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!

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Yes, I should probably be studying! I have spent the morning printing out journal article analyses to assist my studying though, which should count for something! I'm planning on making significant progress on research design tonight - just as soon as I write this post and have a cup of tea!

I was chatting to my friend Paul on the phone last night, and he somehow mentioned Hannah Montana in the conversation (please note that this is not something that usually happens! Our conversations usually involve art, pets, parties and a fair amount of giggling, and he was merely using Hannah Montana to illustrate a point). This got me thinking though, and has brought me to the following conclusion: I have a Hannah Montana phobia. There is just something SO creepy about her (and Miley Cyrus). There's no denying that she can sing quite well, but there is just something weird about the whole thing. Maybe it's because of her dad, or maybe it's the alter-ego Miley/Montana thing. Maybe it's that I'm not quite sure that anyone would care that she existed or give her a second glance if she wasn't pretty and the daughter of the man who brought us "Achy Breaky Heart", which I'm not sure is a legitimate claim to fame!

In fact, I think I'm disturbed by all so-called "child stars". From the Jonas Brothers to the KTV presenters, they all give me the creeps! Even Dakota Fanning scares me! Maybe it's just a symptom of being *old* (or older) and no longer being awed by how cool or pretty or handsome any of them are, but I really can't stand watching anything that any of them appear in. I suspect that they hype around child stars has grown exponentially since I watched Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone" when I was 8, and now the world is filled with more Olsen twins than it knows what to do with! Maybe it has something to do with the level of fame which is now accorded to these kids, which makes them seem even more like adults and allows them to act like adults, even though they don't have a driver's licence (although if they do, it'll soon be suspended for a DUI) and aren’t legally old enough to manage their own finances for the millions of dollars that they're making. And then the celebrity magazines are amazed and confused when they end up being arrested or are found doing drugs.

Actually, I have no real idea why child stars scare me. This is all just speculation. But, I’m still giving Hannah Montana a wide berth, on principle.

Utterly terrifying: Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana

Psycho

I have had the most exhausting week, and hence my blog posts have fallen by the wayside (as has sleep and sanity, really)!

The past two weeks have involved enormous amounts of work, because our Honours research proposals had to be handed in on the 8th of April, and we then had to present our proposals on the 16th and 17th of April. The entire experience was incredibly stressful, as in the midst of writing a 20 or so page proposal, we also had a research design test and I had an essay due for a course that I’m doing through Unisa. The major problem was really that I didn’t allow enough time for my supervisor to correct and edit the proposal, and so I was printing drafts and editing ethics forms about twelve nanoseconds before the proposal was meant to be handed in. It wasn’t great. In fact, it was utterly awful, and I’ve now decided that for all future deadlines, I will have completed to work a week ahead of time so that this doesn’t happen again. Aside from all this, I was also running on very little sleep and incredibly stressed about some interpersonal issues I was having with someone, so my general state of mental health has been somewhat lacking for the past two weeks. It all culminated in a small psychotic episode in the Honours room on Tuesday morning – an event which was witness by 3 of the boys in my psychology class. I have since had to do damage control and have told them it was a combination of PMS, sleep-deprivation and stress. I’m not sure if they believe me…

Despite this, the proposal presentation itself went incredibly well. I was one of the few students who had everything approved first time, and the readers liked my writing style and my project. I’m extremely relieved about this, because I suspect that I would’ve dropped out and become a yoga instructor in Tahiti if they had told me that I needed to start from scratch. It also means that I only have to make some minor changes to the proposal before the final hand in.

In addition to this, I managed to sort out the interpersonal issues that I was having (which is an enormous relief, since I’ve been terrified of confronting this issue), managed to successfully teach my second year stats students the section that I absolutely dread (and which I now actually understand too!) and finally bought a new cellphone. The week was also filled with some amusement:

• Sleep-deprived quote of the week: “There are Mondays in every week” (me, trying to explain that there are stats tuts every day)
• Anti-technology quote of the week: “Just f*%k off!!!!” (Granville, trying to get his laptop to cooperate with him).
• Nervous breakdown moment of the week: watching my computer switch off due to a power failure, as I was finishing an essay and preparing to email it to Unisa (they let me email it that evening when the power came back on)
• Good judgment call of the week: staying home and doing my essay instead of watching people ice-skate for 3 hours
• Surprise of the week: the approved proposal, and Luke suddenly appearing at movies with Duncan and I on Saturday night (I had no idea that he was coming).
• Assorted moments of joy and bliss: having my stitches taken out, getting my new phone, finishing presenting my proposal and having it approved, the end of Pesach and going to movies with Luke and Duncan

And, because I'm really not in the mood to do the prep work for my stats tut this week, here are my answers to the "getting to know your friends" spam mail that landed in my inbox last week.

1. What time did you get up this morning: 8:05am (utter bliss, considering I'm usually up at 5:30am!)
2. Diamonds or pearls?: Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "Slumdog Millionaire"
4. What is your favourite TV show? Um... At the moment, the "X-Files" DVD's I got from Helen!
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oats
6. What is your middle name? I don't have one!
7. What food do you dislike? Brinjals
8.What is your favourite CD at the moment? The Blue Album by The Beatles
9. What kind of car do you drive? A 1996 Ford Tracer
10. Favourite sandwich? Mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil pesto
11. What characteristic do you despise? Hypocrisy
12. Favourite item of clothing? At the moment, my new dark blue jeans.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on holiday, where would you go? Italy
14. Favourite brand of clothing? Nike. I am in love with Nike Air running shoes. Pity they cost R1200!
15. Where would you retire to? Borneo, so that I can help look after the baby orangutans!

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 21st, and the tea party which accompanied it!
17. Favourite sport to watch? Cricket (or bob-sledding or figure-skating!)
18. Farthermost place you are sending this? Cape Town

What happened to number 19?
20. When is your birthday? 22 June
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning (one of the 3 on the planet!)
22. What is your shoe size? Depending on the type of shoe, anywhere between 3 and 6!
23. Pets? One kitten, and 2 dogs.
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? My Honours research proposal was approved! Woo hoo!
25. What did you want to be when you were little? A dolphin trainer (and I couldn't swim)
26. How are you today? Tired
27. What is your favourite sweet or chocolate? Lindt chocolate. Failing that, any chocolate will do!
28. What is your favourite flower? Red roses
29. What day on the calendar are you looking forward to? 17 October (the day after our research projects are handed in!)
30. What is your full name? Candice Schneider
31. What are you listening to right now? Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson
32. What was the last thing you ate? A chocolate biscuit
33. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes...
34. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Red
35. How is the weather right now? Nice and warm.
36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? No one yet!
37. Favourite soft drink? Vanilla Coke
38. Favourite restaurant? Mike's Kitchen (or any really good Italian restaurant)
39. Real hair colour? Brown

40. What was your favourite toy as a child? Probably crayons and paper!
41. Summer or winter? Summer, provided that I can swim, or winter, as long as I'm inside!
42. Hugs or kisses? Depends on who is giving them! ;)
43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate.
44. Coffee or tea? Tea
45. Do you want your friends to email you back? Only if they have some important work to avoid!
46. When was the last time you cried? About 2 weeks ago, in the midst of research proposal hand-in madness!
47. What is under your bed? A heater, and probably some dead creature that my kitten brought in.
48. What did you do last night? I went to movies with Luke and Duncan
49. What are you afraid of ? Snakes
50. Salty or sweet? Sweet
51. How many keys on your key ring? Probably about 8
52. How many years at your current job? Over a year and a half
53. Favourite day of the week? Fridays and Saturdays
54. How many towns have you lived in? One
55. Do you make friends easily? Yes

Nip/Tuck

As usual, I must apologize for the belatedness of this post. I’ve been meaning to blog for the last few weeks, but unfortunately the pace of Honours has picked up and I just haven’t had the time. My days have become whirlwinds of activity, consisting of lectures, tutorials, tutoring the second years, hunting down my supervisor, avoiding my supervisor, writing my research proposal and working at the vet.

This past week provided a bit of a break, since it was the mid-semester vacation for the undergrads and a “research break” for postgrad students. I was looking forward to getting a lot of work done – and to finalizing things with my supervisor – but it just hasn’t happened. Monday was spent shopping and collecting my passport (hurray!), Tuesday was spent at the hairdresser and organizing graduation stuff and Wednesday proved to be rather traumatic, thanks to a visit to the dermatologist (details to follow…). I don’t quite know where all the time has gone, and I’ve only got 3 days left of real “holiday”.

I really need to complete my research proposal, which has turned into a bit of a disaster area. I spent most of my time last week working on it (including 15 hours on Thursday), and still haven’t finished it. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long. I desperately need feedback from my supervisor, but she has decided to take advantage of this week’s “holiday” and looked at me as if I were crazy when I asked if I could meet with her this week! Somehow, Luke and his supervisor, Neville, have been more help with the project than she has! Due to all the chaos this week though, I haven’t really touched the proposal, but need to complete it in the next 2 days. As such, I switched on my laptop for the first time in a week today, and had a mini flashback of how horrible last week was, complete with the sensation of panic and a sinking feeling in my stomach. As such, I decided to make myself a cup of tea before continuing – and have since decided to write this post, in the hope that my heart will stop racing.

The other great trauma of the week was my visit to the dermatologist. She was recommended to me by a family friend, and I’ve been trying to get an appointment with her for 5 months. I eventually saw her on Wednesday, and she really is excellent, although a tad scary (i.e. insane). It was my first appointment with a dermatologist, and I was quite glad that I had chosen a lady dermatologist when she asked me to take off my shirt and pants. She then proceeded to examine all my moles, and photograph them, and decided that 4 of them would have to be removed, right then and there! I was a little surprised – especially since I like to mentally prepare myself for surgery – but she insisted (probably because she has a 3 month waiting list for appointments). So, while shouting at the nurse, she proceeded to inject me with local anaesthetic and to remove moles from my arm, shoulder, leg and calf, and then stitched me up. The worst part was the injection – I didn’t feel anything else – and her shouting at the nurse while she did the excisions! I don’t really like angry people brandishing scalpels near me… I now have bright blue stitches all over me, and I’m still really creeped out that all this was done while I was awake and that I didn’t feel a thing!

So, my ankle is a lot better (although still swollen), but I now have all this creepy stitches. I’m not feeling much love towards the medical fraternity at the moment! While I’m on the topic of the ankle though, I need to announce that I’ve added on 6 extra weeks to the “20 Firsts” list’s deadline, because I haven’t been able to do very much because of my ankle. This gives me the June/July break to hopefully complete the list, provided that I don’t fall down any more hills!

Okay… Enough procrastinating and avoiding! I’m off to finish the proposal – or going to at least start finishing it!