Lozzz123, Hazard Checker.

I've decided to adopt this title for myself following an embarrassing incident this past weekend. We went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Saturday, and I was able to demonstrate my hazard finding skillz by rolling (and subsequently spraining) my ankle on uneven ground. Yes, the same ankle from a few of weeks ago unfortunately. So after a few different security guards came to ask me if I was the person who sprained my ankle and if I needed first aid people to come (yes and yes), finally the first aid people actually came and I got my ankle bandaged up. Then I had to wait for safety people to come and question me, and secure the area. This also happened to be in an eating area, so a lot of people got an extra show with their lunch. 

[via]

I did manage to hobble around for the rest of the day, and even won a prize on a crossbow game (see I told you I should have grown up in medieval times!). One of the highlights for me was the Silkie Chickens. They are just so funny looking I could watch (and laugh at) them for ages. Husband said 'no' to buying one however. Rude. 

My ankle still hurts a little, but what hurts more is the chunk I took out of my hand when landing. It's pretty gross to look at, but also very fascinating to watch how the body heals itself. Here is a picture...

... just kidding.

Anyway, I got a follow up call, and for my excellent hazard detection ability (or more likely, so I don't sue anyone), I got two free tickets to the Easter Show next year. Huzzah! 

Questions for you:

Have you ever received free stuff for being accident prone? 

Any similarly embarrassing stories to share (to make me feel better)? 

I saw this and thought of you.

I didn't think I was that obsessed with zombies, or that I talk about them that much. However I must do, based on the amount of times recently that someone has sent a zombie link/photo my way saying it made them think of me. I'm choosing to take that as a compliment. Hahah. So here are some of the awesome things I've been sent. 

From blogger Little Missy Me [via]

I so wish I had a reason to place this sign somewhere! Maybe on the door of my apartment??

Not only did Cecilia point out to me this awesome article I mentioned in a previous post about an accident on the set of a zombie movie that confused/concerned paramedics thinking all the injuries were real, but she also introduced me to the trailer of the scary TV show The Walking Dead. Creepy, but cool.

I've still not actually seen the show, but writing this post reminded me to get Season One on iTunes, so that's what I'm currently downloading now!

My mentioning I hope to compete in the City to Surf in zombie attire prompted Shane to show me this awesome link of a 5k run in Pittsburgh called Run For Your Lives, which is an obstacle course with zombies chasing you. I so wish there was one of these here in Sydney! 

In a similar vein, a uni friend of mine pointed out this awesome app (called zombies run) you can use on your smart phone for when you go for a run. It takes you on missions to get supplies, or kill a group of zombies, before getting you back to headquarters for safety. I definitely plan to get this shortly to re-inspire my running plans!

Lastly, is this one sent by another uni friend. It however, disturbed me a bit. I do think the idea is cool, but really wouldn't want to have this at home!  

[via]

That is all. 

Question for you:

Do you have a 'thing' that people seem to equate with you? Does it surprise/bother/impress you?

 

New Plans or Just Dreaming?

I've started to become a bit reluctant to share (on here, but also with others in person) what I think is potentially newsworthy in my life, since I realised (eventually - it had to happen sometime) that I often come up with grand schemes that don't always go anywhere. The "we're taking a giant trip to the USA" post comes to mind. We were originally going to go this September, then it was pushed back to sometime next year, and now... well not sure if it's happening to be honest.

However at the same time, I doubt I'm going to stop coming up with big plans, especially since they're so fun to think about. Also it's my blog so I can dream on it if I want to!

I'm still hoping to finish my PhD by the end of this year. The plans/dreams concern what I would be doing next year. Originally I was hoping to get a job at a neighbouring university, and therefore stay in Sydney. However when discussing this with my supervisor, she mentioned that it is quite difficult career-wise to stay in the same place. Universities want to hire academics from different countries, or at least people with experience working in another country. I ended up speaking to Husband about this, and he was surprisingly fine with us moving overseas if I got a post-doctoral position somewhere. Post-doc jobs typically last 2 years, and then we could come back to Sydney, and I might have a better chance of securing a permanent position here with the international experience.

London (from my pinterest board 'dreaming of the UK').

Thinking about this possibility allowed my wish to live in the UK to resurface. I would find it hard to move there forever as I'd miss people here too much, but knowing I could potentially stay there for a year or two would be lovely. So now in the next few months when I have to start looking for work for next year, the UK is going to be my first choice. The hard thing though is - in my head I've already moved there and am having a wonderful time. This just makes it that much more disappointing if it doesn't actually occur. 

Plus, well I suppose I should also work on making sure I do finish my PhD first! But dreaming of my possible adventures over there is much more enjoyable right now...

30 days of movies - the lazy edition.

The reason I'm calling this the lazy edition is because basically - I'm tired. After being sick, this week has been super busy trying to catch up experiments and I've also had things on most nights. I still just haven't had a chance to catch up on sleep. Anyway, the point is I'm going to answer a couple more of the days on the movie challenge very quickly, as for these I can't really think of overly long reasons explaining why they're my answers - they just are. 

[via imdb]

Day 5 - Favourite Drama: American Beauty. For Year 12 English we had to pick a movie based on some theme I can't remember anymore, but I chose American Beauty. I thought it was an OK movie, but because I had to watch it several times and analyse the potential meaning behind it all, it really stuck with me. Especially since when you think about it, nothing extraordinary happens until the end. However I do think it's really interesting the whole way through. This is one of the few movies I'm willing to watch, even though the ending doesn't turn out exactly how I'd usually like it to go. 

[via imdb]

Day 6 - Favourite Comedy: Hot Fuzz. Generally it seems a lot of comedies that come out these days are either romantic comedies, or 'boy' comedies (i.e., crude). Hot Fuzz is neither, and I think it's just great! It was a bit gorier that I was expecting, but besides that very amusing. I also think the friendship between the two main characters is fun and sweet. Favourite quote: "Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone aargh?"

What would you pick for your favourite drama and favourite comedy?

 

 

P.S. I realise I haven't actually explained what these movies are about (and now that I think of it, I don't think I did for the earlier ones either). Is that a problem? I guess I kind of assumed people have either seen them, or have a vague idea of what they're about. 

 

P.P.S. A giant THANK YOU to all the lovely comments from my previous post about having to go to hospital - I really appreciated reading all of them. While I did mention earlier that I'm very tired, besides that I'm heaps better and really trying not to take health for granted anymore. 

Thankful.

Something I've been whinging about a lot lately is the lack of sign ups by participants to my studies. I really need to make sure I get enough so I can finish my PhD. Finally in the past two weeks I've had a reasonable amount of people sign up, however...

[via]

I unexpectedly had to stay in hospital for a few days this week (don't worry, I'm almost totally ok now), and I had to get my supervisor to email all my participants to postpone the experiments they'd signed up to. I opened my email later on to find many many emails from participants wishing to reschedule (usually they can just cancel, or if not enough notice is given, take the credit anyway) and also saying they hope I felt better soon, and they were looking forward to participating in the experiment later on. At first (besides thinking it was sweet they were wishing me well) I was a bit irritated, because now I have to reschedule many different timeslots - but then I remembered, I've been praying for more participants, and even though I was sick they still all want to come! 

Two more things I'm thankful for - nurses, and family/friends. I already thought nurses had a tough job, but having to stay in hospital for a few days really showed me just how much they do. Even though visiting hours finished, one nurse let Husband stay in the room all night, because she knew I hadn't been in hospital before and was a bit scared/overwhelmed. As I mentioned, I'm also thankful for the family members and friends that came to see me and cheered me up, and especially for Husband. He got time off work so he could just sit with me for hours. 

It's times when something bad happens, that you really get the chance to see the good in people, and I'm very thankful for that reminder.