As 2007 draws to a close...

I thought it was about time for an update, considering I haven't been here since JULY!!! What a slack arse :D

So so much has happened since then... but probably the most important and exciting and wonderful thing that has happened is that on Wednesday the 12th of December, exactly one week ago today, I found out that I was indeed accepted into Pharmacy at QUT!! Which means in 5 years time, I will be a Pharmacist, fully qualified and bursting at the seams to diagnose rashes, stick labels on bottles and talk to mothers about what they can and can't do during pregnancy/breastfeeding (just to name a few day to day tasks)!!!

This is such a massive massive achievement for me and I am SO proud of myself!! When I was at school I got an OP of 12.... Which is very very average. The OP cut off for the Bachelor of Pharmacy is a 2... Which means to even THINK about getting in I had to work my arse off and go from casual laid back chick to ultra nerd :D and I did it... while still maintaining my casual laid back outlook on life :D - there was some stress, but not near what I thought I would go through!!! And any stress I did endure was DEFIANTLY worth it for the prize I have at the end :D

So lets go back a few weeks to subjects - In second semester this year I choose Human Physiology, Human Anatomy, Cell and Molecular Biology and Chemistry Two. My reasoning for picking anatomy and physiology was in order to 'get off easily' because I did a very similar subject last semester. This was all above board and the idea paid off :)

Chemistry again was a horrible subject for me... though I found I could keep up better with it this semester as apposed to semester one... I do enjoy chemistry I just need more time to study it then the average person :) but that's ok!! Ive worked that out now and it is easy fixed!!

Ok so skipping to exams!!! I was not overly confident to be honest.... I felt there was still so much I could know that I didn't really think that I did and blah blah - even though I studied my arse off!! - My first exam was for Anatomy, which was good because I was probably the most confident about that so I got in and got it out of the way so I could focus on the next exam, which was Chemistry and which was the very next day after Anatomy...

I was shitting myself for my Chemistry exam... I was not confident at all.... It was divided into three sections, organic chem, physical chem and inorganic chem... Organic chem took the most part of the exam and I think I got most of those ones ok... but the other two, it was like a big arse guessing game!! So I walked away feeling as though I probably passed but no better then that... Which was fine, cause a pass is all that I wanted for Chem.

THEN there was Biology.. which was the day AFTER Chem.... which meant I had THREE EXAMS IN THREE DAYS and that was horrible!! Anyway, biology went really well... I felt really good about that one!! So that was nice :)

The fourth and final exam was three days after the other ones, THANK GOODNESS!! And it was for Physiology. Up until this point I hadn't done any study for physiology for the end of the semester, I assumed it would be fine having three full days just for physiology. On the first day, I was a little bit blah about the whole thing... having just done three exams in a row I didn't feel much like studying, so I just did a little bit and thought I would spend the weekend studying like a mad man... Only thing is, I woke up on Saturday morning and I couldn't walk straight, I was sooo dizzy and I felt sooo sick.... It was really horrible, I kept trying to sleep it off but I couldn't, I tried to study through it but the looking up and down just made it worse and so Saturday was a write off as well. Fortunately I was fine on Sunday and just plodded along working away at it as much as I could... And it's fair to say that went Monday came I wasn't feeling very confident :S there was so much content and I'd really only put in about 1.5 days worth of effort. BUT luckily, I got into the exam room, looked at the paper and the answers just flew out :D it was awesome!!! And the feeling I got at 11:30 when it was pens down is one of the best feelings I have had in a long long time :D


Then after exams came the excruciatingly long wait for the results to be released!!!!! That wait is horrible! Anyway, the day FINALLY came and I checked my results and I nearly died!!!

Human Anatomy - 7
Human Physiology - 7
Cell and Molec Bio - 7
Chem Two - 5

GPA = 6.125

I couldn't have asked for anything more and I was sooooooooooooo insanely over the moon!!!! It was a fantastic feeling to know that all my hard work paid off and I was one step closer to achieving the biggest goal that I have ever set myself!!!!

Now I had to wait until the 16th Jan to find out whether or not I got into Pharmacy - HOWEVER, as mentioned earlier... I found out last week - which was a big shock as I was not expecting even a hint of acceptance until January... So my year has been capped off amazingly well and I am looking to 2008 with much anticipation :D

Feb 25, 2008 - my first day of Pharmacy :)

Results Sem 1, 2007

Hey Hey Guys,

I bet your all at the edge of your seats waiting in great anticipation for my results :P haha... and even if your not, your going to sit there and read this and be proud :P Ok? Deal!

We will start with the best one :P Anatomy and Physiology... I had hoped since the first exam of the semester that I was setting myself up for some kick arse marks, but I must admit that I was blown away with HOW good the mark actually was!!

SIDE NOTE: Just incase you aren't aware, in the QUT grading system a 7 is regarded as the top mark and a 2 is regarded as a fail.

Ok so, I got a 7 in Anat and Phys... But even MORE awesome then that, is that my overall percentage (out of 100 of course) is 96%... 4% off the very very top :D I'm very extremely stoked with that... We don't get shown how well we did compared to everyone else, but I have a pretty good feeling that I've gotta be close to number 1 in the class... Which is a pretty kick arse achievement I must say :D

Then, Life Science, I got a 6 :) Which I was really happy with, I did think that maybe all I'd get was a 5... And my percentage was 80... Which was 5% off a 7.... so that's pretty awesome :D

Maths, Good ole maths. For maths I got a 5... I had hoped for a 6, but really a 5 is awesome... The kind of disappointing thing is that it was 72%... Which was only 3% off a 6... BUT hey, that's life :)

And Chemistry, well Chem was the shock of the day.... I had DEFIANTLY convinced myself that it wouldn't effect my GPA too badly if I were to fail Chem... I was so hopeful that I would get a pass... Just a pass (a 4)... But to my amazement and joy I got a 5 :D a 5 and 70%... To me that was the greatest achievement!! I was sooooooooooo happy and shocked!!

I was really really proud and still am to tell you the truth! I am super super determined to make my dream a reality and I know I can do it :D

Just while I think of it, I wanna put a shout out to all my friends and family who have been so excessively supportive of me and really really encouraging :D So many times I wanted to give up but there was always someone to turn to to put me back on the learning wagon!!

Anyway, bored yet? hehe :P Until next time... Keep smiling!! xoxo

Holidays, Holi days.... Holy Holy Days

Well, as you probably assumed... I'm on holidays :D

It only took weeks and weeks of studying and a month of exams... but FINALLY I am free... Well for the next few weeks anyway :P

My first exam was on the 13th of June... and it was for Maths... after almost an entire semester of detesting maths... and crying every time I tried to study it with no joy... It finally clicked... In about week 11 or 12... I'm not sure what happened, but it just wasn't scary anymore... It made sense and studying it wasn't a stressful tear filled experience... And much to my surprise, I actually ended up being HELPFUL to others in my class... It was really insane!! Anyway, so when the exam came around I was totally ready for it!! I haven't yet got my results back, but I feel I did quiet well... I am hoping for a 5 or 6...

The next exam was Life Science... Which I actually found REALLY hard to study, like not that the content was hard, just it was boring or something.... I just couldn't stay overly focused on it, but I still put in my best effort and again I wasn't nervous on the day of the exam... I don't think I had to guess as many multi choice questions as I thought I would, and I felt pretty good about the short answer questions... so here again I am hoping for a 5 or 6...

After that was Anatomy and Physiology... I'm feeling very confident about this subject as I have well... kicked arse in all assessment (although I haven't received my final results) I was on 55% for he entire unit even before the end of semester exam... So I will be disappointed not to get a 7 for this subject...

Finally, I had chemistry... Which I was completely unprepared for... However, I hadn't realised how far behind I actually was until a few days before the exam when I had time to study... And I looked at my notes and more then half of it didn't even seem familiar... I seriously couldn't even remember learning it and THAT was really scary!! However, I sat down, opened up my text book at Chapter One... and together with my lecture notes I worked though the text book and thoroughly covered up to about week 9... week 10-13 were a bit sketchy as I ran out of time to cover them properly... I had all but convinced myself and my parents that IF I failed Chem it wouldn't be the end of the world and I would make up for it next time!! For this exam, I was nervous... On the train on the way in I had to keep reminding myself to breath :P and I had lots of butterflies in my stomach, but by the time I got to uni Id convinced myself that there was nothing else I can do whatever happens happens... During perusal time... I was too scared to open the booklet... Its funny, normally I'm really keen to get into it and see what the questions are and I do it without hesitation, but with this one... I wanted to open it, but it was like my hands wouldn't do it!! Eventually they did however, and any doubt cleared... I seemed to know a lot more questions then I thought I did.... It was out of 60, and I worked out that I guessed around 20 of them... which is a pretty high rate to guess, but I was expecting to have to guess a lot more! So its fair to say I will be more then stoked with a 4 for chemistry :)

After my semester of uni I am more keen then ever to kick more arse and get even better results next semester! I am REALLY REALLY enjoying my life at the moment and I am really proud of what I am working to do! I really feel like I am on the right track and I am very confident that I will get the GPA I need to transfer into Pharmacy.

But anyway, for now I am relishing in my holidays and trying to work as much as possible to replenish all the spending I did in celebration of finishing my exams :P

My results come out on Monday 9th July, So you'll DEFIANTLY be hearing from me!!

I thought it was time for an update...

Hi Hi,

Well... How time flies, my previous blog was before I even started school... and now it's the Easter break already!! I have until the 17th of April off... But unfortunately it wont be much of a holiday... I will be using the next few days to catch up on all of my subjects! I have an exam first day back for Anatomy and Physiology so that is number one priority but I also have a maths assignment and I have to refresh Chemistry... I had a chem exam ummmm a few weeks ago and I got only 24 out of 45... Which is a pass, but it is defiantly NOT the kind of result I am looking for :( But thankfully, it was only worth 15% and so HOPEFULLY I can make up for it at during the end of semester exams...

I have been freaking out a little bit... worried about what would happen if I didn't happen to get the GPA I need to get into Pharmacy... But all I can do is study as much as I can and try my hardest... If it doesn't happen... Then my life is destined for other things :) But I really have to stop thinking so much... about everything really... Its not healthy :)

In more positive news... I am still loving work so much! And I am travelling up the Sunny Coast every Saturday and back... But it's really no big deal... I think if I didn't love the job and the people so much I wouldn't bother, but it's just such a happy, friendly place... both staff and customers that it's worth the 3 hours of driving :) I must admit though that I have lost touch a little bit with my friends up the coast, but that was to be expected... I still love them and I'm sure they know that :D

Also, I am getting some puppies soon :D:D hopefully within the next month or two!! Dad has said since I moved in and before that we will be getting a dog... or two, but now it's finally starting to come together. We will be going to a breeder and getting 2 Maltese Shitzus... Hopefully they have a black and a white one :) That would be sweet... But yeah we have to get two so that they have a friend to play with!! So that will be really awesome... I will defiantly post pickies as soon as I have them :)

But yeah in general uni is going well... I am enjoying it, but it is hard to get motivated! However, I can do it :) I will stay positive and great things will happen :)

DREAM, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE xxooxx

2007, The Journey, The Challenge, The Prize

Well, 2007 is looking to be a year of new beginnings for me... And I am really excited about and open to all events!

On Friday, 16th Feb, I took what was the first of MANY millions of public transport trips into the city to check out my new school (Queensland University of Technology). I am inexperienced in public transport, having only caught the train into the city a handful of times and having not caught a bus since getting my license back in 2001, and so I took my journey into the city with my trusted friend, and new public transport wizz, Brendan.

I arrived at his house at around 9:45, was meant to be there at 10 :) but I was bored at home and keen to get on our way... We took the 10:17 train from Wellington Point station and made our way to South Bank.

Brendan is studying at UQ, which is at St Lucia, so before we went to QUT we had to go and check out UQ. From South Bank we were able to take a bus, which links directly to UQ... and much to my surprise and amazement I learnt that our train ticket which we purchased that morning for $3.90 (yay for student cards) also works on the bus... I had to double and triple check with Brendan that this was correct and he assured me it was. And it worked... That one ticket at the one low price of $3.90 would take me ANYWHERE I wanted to go on that one day from my side of town to the other side of town... I think that is just fantastic!!!

Anyway, so we got to UQ... and had to walk up this massive hill... but at the top of the hill was an amazing sight... The University of Queensland, it is a beautiful place. Classic old buildings, swanky sushi bars, child minding facilities and even its own little pharmacy! I must admit that I was a little jealous... Especially after spending some time/money in the campus lollie shop!! We had a little bit to eat and then went to find out where Bren had to go for orientation. Once we found all that out we were on our way back to South Bank and off to QUT.

The walk from South Bank across the Goodwill bridge over to QUT takes around about 10-15 minutes... depends whether you are on a mission or out for a stroll... and its a nice walk across the river, city views on one side and south bank views on the other. As we arrived at QUT the difference was clear, UQ is VERY posh... :) and VERY well funded! But... I am still in love with QUT. It is smaller, and older looking with less swishy facilities... But it serves its purpose, it has a sweet as little pub/bar ANNNND it has Subway! What more could you want... beer and a sweet onion terryaki sub!!! Bring it on... My favourite part about the uni thus far (only having spent around 20 mins there) would have to be the second hand book shop! What a fantastic idea... You take your used books in, they price them at a set price, put them on the shelf and when they sell, you make some money and so do they. It is a simple and easy way to buy a sell used books and the Student Guild also makes a profit! Brilliant!! I got two of the 3 text books I need and saved around $100 bucks!!

Once we were done buying text books and strolling around we decided to check out the shops in the city... The walk from uni to the city is probably about 10-15 mins again... Unfortunately by the time we made it out of QUT it was lunch time and there were suits EVERYWHERE!! We dawdled around the shops for a bit and looked at some things, Brendo bought some pants... But really the books were very heavy... So we decided to make another date for shopping at Carindale and call it quits for the day.

All in all it was a very exciting day :) and I am really really looking forward to doing uni!!! I have sussed out some different ways to get there, and am thinking of taking the bus instead of the train... But ill trail out a few different options and see what works :)

Tomorrow is my orientation for the Science faculty and then I start classes on Feb 27th... Which also happens to be my 23rd birthday :( Which kinda sucks... but these things happen!!

The Journey = Trying something new
The Challenge = Studying and studying well
The Prize = 'Congratulations on your acceptance into Bachelor of Pharmacy at QUT'

I am ready for this new chapter in my life and I so cant wait for that day in Jan 08 when I receive that notification in the mail.... My goal and dream is totally achievable... I just have to keep focused!!

DREAM, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE

WAHOO... GOAL ATTAINED :D:D

As you all should know by now... I am an avid Texas Hold'em Poker player in the APL... and I have been playing since July last year (2006)... Over that time I have slowly but progressively been getting better with a few top 16 finishes and even a few final tables with 2nds and a 3rd at various stages... but on Wednesday night... at The Grinning Dog Steak House at approximately 10:40pm... I WON MY FIRST EVER GAME OF TEXAS HOLD'EM... :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D I took out a tournament... beating 84 other very talented players and I was soooooooooooooooooo happy that I nearly cried!!!

I don't really remember most of the cards I had that night... But I can tell you that I wasn't going overly strongly until we chipped up to 'sunshine' (thousand dollar chips) I think I had about 5 of them and managed to make those 5 look like 35 when I took my place as the chip leader at the final table!! The second tallest stack was 34 thousand and he and I battled it out as if the other 6 players weren't even there... We were swapping the chip lead back and forth... at one stage when there was only 3 of us left, I made a desperate plea for chips (as I had somehow managed to become short stack) I was big blind and I knew 'Mr Across The Table' was gonna call me no matter what, because he had been the whole time... So I looked down at my little 10 5 off suit and decided to go all in before the flop... and YES he called me... nothing much happened on the flop and I stood up ready to walk away as the turn card didn't look to do me any justice anyway... but that river card... that beautiful wonderful marvelous river card (note - I don't always talk about it so affectionately - it can make or break you) set me up for a straight... which I didn't see and thank goodness little Lukey was paying attention cause I was outta there :P So anyway, good ole 10 5 off suit gives me a straight and a nice little stack of chips... leaving me and my rival fairly even once more... So then I let my rival and 3rd place fight it out over the next few hands... and then it was heads up...

Heads up went for awhile... I don't remember much of it... I was clinging to Drew for dear life and shaking like there was no tomorrow... the adrenaline was going wild, it was a pretty awesome feeling actually!! The one hand I do remember however was when I looked down at 10 5 off suit again... I don't remember which blind I was but I thought MEH... worked last time... So again I was all in pre flop and he called me... I managed to pick up a pair of 5's but they were better then his nothing... This hand was EXTREMELY significant as it left him with ONE chip!!! One chip against my however many hundreds of chips :D hehe But still I was shaking and not convinced I had won... The next few hands just got dealt face up and he actually won a few... but eventually I got dealt pocket 6's and that was enough... That had me holding in my hot little hand my very first beautiful little solid silver ace card protector!! I seriously had to stop myself from crying... I was sooooo sooooo happy... it was such a special moment for me and I'm so glad that I have finally done it :D:D:D

I kinda felt bad for the other guy cause that 2nd is his FOURTH second... and he has never won... But he doesn't really know how to work a final table... not that I do I guess... but I think he would benefit from reading a few tips on how the game changes when its final table and then again when its heads up... but he will get there... he is a quality player :)

w0000000000000000000000000000000000 :D:D So STOKED

I feel kinda like shit...

I just wanted to write cause I need to get some things off my chest...

I just had an msn fight with a friend of mine about another friend of mine when really it wasnt my place to get involved. I feel really terrible for restirring up the whole situation and I dont know what to do to fix it. I am a little mad at the person who I had the fight with, just because of how they are handling the situation... but all in all I just hate fighting and when I tried to apologise I was just ignored... I just feel sick and wanna cry.

I hate upsetting people and I hate when my friends dont get along... I just want everyone to be happy all of the time... I cant handle it when theres shit going on :( especially when I cant do anything about it...

Anyway, this posting isnt really helping me to feel any better... so I hope the person who is mad at me can get over it soon and all this shit can blow over... cause in my opinion everything has been taken completely out of hand...

I think it sucks and im really over it... Its upsetting EVERYONE and its so not worth it.... BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

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