Going back

My 2 week mid-year break is over, and Melbourne is the last place I want to be. I feel like this must be how dumbledore felt as Harry forced the potion down his throat. This must be done, but just at what cost.

Exam prep

Heading up to exams next week -- WOOHOO! Wait a minute, I'm not excited about that...take that woohoo back!

I have two exams next week, and one of them I'm either going to ace or miserably fail utterly and wholeheartedly. That is, of course, the main FBS (foundations of biomedical science) test. Basically, it's all of gastro and renal block, plus all the labs from the whole semester. That's all the immunology labs, all the cardio labs, all the resp labs, all the gastro labs, all the renal labs, all the anatomy labs, all the microbiology labs, and there's one other set of labs that I've forgotten too. Oh, histology. Oh and the pathology labs for all those organ systems too. Sooo...since I'm really only just starting revising the lectures for gastro and renal, what do you think my chances are?

Well, that's actually an interesting question. See, everyone right now is stressing out about anatomy. BUT, I've already done heaps of anatomy! So if anatomy forms a large amount of the test, then I'll almost be able to wing the rest of it...don't you just hate it when you get to the point where you're thinking about how to minimise the amount of work you have to do simply because you're in a position where you can't possibly hope to do it all. Ahhh well.

After next week I'm heading back home for our two week mid-semester break (yeah we only get a 2 week break), and after that we have neuroscience which is universally stated as being the absolute hardest block of the whole year. It's six weeks long!! So I'm hoping to bring some of my pathology books home and study up some neuroscience over my break so that it doesn't hit me too hard .Knowing me though, I'll be posting here probably at the end of the first week of neuro that I wish I'd actually done that study over the break.

We talked to a vascular surgeon trainee yesterday, and he said that while he's training now to be a surgeon he actually knows that there aren't any jobs available for him. And that kicked off a massive discussion about our job prospects in medicine...basically, they suck. And the prevailing opinion is that some day technology will basically replace doctors. If not doctors, then certainly surgeons. For example, cardiothoracic surgeons -- drugs to treat heart conditions are getting pretty darn good now, and lots of people are saying that they're heading the way of the dodo. Hopefully neurosurg doesn't become obsolete for, hmm, at least 60 years :P

Anyway so that's me for the moment. This weekend's going to be a mad struggle to get enough sleep and cram a whole pile of stuff into my memory circuits (yes robotic overlords of the future, I am a robot and you should keep me alive). And when I say a whole pile I mean it: I exported my onenote notebook to word so I could see the wordcount. Here it is:

Like...what. Halfway through the year, people, and I'm almost up to 100000 words. Imagine being told to write 100000 words. I would laugh in your face and then do a little poo in my pants when I realised you're serious. Thank god I moved to dvorak, or I bet I would have been veeery familiar with the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome. Actually come to think of it...damn, knowing those effects would have been handy for this test (get it, handy. My mum thinks I'm funny ok).

Wish me luck!

Circle

Anticipation

Why hello!


It's been quite a while since my last post. I blame that on several things -- an amazing road trip with some amazing people, spending time with family after study has taken away all the rest of my time this year, and I've just generally been catching up on a bit of life. Enjoying the calm before the impending storm!

The 19th of January. The date creeps ever closer...I think that it's a long way off and I let it drift from my mind, which grants me some reprieve but then the next time I think about it it's taken great leaps forward. At the moment it's both my best friend and my worst enemy. I can't wait for it to come, but if I could stop time I would. I have so much more anchoring me here now than I did however many months ago when I filled out my preferences for medicine schools...it seems like everyone has waited until the very last second to tell me what I mean to them.

At the same time that I'm enjoying being here probably too much, things over in Melbourne are already coming together pretty well. Thanks to the wonder of social networking a bunch of us from the course are already mates despite the fact we come from all corners of the world. We've already organised to meet up on the 20th of jan to study some of the material we need to know before starting the course -- that's something that really shouldn't excite me as much as it does. The medicine camp is on from the 1st to the 3rd of February and it promises to be a weekend of fun games and drinking, and a fantastic opportunity to meet the people who will be my colleagues in the future. The only problem with that is that there's only 150 spots on the camp...versus the 300+ people in the course. But the college accommodation is organised and the deposit is paid, so as long as I actually get my final offer for medicine I have accommodation sorted!

On an aside, I've been thinking a lot recently about whether this really is the best path for me to take. Not because I am afraid of the workload or afraid of leaving home, but because I'm concerned about whether or not I will actually be able to get a job at the end of it. There may be a shortage of doctors in Australia but there is by no means a shortage of medical school graduates. I was talking to my best friend's parents about this today -- there is an over-abundance of medical school graduates but a vast undersupply of speciality training places to make them into actual doctors. In Queensland it's gotten to the point where there are 300-400 graduates without anywhere to go to be employed. It's shocking. I'm also struggling with my materialism...I yearn for the simple life, but if I can't have that then I want the most extravagantly expensive and stylish life possible. Hmm.


Anyway, back to living life for the next 25 odd days. And then POOF it's gone in a flurry of stethoscopes, late nights with pathology books, and incredible opportunities and people =)

By the way, I am out of my mind with excitement for ARMA III. And GTA V. They will be responsible for me failing med school ;)


Circle

It's Snowing...

...snowing assignments.

In the free time that I've had in the past few weeks I've watched a program that I've taped called 'Living With the Amish', and it has been truly eye opening. There is a teenager on the progrom from England that I have felt I can partially relate to -- he is heavily educated at Eton and has enormous pressure on him to succeed, which is more my scenario than the others, who seem to have been chosen simply because they don't represent the best of English youth -- so it has been great to see them from his eyes as well.

Basically, the Amish for the most part live as though technology doesn't exist. They hand make all of their clothes, they work the farm by hand (not a hard and fast rule, but some of them do), and they drive around in horses and carts. They do use dollars, but I presume they don't need to apply complex economics to anything. And while on the face of it you might reel in horror at the thought of living without say, electricity, these people are the happiest group of people that I have ever seen. It may be that I have a hidden side where I actually love getting in the dirt and working a hard day, but it has made me think on numerous occasions that living with the Amish actually wouldn't be so bad.

It has been interesting to watch something like Living With the Amish at a time when my university workload has been dialled up to maximum. I yearn for that simple life, where you can take things on face value and the amount of money you bring home depends on how hard you work, not on the relative demand for your work (these things are intrinsically linked, but in reality they are far apart sometimes). I yearn for the simple life, but I'm propelling myself into certainly not an easy profession to either get into or stay in. In the name of passion? Passion may yet prove to be the most dangerous fuel.

Sad Days

Comets struck the earth at the slightest flick of his fingers, columns of lightning blasted even the great dragons of old from the sky. He had travelled to realms that the mortal dare not, and returned a hero in both lands. He owned property all across the realm, but his home in Whiterun set on end the hair of all who passed it -- it was said that many dark, dangerous and ancient artifacts were kept there, guarded by a warrior princess so awe inspiring that even the hero of this tale trusted her. His services were sought after by all for it was said that no task was too great, nor any risk too far for this God amongst peasants -- but woe forbid you slight him, for tales are told of great vengeances that have befallen such ignorant, hapless fools.

Unassailable, unstoppable, immortal, unbeatable in combat, wearing ancient and dangerous armour, commanding all the powers of nature, this hero was truly the greatest legend of our times. He was the Dovahkiin.

And thinking I was cleaning up how many saves I have, I just deleted all of the saves I have.




Dat feel... I'm rather pissed off.

Aurora 4x vs. Exams

Hello!

My attitude when it comes to preparing for exams is second to none. Every exam period without fail I've found some interesting thing to absorb 90% of my time. Last semester it was a fantastic game called Dwarf Fortress (one of the best games of the century, if you ask me) -- this time it's another great game called Aurora 4x.

You may have heard of the 4X genre -- eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. Basically, it's probably closest to the hardcore gamer's holy grail, that is a game in which you can do whatever you want. The holy grail of the 4X genre is a game in which you can not only walk across the surface of planets a la skyrim or GTA (where the whole surface is interactable, etc), but then you can take off in a ship that you designed and visit any of the stars that you can see. Even just typing that sends a shiver down my spine thinking of how fantastic that would be! These games just capture my imagination, which is exactly what my procrastinating mind is after. (Hopefully, it's that sort of game that Minecraft creator Notch is working on: 0x10c)

So, Aurora 4X. What is it? In four words, it's a space game. It's poor in graphics, so don't look it up to replace your X3's or Endless Space. By poor, I mean that even the biggest most elaborate ship is represented by a dot on the screen. You'll spend most of the game looking at buttons and spreadsheets. But beneath those non-existent graphics lies a game that almost fully simulates what it would actually be like to control a space faring empire (or pax utopia, or stalin communist nation, or benevolent dictatorship, etc etc). 

Terraforming is a much vaunted feature of Aurora, but the depth is everywhere. Want to kick some alien butt? You'll need to make some ships for that. Want to build a ship? Better get your scientists and research labs all set up, because you're going to buckle down for several years of research. Lets kit your ship up with some lasers. They're good because they tunnel straight down through armour, gouging deep holes that can maybe penetrate to the ship components underneath. So, a couple of technologies are needed straight up. What focal size are we going to be talking about? They range from 10cm all the way to 70 cm. 70 cm lasers are going to do massive damage and have long range, but then they're going to be massive, and weight of your ship is something you need to consider. Also, it'll take you approximately 793863948634 years for your scientists to progress their research to the point of giving your a 70 cm laser. Lasers lose power as they travel through space too -- the longer their wavelength, the worse it is. You can leave your laser as a near infrared laser, or you can invest many years to research better ones. You can take it all the way to far gamma lasers, but again that'll take you 9379343893 years. Lasers require power, so you need to research power plant technologies. For lasers and power plants there are various efficiencies that you can research as well. So, lets say after 100 years of research you have a fantastic bad ass laser that you whack on your ships and send them out to show them aliens who's boss. You've forgotten one thing -- your ship, and your weapons, need to be able to see the enemy! That's where sensors come in. Active sensors allow your ship to see the enemy, and have about 4 technologies to research to high levels. Fire controls are sensors that give you weapon locks, and again have various technologies to research and balance. Seem tedious? Not a chance -- this is what gives you ultimate control over every aspect of your ship designs. It means that when you engage with the enemy -- typically something that happens at several million kilometres -- all the stuff that you've spent years researching finally comes together in a concert of machinery, to ace that size 40 missile coming at you at 10,000 km/s from 3,000,000 kms away.

There's so much more to it, but I'm afraid this post is already long enough. In short, there's planetary constructions, diplomacy, surveying, colonisation, ground unit combat, espionage, officer management, black holes, nebulae...if you think a 4X game needs it, it's probably there in one form or another. This isn't a space game: this is the space game. It's just a shame about the graphics, because I think that's all that holds it back from being the ultimate game out.

Aurora 4X is a game of tedium married with vicious, unbelievably exciting moments. It's exactly what this brain needs, when I'm trying to do anything but study for my exams.

Aurora 4X: 5 stars.

Leave a comment below if you've played Aurora before, and let me know how it went for ya!

Cheers,

Circle

PS if you get stuck on the interface, as most do (myself included) then check out this video as it's enough to get you started.

PPS per the title of this post, aurora is currently beating exams hands down unfortunately!