Scream

This was probably the longest week of my life. Most of it was spent driving to UJ, because week 3 of the dreaded Masters interviews took place this week. I started out on Monday with my first interview, which began with the usual "So, tell us about yourself". I did a little better on that one this time, and the interviewers were extremely nice. My favourite question was undoubtedly "If you were a piece of art, what would you be and why?". I made it through the interviews, research exercise, psychometric assessment (193 questions about myself) and the role play, but sadly got cut on the second last day, which was pretty crummy. So, it looks like I won't be at UJ next year. Luckily, I've got a back-up plan, which I'm feeling optimistic about - I'm planning to do research Masters at Wits and work at the Sleep Clinic doing neuro stuff in my spare time, and maybe be able to integrate my work into my research. I'm also debating doing some sort of neuroanatomy/physiology course, just for the fun of it!

Aside from the interviews, I also had an essay due this week, which I managed to finish about an hour before it was due. I was incredibly sleep-deprived, to the point where I was actually starting to feel sick, and found myself wondering if I was going to die or pass out before I finished the essay. Melodramatic, I know, but I was exhausted - so much so that Helen had to stop me from driving home without having first had a cup of tea. So, after handing in the essay, I spent an hour chatting to Helen about swords, the joys of working at a vet and boys. And make-up and hair-straighteners.

The rest of the week was spent trying to get my data collection done (13 people down, 47 to go) and avoiding my supervisor. Work wasn't particularly great this week, owing to my constant state of exhaustion and stress, and the fact that the fax machine/phone line was broken, which meant that people would keep calling and I would be able to hear them, but they couldn't hear me. I suspect that I may have further broken it, because it just got increasingly frustrating, and I keep slamming the handset down. Bear in mind that this was mostly just after I had found out that I was out of the UJ interview process!

The weirdness of the week peaked on Friday, when I was offered beer at 10:30am and spent an hour sitting in a dodgy clubroom at Wits, talking to some very strange boys. I went to visit Helen and Leia and the mouse, and then spent an hour chatting to one of my ex-tutlings, who reminds me of Duncan, in some strange way. He ended up playing me some music he thought I would like on his i-Pod, and is now making me a CD of said music, which turned out to be an Icelandic band who sound like a combination of David Gray, Coldplay and something else. I also gave him my number, which I'm probably going to regret doing when he turns out to be a psychotic stalker. I then spent the rest of the afternoon doing data entry before getting stood up by one of my test subjects at 4:30pm. I didn't really mind - aside from the fact that I had waited an entire afternoon for her. If I hadn't, I suppose that I wouldn't be getting an Icelandic CD though!

I should probably answer the question about what piece of art I would be. I chose a picture of a ballerina which I saw at a small gallery, which basically showed her pirouetting, and really captured movement, which I thought was very beautiful. After this week though, I was seriously tempted to say Manch's "The Scream"

or Salador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory", mostly because time seems to be melting away right now!