the downsides? Especially after visiting Topkapi Palace which housed jewel-encrusted hairbrushes belonging to the sultans and whatnot (as well as items belonging to various Prophets- some of which looked dubiously well-kept); extravagance to the extreme, you wouldn't need to read a history book to figure out what caused the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. Looking at an exhibition of all of the robes various sultans wore, you could see that through the ages they went from very simple in design and look, to ridiculously over-decorated, reflecting the indulgent lifestyles they must've led. And then there came secularism after the fall of the Caliphate, in the form of complete separation between religion and life, and unfortunately the legacy Ataturk (the 'founder' of modern Turkey) left behind is seemingly still being upheld. I've heard that life in the countryside is different, but from what I saw, they almost worship Ataturk, building statues and naming architecture after him. I felt alot of the people out there were trying too hard to be Western, brushing aside their rich history, and thinking that being Muslim by name is enough (as demonstrated by the Turkish bath guy who said it was 'tradition' to go in practically naked).  The modern shopping street (the Turkish equivalent of Oxford Street) is called 'Istiklaal' street, which means 'freedom'; hardly a name for a place full of overpriced brand-name shops.  But the winds of change are slowly but surely blowing; just recently there was a fear-mongering news article on how Turkey is slowly becoming less militant against religion secular, so there's hope yet.

So there it is, Turkey in a nutshell, which has taken me ages to write out and then re-write as my posts don't like being saved.  I feel bad for ending this review on the negatives of Turkey; really it is a wonderful and magical place, admittedly having many people who do their own random thing and call it 'Islam', as well as those kebab vendors who racially profile you (just because I was with two Asians, they assumed we were vegetarian!) but nevertheless definitely a place worth a visit (although it did rain four times when we were there, which doesn't usually happen). And if you have the time and the patience, you could go all the way to Fethiye and absorb as much of the breathtaking scenery as possible. I've probably forgotten a load of stuff that will come back to me once I've seen all my videos, but yeah, go Turkey! One of the better holiday destinations.

June-ish

You may have noticed that the design of this blog has somewhat changed, from just the plain black and orange look to this one; after seeing the new design options I had, the amateur style I was going with was crying out for change. I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with the background I have; there may be a little bit too much orange so I may change it further, probably depending on the mood I'm in. But a massive change that I could implement finally was the width of various parts, meaning I now don't have to manipulate YouTube videos to make them fit, or adjust picture settings so the border doesn't get cut off. I also noticed some other nifty gadgets that I hadn't seen before; apart from the fish tank and various games, something that I may want to add is a photostream, as I practically relive my memories through photos (how else can I remember what I've done during the month?). I'm unsure about putting adverts in my blog; I know it can make me some money, but I wonder how much, and will it interfere with the feng shui balance of my blog? Surely I'd need loads of people to see my blog for the adverts to be of any use, but is that the real purpose of me writing, and do I want all these randoms to see my blog? I'm not sure.

The summer holidays so far haven't exactly been filled with days of chilling, and by chilling I mean just sitting around doing nothing. Much like the past academic year, I've had a list of things in my head I need to do; this summer I need to find a job, go to various things I've been invited to, do all the projects I've been planning to undertake (filming, writing, university society work etc), watch the World Cup; so I really don't have much time to sit around, and nor do I want to. I know next year is going to be much tougher with the workload, and if I start the year knowing I've gotten alot of the 'recreational' stuff out of the way, I can do much better with the 1+1=3 stuff.

I went to Scotland with a friend for the weekend recently. He's a rally driver and there was a competition up near Castle Douglas. He said I could be the co-driver for a couple of his races, but (on the 'advice' of my mum, and for safety's sake) I chose to walk the entirety of the track and take in the depth of the mysterious forest, hurriedly making for the bank when I heard the deafening buzz of a speeding car from the distance. There were moments when the race was stopped (probably due to a crash farther on), and that was when I truly felt 'at one' with nature; just myself and the innumerable pine trees, and no phone signal. The hotel we stayed at was nice, neighbouring a field of cows; I got my own room, and managed to watch Algeria's first World Cup game there. Actually the whole area we stayed in seemed quite peaceful and dreamlike; the drive through the country lanes was as if someone had delved down into my deepest thoughts and extracted the perfect scenes onto Scottish canvas. It was too nice.

Other things that happened this month: I watched a play: one of those rare occasions in my life. It was alright; a little too deep for my understanding, but it had a couple of actors I recognised from elsewhere. There also were protests against the 'freedom flotilla' massacre, which really had a 'good' feel to them.. And I had another MRI scan; alhamdulillah the pituitary growth hasn't grown further, but I still haven't managed to get hold of a picture of my brain!

Oh, and I went to Turkey for a week, but that deserves a blog-post on its own.

 

My month in status updates:

loves how the neighbours have bought a trampoline, inspired by my early morning bouncing :D

has done the unthinkable and bought an Algeria football shirt...

MRI scans and hayfever aint the best of mixes...

is on the way to Scotland. All matters are to be taken up with batman until I get back.

is in the Scottish wildnerness following a rally course in the hope of finding civilisation...

Come on Algeria! No really, come on >_>

Algeria just showed England very nicely. Fireworks in Cricklewood, imagine if they won!

is definitely feeling more half Algerian than half English tonight :)

is on the way to Turkey, but the tardis is staying at home.

can't believe I had to explain to the Turkish bath guy that public nudity wasn't part of My tradition >_>

 has witnessed some spectacular scenes, met some wonderful people, swum in some paradisical waters. But there's no place like home.

World Cup Fever 2010

Well, that time is upon us once more; the World Cup will be filling everyone's screens and minds from now until mid-July, and the mood and feeling surrounding such an occasion is like no other. I've wanted to write about the World Cup for a while, because of the intense excitement everyone feels in the midst of it, and the sense of anticipation before it begins. It's not 'just football', as many women critics claim; this only happens once every four years, and you could say that every football-playing man has dreamt of lifting that trophy, that beautiful solid-gold trophy. Drama is at a high even before a ball has been kicked, with squad selections, fixture lists (and who has qualified) and doubts about players' fitness and injuries. This is the month that every professional top-flight player works towards; only the best are chosen to represent their countries, with the hopes of whole nations resting on their shoulders. In the build-up to the start of the tournament, programmes showing the history and highlights/bloopers of the World Cup are broadcast, and that only adds to the excitement.

At the beginning you have three or four matches shown on television daily, even the most average of teams in the competition have something up their sleeve, and sometimes the best goals come from them. This is a platform for people to pursue their childhood dreams, to show their talent off to prospective clubs, and leave the worldwide audience in awe as they shine. The knockout stages are the most dramatic, where a single loss means an early trip home, and a win allows your team to fight one more day. You couldn't get more suspense than when a match goes to penalties; England have never won a penalty shootout and will avoid them if they can, but for the moment we can enjoy asking each other which matches are being shown today, and where we want to watch them together. And we can go on discussing possible scenarios where certain teams get a certain number of points if they won, drew or lost, and the effects that would have on other teams in the group.  Things are especially exciting in 2010, as Algeria have qualified for the first time in my life, and they've been drawn in the same group as England. I'm hoping Algeria do progress to the knockout stages, which is unlikely as England and USA are far stronger, but it should be entertaining nevertheless! I've bought my (very pricey) Algeria shirt and can't wait to see how they fare; last time they were in the competition, they beat West Germany!

Some people may criticise the World Cup for becoming too commercialised (like Christmas), but the thing is, the football has remained the focus, and although yes, companies do take advantage of the event by making so many football-orientated (and entertaining) advertisements, the spirit of the beautiful game and purity of competition have not been tainted. It's still an opportunity for nations to come together and witness the spectacle that transcends all boundaries. It's difficult to explain how a spectator feels when the World Cup is in full swing, and it's different every time because of the different host nations, different matches being played, and new faces on the pitch. And once you start to get used to the whole thing; whether it be the Argentinian skill, Italian defence, Dutch flair or Brazilian genius, it's over, and every guy (and girl, who has a four-yearly sudden interest in football) has to wait for the next one to roll on, and inspire generations anew. But for now I'll try and take it in as best as I can.

UPDATE: With my late blog-posting, almost a week of the tournament has passed, with criticisms of the match ball and how difficult it is for players (and goalkeepers) to control it, as well the the 'vuvuzelas' (African trumpet things) drowning out the sound of everything in earshot. With the actual matches, some would say it has been a slow start as few goals have been scored (that changing when Germany met Australia), and Algeria had to slip up against a team they needed to pick up points against; the Algerian keeper making a muddle of a straightforward Slovenian shot, almost re-enacting a similar one the day before involving the England keeper, which raises further questions about the state of the ball. So I'm hoping Algeria can do what they do best and somehow unpredictably get results in the other two games. Otherwise, we've had New Zealand picking up their first ever point in their tournament history, with a very late dramatic goal, and the real minnows in the competition, North Korea (who qualified for the first time since England lifted the trophy- in '66), playing the best team in the world, Brazil, and holding them at 0-0 at half-time! It needed two world-class Brazilian goals to defeat them, but North Korea did manage to pull one back, and it was quite a well-worked goal too! The 'group of death' in which they occupy (including Ivory Coast and Portugal) may not finish as predictably as we'd thought!

Results

Last Thursday I got my exam results for first year, and I passed! All I can say is alhamdulillah, thank God I've passed the one year mark without any slip-ups, and can look forward to 4 months of retake-free summer. To be honest, apart from one paper that was too close to call, I didn't think I failed, and overall I think I got an A. Checking the results brought back memories of logging into UCAS seeing if I got a university place, but the results were comfortable passes and I'm happy, sort of. We had to get more than 50% in every paper to proceed, which I did, but I'm disappointed I didn't achieve a merit (as far as I'm aware, since friends who did get merits already know), which is reserved for the top 25% of the year.

I don't think I particularly deserve a merit, unless you count the hours spent in extra lectures every week throughout the year, but I didn't spend one sleepless night revising, and certainly didn't put as much effort in during our one week of study leave as others did. I'm not a fan of re-writing notes out neatly to pretend you're doing some revision. Sure, you'll have something ordered and tidy to read from on the tube to the exam, but it's just too time-consuming and laborious, compared to just reading from the notes and lecture slides you already have; the route I chose to follow.

But maybe I should have been a bit more ordered in my revision; I did have a timetable from which I knew what I exactly wanted to revise on a certain day, and the piles upon piles of material were sorted out into their respective modules, but there was something extra I was missing; maybe taking a more organised approach from the start of the year is a good idea, so by the end, you have all the key things you need to learn summarised and highlighted ready for your final few days of delirium.

I hate the idea of being mediocre, whether in exam results, sporting prowess or just life in general. I think it's our parents who shape us into people who either really have that urge to achieve more or just settle for second place. I don't like doing second place. Remember in our younger years when we wanted to do well in something because it would make our parents proud? Or when we found something cool and wanted to show them, and present said object in front of their eyes, and they would gleam in appreciation and pride? Although those shows of praise have all but ended (almost), I still have the urge to try my hardest and do my best, be the best, because it's been instilled in me; it is me.

So next year inshaallah I will do better!

April and May

I'm back from finishing my first year at university, and with revision and exams out of the way, I can finally publish the stuff I typed out ages ago for the last two months...

APRIL
Well, another exam out of the way alhamdulillah, and going with the theme of not having study leave before the exams my uni is adopting, I thought this would be the most difficult exam yet; Brain & Behaviour and
Locomotor modules are no easy feat to get your head around. Learning all the different tracts in the spinal cord and what would happen if one had a lesion on one particular side did take some time to understand, but I think learning about how pain and sensation works was probably one of the more interesting things I've learnt this year. Things became especially mind-blowing when we started to learn about the structure of the brain, and what every region controlled. For example if a person suffered a stroke to Wernicke's area (a part in the dominant hemisphere - usually left - to do with reception of information), you could ask them a question, and they would hear it, but they would give a completely random response to do with anything (an example oft-used by my lecturers was to do with butterflies and clouds). If there was a stroke to the same area, but on the different side of the brain, the person would get something called neglect syndrome, where the person would ignore everything on the other side of the body. So the person would ignore people, what they see, what they hear; everything is neglected on that side (even though their hearing and eyesight works fine), and most bizarrely, they would neglect themselves! So they wouldn't dress, wash or shave themselves
on that side. If you brought their neglected arm in front of them, they could fling it away with such force that their shoulder could become dislocated.

There is so much left to discover with the brain, and indeed the whole body, and sitting the exam made me aware of the many fillable gaps in my own knowledge of the syllabus, let alone the unexplored territory. But it went better than I thought (especially considering that apparently 60% of the last year group failed this exam). I felt such a feeling of relief, and I'm still feeling it; I remember during our cardiorespiratory module looking at the timetable for the rest of the year and dreading the B&B exam, but being here doesn't seem too bad alhamdulillah.

I did take a few risks though; when I shouldve been revising for the exam on Friday, on Wednesday I volunteered for the teddybear hospital safety day. I've been involved with the teddybear hospital group at my
uni all year, and I really love it: just going to schools and teaching five and six year-olds about germs, medical equipment and teeth-brushing, and where they bring in their ill teddybears that we bandage up. This day was when the schools came to us, and at our research centre we have a pod room suspended in the middle of the
building where there are cool activities for the kids to do, so they went there for a bit. Also the police, fire brigade and hospital staff came with their respective vehicles (and horses), and we taught them a bit about being safe and healthy. The day was focussed around the children, but I have to say that maybe the volunteers (us numbering about 50) probably had more fun, and the source of a lot of it was from the helium balloons. I was responsible for tying the balloons around the kids' wrists, which I must have messed up, because there
were a load of balloons up in the ceiling further down the hall. So we had the pleasure of first retrieving these balloons and then sucking out the helium to some hilarious effect!

MAY
This month was supposed to be dedicated to revision for exams starting on the 17th, but again I found myself up to other things, like running for press officer for teddybear hospital (which I managed to get, at a krispy-kreme filled AGM), and auditioning for MESS (which I don't think I've praised highly enough on here). MESS, the group at uni which gives extra lectures on Tuesdays and Fridays for first years on recent topics covered has practically been a lifesaver; I've barely missed one session, and has been an amazing almost-substitute for the revision I've supposed to have been doing throughout the year. Students from upper years volunteer to give the lectures, and I can only be proud to give something back to a group which has practically
been getting me my much-needed passes. I wonder how I'm going to cope next year without it. The audition just involved me giving a short lecture on a topic covered during first year, and as we'd just sat the B&B exam, I thought I'd do some neuroanatomy, which my co-auditionees couldn't believe I'd take a risk with, but a topic I found quite enjoyable as well as easier to understand than some other topics out there.

I've had a history with revision; not a very good one. As soon as I sit down to get some work done, I find myself drifting away and being distracted by other things I wouldn't normally be interested in. This time though I've been watching House, the medical drama that forms a kind of bridge between myself and where I want to be, and motivates me to get revision done. My promise of 'no films for two weeks' has been upheld, and a timetable for the week ensured I covered all the stuff I needed to.

So onto exam day, and the administrators had problems with booking exam venues, which found us going to Barts hospital in Barbican and doing the exam in the Great Hall. And boy was it great! Half an hour before the exam you could see us all on the benches at the edges of the vast hospital square, frantically going through notes and trying to remember drug names and disease mechanisms. This was the dreaded Short Answer Question paper, and you could tell people would be happy scraping a pass. This paper could cover any PBL we did during the year, as well as 3 brand new ones they gave scenarios for beforehand, plus a hidden never-before-seen one. The stairs leading up to the great hall were magnificent; this place dripping in history with its
painted walls and oak bannisters. The hall was covered in golden engravings of the names of all the hospital benefactors over the centuries, and at the front hung a massive portrait of Henry VIII; adding to our sense of occasion.

We all came out not knowing whether or not we did well; it was more of a 'write alot and hope for marks' exam, and the next day we thought would give us some reprieve. This was the Extended Matching Questions paper, where they give you a list of words to choose from and match a few of them to the sentences describing something we were supposed to have learnt earlier in the year. This paper was slightly easier, as the answers were practically in front of us, but there were some tricky questions to do with cranial nerve nuclei and their pathways. This would be the last time we'd sit in the great hall, so I took a few moments to soak the atmosphere in.

Wednesday was a free day with no exams, but allowed us time to prepare for OSCEs the next day, and the anatomy/microanatomy spotter on Friday. We were at Barts hospital on Thursday for our OSCE exam; an exam where you have various stations with patients sitting in them, and with you having to examine various parts of their bodies. In between these stations were some EMQs we also had to answer, relating to the patients we had just seen. Before the exam we all had to wait in a lecture theatre for the other groups to finish; all of us dressed smartly, some with stethoscopes hanging around their necks. The exam itself, I thought, was quite fun. At every buzzer, we had to move stations and see new people, hurriedly reading the scenarios beforehand and quickly deciding what procedures you were supposed to do, do them, with occasional interruptions from the examiner asking questions. In the various stations I had to: locate the apex heartbeat/listen to all the valves, locate the jugular venous pulse, guide a blind person to another chair, examine someone's lungs on their back, test the motor function/reflexes on someone's arms, examine knee joints, get consent from a reluctant patient, resuscitate a dummy, examine the function of cranial nerves 5, 7, 10, 11 and 12, do an abdominal exam, as well as answer all of the EMQs in between. Overall I loved it, but some friends said they made silly mistakes and missed stuff out, but it's an exam that's difficult to fail unless you really had no clue!

The final exam day; just an hour and a half on a computer answering multiple-choice questions based on the pictures of dead bodies they give you. Revision for this is either hit or miss; you either know all the different tissue types and what microscope slides look like or you don't. Guessing won't get you really far, but walking out of the exam, alhamdulillah,  I didn't think it was that hard. Sure, there were a couple of questions that you had to make informed guesses on, but nothing too impossible. The time spent after the exam wasn't really full of celebration as you'd expect, but our usual probing of every question took precedence. I went for lunch at subway with the group of friends I was debating answers with, and then went to watch Robin Hood at Westfields with another group of friends. In the end, a happy but subdued climax to our exams and the end of the year. And results come out on Thursday!

The bi-monthly video

The video is an old animated film of Animal Farm; I remember my mum borrowing this from the library a couple of times for us when we were young. We obviously didn't understand the deeper politics-related meaning behind the story, but I think it engrained in us an early ability to recognise the concept of injustice.

My two months in status updates:

That's the last time I'm bringing my scarf near a horse's mouth!

The demon headmaster in Doctor Who!! :O

Who suggested that football should be played with the same limbs you need to walk home afterwards with?

is loving the daylight at this late hour :)

Thinking about thinking, talking about talking, understanding understanding; lectures are getting bare trippy! :P

can't wait for tomorrow when i cruise about town in a wheelchair... feeling sorry for you GP surgery sitters :P

The skill of pushing a wheelchair and holding a video camera is one I have yet to acquire...

You know you're doing a medicine writeup when Office doesn't recognise most of your words...

"Damn their filthy Yankie hides!"... Lecture quote of the day :D

loves how everyone was flailing their arms and legs about to try and get some marks today :)

believes tfl has a list of all the important days in his life >_>

Omg! I can see myself on the BBC marathon programme!!

Cricklewood United FC 8 - 0 Blood Sweat & Beers. For once i can say i'm proud :)

is ecstatic that the lib dems got my area, but gutted overall :/

is getting addicted to the sound of his own heartbeat. Buying a stethoscope now was a wrong decision!

felt the urge to practice his OSCE's on a blind man today, forcibly.

The silence before the storm :S

really needs to stop thinking the examiners are trying to trick him ¬_¬

Learning all this anatomy, i'd have thought i'd be fluent in Latin by now. Vescere bracis meis as they say...

maybe shouldn't have said there was something not right about the tone in someone's arms :S

Standing between myself and 4 months of summer... One exam!

The sun couldn't have shone on a better day, but i'm a bit sad the year had to end so soon!

just had an afternoon nap... because he can! (and was a bit tired)

Petition to remove the word 'for' from 'transport for london', and maybe the word 'transport' too! 

In other developments, the Lib Dems won our constituency which was good, although Conservatives won most seats overall. More importantly, my laptop broke, completely. The motherboard decided to just die, and so the screen is blank, and I just picked it up from the shop with the knowledge that it's irreparable (which I'll confirm when I contact hp), but hopefully I can get all my important data off it. But still, my beloved touch screen laptop that was just so beautiful and compact, gone. On a more positive note, I now own what will probably be one of my more important (and dear) possessions: an orange stethoscope! :)