Category Archives: Journal

The end of an era

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Despite it apparently having been public knowledge for some months now I only came to find out today that MSN Messenger (which became Windows Live Messenger) is being discontinued today. If I had been more aware from the first announcement last November I may have had enough time to mentally prepare for this, but right now I am in a bit of shock from the sudden nature of the news. I became aware of it when I saw this image posted on facebook from Ruslan Kogan:

I was originally just going to post an “RIP MSN” status on facebook but given what a central aspect it was of my teenage years I think it deserves a proper obituary.

I first started using MSN around 2001 to communicate with a friend of mine, Ali, and I was so in awe of the technology the first time I used it I ended up staying up into the early hours of the morning exploring its features, like the games it used to have, and the different emoticons. As time went on I added more friends from school and occasionally used it as a means to setting up games of Age of Empires II or in some cases Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds.

Later on when I was in MHS I lost many nights in high school playing minesweeper and also being engaged in semi-heated conversations with my peers about the issues of the day, none of which I can remember at this point. When MSN added the handwrite feature it became a useful tool for getting and giving out help in maths. MSN was also the first platform I used to spread my blog by pasting the URL into the by-line of the status (can’t remember what it was called).

So given all these fond memories how did I come to abandon it? There were a number of factors in play.

The first thing was probably my adoption of Gmail some time in late 2005. I liked the interface better than what hotmail had to offer, and it had significantly less spam. However I still continued to use MSN as my main IM client since it was more fully featured than google talk.

The next two things sort of happened simultaneously to me. The first was adopting Ubuntu in 2007. Microsoft hadn’t put out a client for linux so I was left using third party clients like Pidgin, and while it did a good job handling the basics it couldn’t handle things like nudges and drawings, the latter of which was important as I was in an engineering course.

The other thing that happened was the rise of Facebook. At that point facebook’s message system was more akin to email than IM, but by around 2008 people seemed to be using it as the primary means to contact each other and when they introduced Facebook chat that year is was pretty much a hard blow on MSN, if not the death-blow itself.

Personally I was still using MSN well into 2010, and when meeting new people I would still exchange usernames. But somehow I dropped this habit towards the end of that year and facebook became my primary means of social networking.

Another factor that made facebook more attractive than MSN was the fact that conctacts’ MSN accounts were becoming infested with bots posing. I last logged into it sometime last year and it was quite sad being greeted by handles that belonged to my friends, but which were using obvious bot-speak and attempting to make me visit suspicious websites. It allowed me to more strongly relate to the living characters in zombie movies who see their friends’ bodies being replaced by mindless entities. Mindless entities which can no longer engage me in a game of minesweeper or tic-tac-toe, and which can no longer appreciate my witty status updates.

From the archives, here is a post I made when MSN first introduced the “Appear offline” feature

WACH camp – Tiona NSW

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On Monday the 5th of November we departed for WACH (Women and Children’s Health) camp. I had some issues packing because were were being sent in a minibus and I only had two bags which I could choose to back my things. One was a large Samsonite suitcase which would be too large for the minibus, the other was an 85L backpack which had my post-apocalyptic survival supplies. I initially packed everything into the suitcase because I did not want to have to unpack and repack my survival bag, but after seeing how ridiculously big it was compared to everyone else’s I decided that maybe the backpack was best.

There were 4 of us waiting to be picked up from Taree; two of us had already gone in a car with the staff.

The bus got about an hour late due to the Tamworth crew having taken a stop in Gloucester. Once it did arrive I was glad I made the decision to switch cases as there was no way the Samsonite would have fit on the mini-bus.

I also brought my fishing rod, as one of our educators had said it would be an appropriate thing to bring for the location.

The bus trip was fairly uneventful. I had to sit in the front passenger seat, which made me feel a little important, but it meant I would not be able to socialise as easily with my peers or the Tamworth crew.

We got there (Sundowner Tourist Park) and were given our keys. Most of us were 4-to-a-cabin in 2 bedroom cabins, but I was just with Dean so we got a room each.

The University had left a lot of smallgoods for us, things like Muesli bars, tea, and also a lot of alcohol, though my share seemed to have been replaced with various types of Coca-Cola.

I accompanied the rest of the Taree crew as they took an exploratory walk, first to the beach and then along the lakeside. There were some small fish visible in the lake, and it was very shallow, perhaps less than 40cm for around the first 10-20m from the shore.

Walking by the edge of Wallis lake

We didn’t have any classes scheduled that day, but we were given dinner, and it was very good. I don’t mean to sound racist but after living in college for two years I developed a very low opinion of the food that white people eat, but this meal alone was enough to redeem all that; and I only had the vegetarian items. The food was provided by a local caterer.

We didn’t do much else that night.

Day 2

I woke up at about 0515 to pray Fajr. Afterwards I went out to the beach. If you look up Tiona on Google maps you will see that there is a lake on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the right, separated by around 200m.

The Sun was rising around this time but there was a cloud on the horizon so I couldn’t quite see it, but here are some pictures.

The sun pokes above the horizon

I took a few other photos and walked towards a rocky outcrop on the south side of the beach. As I approached the rocks I noticed an eagle take off, but with the Sun to my east I would not have been able to see nor get a good exposure of it.

I looked around the rocks and pools to find any signs of advanced life but there were only some barnacle-like creatures which did not display any notion of sentience.

I started heading back to the direction of my motel when I noticed the eagle (or possibly some other bird of prey) flying towards me. I took out my camera, switched lenses and got ready to take the shot. In reality I took many shots, but here is one that is probably most suitable for upload.

A bird of prey of some sort

I also noticed an old man in a red shirt waiting by the walkway that lead into the beach, but I didn’t pay him much notice, but as I walked back I realised he was one of my lecturers. I avoided him, and it was awkward.

We had some lectures that morning beginning at around 0845. They kept the lectures to about 30 minutes each which I thought was good, I wish the university adopted that policy for all their lectures.

We had morning tea at 11 for which were given muffins and slices of various melons. As I was enjoying my muffin I noticed what looked like the carapace of an isopod. I showed it to a friend who declared it to be a cockroach. Word rapidly spread throughout the students that a muffin had been found with a “cockroach” in it. I didn’t bother to correct them, but most of them didn’t touch the muffins after that.

An isopod in a muffin.

After that day of lectures we had some practical worshops on things like managing acute asthma and delivering a normal birth.

After the workshops most people went for the surfing lessons. I hung back.

I went to the beach and took some photographs of this raptor.

An eagle gliding with the wind along the beach

There was also a white-bellied sea eagle

White bellied sea eagle

After that I headed back to the resort

The night before we had been socialising with the Tamworth crew. They had given word that there were goannas about the place, so I had been checking the trees and other suitable basking spots to see if I could find any, but with no luck.

As I walked back into the resort site I heard a snap from a tree and went to check it. There was a lace monitor climbing it, about 1.5m long including tail.

Lace monitor in the tree

I followed it around for a while but eventually it tired of my company and retreated into the dense foliage.

Lace monitor prowling back to the dense vegetation.

Day 3
The next day we had more lectures and workshops and things, covering things like shoulder dystocia, breech presentation and managing acute seizures. When the others went for their surfing classes I walked around the resort a bit, and saw this Kookaburra.

A kookaburra

One of the workers at the site saw me photographing it and told me there were three “dragons” around the corner. I asked him if he meant bearded dragons, and he said “No, big ones.” I understood he meant goannas, so I went to have a look. Sure enough, there were three lace monitors basking next to a clothesline.

Lace monitor basking

A lace monitor

After taking those pictures I decided to try go swimming in the beach. I entered the water alone, but it was quite rough, and there was a steep change in gradient a few metres in, so I decided to exit the water and head for the resort pool instead. While swimming in the pool I noticed a magpie feasting off some of the leftovers from our afternoon tea, so I got out of the water and ate as much of it as I could out of spite.

We were taken to the Pacific Palms bowling club that night. I had salt-and-pepper squid as an entree and Thai garlic prawns with rice for the main. UDRH (University department of rural health) paid for everything, as they had for everything else in the camp.

Day 4

The next day we still had some class but no workshops. After lunch we packed up and headed off.

All in all it was a pretty useful camp, probably more useful for the OSCEs than the MCQs. I’m not sure if it was a net gain in terms of knowledge compared to 3 days of self-study, as it is pretty close to exams, but a lot of the practical things we learned were quite useful. Even if those situations aren’t in our exams the experience gained would still be good for knowing how to manage obstetric emergencies, especially in a post-apocalyptic environment (though I question the wisdom of bringing a child into such a world).

Raids, protests, riots

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I’m not going to offer much analysis below, it is just an account of what has been going on for archival purposes.

Recently there have been a number of protests and riots going on; there was a 500-strong mob of rowdy youth in Piara Waters, Perth, who went on what can be assumed to be a drunken rampage, causing the involvement of Police and Ambulance who were then attacked by those revellers. There have been strong demonstrations in China against the acquisition of what they see as the Diaoyu Islands by the Japanese government. They have been shouting anti-Japanese slogans and attacking symbols of Japan like department stores and vehicles. You can see some of the effects on this gallery.

There have also been the worldwide protests against a trailer with a negative portrayal of our Prophet (s). Some of these have been peaceful, and some have been violent. Some have been allegedly used as a smokescreen to launch pre-planned attacks, as is claimed to be the case in the killing of the American ambassador in Benghazi.

There was a protest in Sydney which has caused some negative feeling towards the Muslim community for two main reasons;

  • Offensive signs and slogans, eg  “Obama Obama we love Osama” and “Behead all those who insult the Prophet” (s). Whoever made that sign did not include the salawat, which could itself be considered a form of disrespect.
  • Allegations of physical violence by the protesters

There have been various reactions from different parties

  • Politicians have used it to attack multiculturalism, with Barry O’Farrel calling it “the unacceptable face of multiculturalism.”
  • Some people have sought to explain the protestor violence in terms of Muslims being disaffected with the West’s killing and abuse of their brethren in other countries. I think that can excuse the protesting but not really some of the signs and slogans.
  • Most mainstream Muslim leaders have condemned the signs and protests, even calling a press conference for that purpose and to announce that they would implement better governance over the community. Non-leader Muslims have expressed disappointment that the first time the Muslim leaders have called a press conference is to condemn their fellow Muslims, rather than the multiple transgressions against certain Muslim people committed by this government and its allies

Personally I think it would have been good if Muslim leaders waited for those involved in the protest to explain themselves without jumping into it based on a one-sided narrative. I also think it would have been a good idea for the protestors to have informed police beforehand of their intention to protest. Here is an SBS clip that seems to suggest Police involvement in catalysing some of the violence;

Having said that, I have to say that some of the Muslims I have met in Sydney (and a few in Melbourne) do concern me. Not because they are extremists or anything, but because of their basic lack of Islamic etiquette and the ramifications this will have for da’wah. Some of them have said they spent their youth with what they call gangs, so I suppose that has had some effect in shaping their concepts of pride and honour. I also see Muslim kids on the internet espousing the superiority of Islam as a religion and way of life while also using foul language, backbiting, and exhibiting other such un-Islamic behaviours like petty insults. I have also heard some of these Muslims say things about not seeming “weak” and that if you don’t show your strength people will walk all over you. I disagree with those notions, the Prophet (s) himself has said that the stronger man is not the one who is good at wrestling, but the one who can control his anger. I believe these people are bringing in foreign (non-Islamic) ideas about pride and honour into their religious semi-practice.

A lot of Muslims also have this idea that all or most of Western society hate us and want us gone, which is itself a form of prejudice. I interact regularly with members of Australia’s shooting fraternity, which probably has the highest prevalence of xenophobia compared to any other group here, and I am pleased to report that whatever they think of Muslims they are generally peaceable and friendly when I talk to them about guns, just like how most Muslims (I hope) are friendly when dealing with the kuffar despite their rejection of Allah and his Messenger (s). Having lived among rural Australians for a few years now, I think it would be good if other Muslims got to know them before assuming that they hate us to the point of letting that affect our interactions. My Melbourne friends have often made derogatory remarks about people of Armidale or Taree being backward “bogans”, so I think we need to look at our own prejudices before expecting everyone to accept us.

Back to the issue at hand; politicians have used the beheading sign to talk about the failures of multiculturalism, as if to say that beheading people is against Australian values. Spokespeople from Hizb-ut-Tahrir have pointed out that Australia supports its allies who kill and maim civilians in places like Pakistan, some of whom will end up with decapitated corpses

 

I also reject the idea that calling for violence is below mainstream Australian society. I have seen on various Australian internet forums calls for boat people to be left to drown, calls for Arabs to be shot, calls for certain annoying female public figures to be raped to set them right. It’s a bit rich to suggest that if it weren’t for multiculturalism we wouldn’t have these people in society.

Here is a panel conducted on Today Tonight involving a couple of Muslim figures as well as Joe Hildebrand for some reason. I found it very awkward when Rebecca Kay assumed he was Jewish, but otherwise it was alright for Today Tonight

My final point on this issue will be to show you this image

 

 

 

 

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About a week before there was an unrelated raid on homes of members of the Al-Furqan centre in Noble Park, a Salafi centre in Springvale South which was allegedly under surveillance, but was then raided when the AFP informant was discovered. The media made a big deal of pointing out that guns were seized. These were registered guns and so already known to police, and to me it seems atypical conduct for people intent on committing a terrorist act. Leaders at the centre also publicised in their speeches the fact that they were under surveillance, and if you take a look at their website they have put up links to articles about the affair; not the behaviour of a group which is trying to hide a plot.

The centre has expressed its disappointment in mainstream Muslim leaders not condemning the actions of the AFP, and has released a number of statements as part of their press-release;

  1. No  firearms,  ammunition,  explosives,  or  weapons  of  any  sort  were  discovered  in  the  Al Furqan centre  
  2. The  firearms  located  in  a  community  member’s  home  were  legitimately registered  and entirely legal
  3. Al  Furqan  does  not  run  ‘terrorist  training  camps’.  The  photos  used  by  the  media  to  make such claims are from annual camping trips or paintball skirmish outings. These events were organised by Al Furqan and other Muslim organisations, and the images shared on Facebook
  4. ‘Sheikh  Harun’  has  never  referred  to  himself  as  a  sheikh,  and  neither  has  Al Furqan promoted him as such
  5. Al  Furqan  Islamic  Centre  has  never  propagated  violence  against  the  Australian public  or called on people to carry out terrorist attacks
  6. As  there  was  no  evidence  of  any  unregistered  firearms,  chemicals  or bomb‐making materials, we find it detestable and questionable that many media outlets have seen fit to link bomb‐making procedures to discussions of Al –Furqan. This also has significant potential to  prejudice  any  future  trials,  as  well  as  further  entrenching  stereotypes  of  Muslims  as violent terrorists

 

 

Customer service gripes (#muslimrage?)

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Many weeks ago my housemate narrated to me that just like there are generations of families who live off welfare benefits without doing any real work, there are also generations of families who work for the public sector and make use of benefits like flexi-time, while doing the least amount of real work possible.

Over the last month or so I had applied to upgrade my Victorian basic Wildlife licence to an Advanced licence, and also to get an import permit for a schedule 4 reptile. Schedule 4 reptiles require an advanced licence, so I called up to make sure I could send the upgrade form and the import request at the same time. This way I would not have to wait to send them sequentially. About a week or so later I got a call from a man at the DSE who told me that my payment had been $47.50 short due to a peculiarity of the upgrade form and the time at which I had applied for my initial basic licence. He told me that a “recovery notice” detailing the shortfall had been sent to my address, and that once I receive it I should send it back with the extra payment. I asked if he could email me the notice so I could receive it quicker, or if I could pay it online, but he said the best he could do was fax it to me. I didn’t have a fax machine so I had to wait for the mail. He gave me his number and he said that once paid, if I did not hear about the licence in about 2 weeks to contact him to see what was going on.

A few days later I had not received the notice, so I called up the DSE and asked if it would be possible for them to fax it to me. The lady on the other end said no, that would not be possible as they did not do that. I told her that the other guy had said it was possible, and she told me to call him back on his number. I also asked her if it would be possible for me to just send in the money order with a reference number so I wouldn’t have to wait for the mail. She said something along the lines of “You need to actually sign the recovery notice so you’ll have to wait for it.” This was a blatant lie, as once I did receive it there was nothing to sign or do at all, I just had to send it back with the money order so they knew what the payment was for.

I didn’t end up waiting for the mail, I asked the university department if I could use their fax machine to receive it and they kindly let me, despite me still owing them my vaccination paperwork.

I have had friends go through similar experiences with Vicroads, so I would not be surprised if this level of laziness is more widespread in the public service. Having said that, I have also encountered this sort of behaviour in the private companies. Most commonly if I go to a fast food restaurant and ask to replace the soft drink in a meal-deal with a milk-based drink. Usually they just look at me blankly like I am speaking a foreign language, and then tell me that they cannot do that. Some others in my situation have said that they usually just have to pay a dollar more.

Today my dad was doing a service call for Optus, and a man had been having trouble trying to SSH into his machine from the internet. He said he was not able to ping his modem from the outside, and had contacted Optus about this and they said it wasn’t their issue. Either his modem was set to not return pings, which he believed he had checked, or there was something else going on at the Optus end, which their customer service people were also too lazy to check.

In conclusions all I have to say is that these attitudes of laziness are really prevalent among customer service personnel, and I have no solutions to offer.

Awkward moments with Paediatricians

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I am scheduled to be on Paediatrics clinics this week, but I did not go to any in the morning as we had ward rounds and various tutorials.

I went at around 1300 and the consultant told me to come back in an hour. I went back at 1400 on the dot but the door was closed and I could hear him talking, I knocked feebly but there was no response so I just stood outside. In the meantime there was some sort of construction work or something going on upstairs, and it was making a terrible racket. The consultant poked his head out to see what was going on. “What’s that awful racket?” he asked (he is from South Africa so speaks in a different way). “I think they’re doing some work upstairs,” said I. “Ahh right. Come in.”

So I went in. While he was talking to the mum he asked me to read a story to the two children who were present. They were a boy aged 4 and a girl at around 32 months, the boy being the patient for behavioural issues, so he asked me to observe his behaviour as I was reading.

While I was reading the book the Paediatrician broke off his conversation and said “Belal, can I get you to go on a mission?”

“Yes”

“I need you to go out there and take out whoever is making that racket.”

“Okay,” I said, and I got up to go.

“I was kidding Belal, sit down.”

So I sat down, and the consultation continued.

He also made some other quips later on, such as threatening a non-compliant 11 year old by saying that “I’ll get Belal to take that phone away from you. He’ll sell it on eBay.”

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Last week I noticed that the local Aldi had for sale Axes and Sledgehammers. I wanted one, but at the time I didn’t want to look suspicious by buying them impulsively like that.

I decided that the best way to go about the purchase would be to come back when I was dressed in my hospital clothes so I would look somewhat less criminal.

I went there today after the clinic, and after picking up the two items I realised that I still did not have the appearance of a law-abiding citizen, so I picked up some Olive spread and Brownie Cookies to dilute the attention away from the axe and sledgehammer. While I was picking up the brownie cookies the paediatrics registrar walked into the shop and saw me.

“Hello Belal, what are you up to?” she said, noticing the axe.

“Nothing,” I replied, somewhat defensively. “Just buying some hardware.”

“Who for?”

“For myself, I’m going home next week, and they’re cheap here.”

“So you’re not planning on anything violent, or criminal?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

She seemed to believe it.

In retrospect I should have made the purchase during working hours when hospital staff would be less likely to be at the shops; hospital clothes were unlikely to have a reassuring effect on hospital people.

Taree West fishing attempt

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The last couple of weekends I have made some sojourns to Saltwater, south of Wallabi point to attempt to catch fish. I mainly used whiting and prawns as my bait. I got some nibbles sometimes from fish that were too small to hook, but didn’t really catch anything.

Last week I bought some soft plastics from Big W, they were the Berkley Recharge brand, I figured I would give them a go as they got good reviews on the internet.

Today I thought I would try something along the river (Manning) as opposed to the estuary. There isn’t much good access to the bank in Taree apart from the main riverfront, so I used Google Streetview to find a place in Taree West where I could drive to the bank.

Here is an instagrammed picture of the riverbank.

While fishing there a local came up to speak to me, or rather to demonstrate to his young grandson that I was a man fishing. I asked him if he knew any good spots around or what was available to catch. He told me you could get flathead, bream and jewfish in this region but that they were more likely to be caught from the other side of the river, as the side we were on was too shallow.

Taree West is more of a rural setting than a suburb, there were many farms with cattle. It reminded me of Sri Lanka in how green it was, as the farms I usually see have a more brownish grass.

A calf tethered to the side of the road

What also reminded me of Sri Lanka was this calf tethered by the side of the road.

Another thing that reminded me of Sri Lanka was the number of cranes about.

I parked by the side of the road and took some more pictures of cows and cranes. Here they are for your perusal.

Some cranes with a cow in the background

Here is a cow drinking from a trough, with a crane close by

Here is a cow approaching a crane

Eid FIFO

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Eid was last weekend on Sunday, and I flew home for it. At the time I booked my flights there had been some uncertainty as to what day it would be, with Sunday and Monday being the main contenders. In an attempt to be an honest citizen I actually went to the effort of asking for formal leave from the University (Newcastle) for Monday off. Normally when people have things like this they just ask their direct supervisor and go.

The University declined my request. I had not mentioned Eid when I asked, rather I mentioned that overseas relatives of mine were visiting my family and that I would not see them again for over a year and also that I would like to maximise my contact with them by taking the Monday off. I did not mention Eid because they (UNE) had previously declined my requests to be able to attend Jumu’ah for 20min while my 2 hour PBL was running on a Friday afternoon. This is despite the JMP having guidelines on the handling of Muslim students which suggests leaving Friday lunchtime free.

So I booked my flights to depart on the Saturday morning at 0600 and arrive back in Newcastle on Monday mornig at around 0800, which could give me about 2 hours to get back from the airport to the hospital. I would have left on Friday evening to get some extra time but they were much more expensive ($180 vs $99).

While at the airport for my departing flight I ran into one of my Novocastrian classmates who was also flying home for Eid. She had the good foresight to not ask leave of the faculty so had taken Monday off as well.

When I arrived in Melbourne my brother came to pick me up, and we went to Burnside Heights to pick up a fishtank that I had bought on eBay for a hatchling freshwater crocodile that I plan on buying once my advanced licence comes through. The dimensions of the tank are about 150cm x 60cm x 60cm and there was also a cabinet as well as assorted items like a filter, turtle dock, gravel and stones. Neither the tank nor the cabinet would fit in the Tarago with the seats still in, so we took the associated items and tank hood and came back a second time with the Tarago sans rear seats. I also brought my dad who brought his panel van. We fit the glass tank in the panel van and the cabinet in the Tarago.

The tank was very heavy, and I may have possibly ruined by dad’s knee in getting him to help lift it to the van, so I did not ask him to help me take it out. We had a family iftar later that night, so I figured I could use some of my cousins to move the tank into position.

It was good to have a more traditional iftar that night. For most of Ramadan I had been eating one meal a day consisting of 200g brown rice, 100g corn kernels, 100g red lentils, 100g peas and about 10-30g of coconut powder cooked in a rice cooker with about 700mL of water initial. I also added some other things, like Biryani powder and/or olive spread.

The next day was Eid

Two of my cousins’ neighbour’s cows in a fight

We went to Monash for the combined Eid prayer between multiple associations.

Afterwards we went to the USMAA breakfast where I ate roti and many other things the names of which I have forgotten.

Somehow word of my impending crocodile purchase spread through the Sri Lankan community much faster than it would among my friends in Taree, so everyone knew of it. Nazeem showed me a video he took in Crocosaurus Cove on his Darwin tour. It looked pretty cool, having a place to have crocodiles in the CBD.

The week before I had ordered some fish from livefish.com.au .

The view of the plastron of one of the turtles

I ordered 3x freshwater mussels, 1x 50 feeder fish, 1x 100 freshwater shrimp and 30x thin vallisneria plants. The mussels and feeder fish had arrived the Thursday before I arrived and my brother Omar had put them in the old turtle pond. It had been two days by the time I arrived so some of the fish had died from the cold, so they were probably a tropical species. They were advertised as being mixed platys, guppies and barbs which were not colourful enough for usual sale.

A front view of the tank showing the thin vallisneria on the left, the turtle dock in the middle and some duckweed floating on top.

We set up the tank and put them in it with the heaters operating, and the ones left seemed to recover. I wasn’t able to tell if the mussels were alive or not so I asked my brother to observe them over the next couple of days to see if they stick out their siphons.

Duckweed and Amazon Frogbit proliferating on top of the water

Since I left Omar has added some duckweed, amazon frogbit and two turtles to the tank. Here are some pictures.

On Monday my dad dropped me back at the airport. The flight ran on time and I got to Newcastle airport at around 0800 and back to the units at around 0945.

I got showered and dressed and went to hospital. I was scheduled for Obstetrics/Gynaecology operations so the next one on the list was a caesarian. It was the first time I had scrubbed in since around early March so I took ages and looked retarted; I even forgot to put my mask on before I scrubbed. By the time I got my gown on the baby’s head was already out. It was very embarassing because there were more people in the theatre than there would be usually; a fifth year student for anaesthetics, the father of the baby, and a paediatrics team for the neonate as it was premature. It was all very embarassing, but I am pleased to announce that my subsequent scrubs that week were quite reasonable.

One of the Turtles (Chelodina Longicollis)

 

 

Hitch-hikers 2

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Today I went to the gym again, and then afterwards I went to the 24/h McDonalds by the highway, again, to get myself a Choc-whirl Frappe. This time I managed to get there without incident, however on the way back there were two hitchhikers. I pulled over for them.

They were a male and a female in their 30s, both Aboriginal. The male thanked me and asked if I had room for two more. I said it would be difficult, because my car is a Mazda 121 and I had my fishing rod in the back. They said they would manage to squeeze in. It turned out there were also some others, in total 6 not including myself. I said if they wanted I could drop some of them in town and come back for the others. They started arguing among themselves.

There were two males and four females. The first male introduced himself as Jason Bolte, and said they were all siblings, and had been out celebrating his sister’s birthday at the mission nearby. Some of them were intoxicated. Jason thanked me again and offered to pay me $10 for my troubles.

Eventually they sorted themselves out and I took Jason and two of his sisters. One of the sisters talked about how lucky it was that I came along, and that taxis are really expensive, and that if she took a taxi she probably would have had to run off without paying. Jason said she had done that a couple of times. I dropped one of the sisters off in one place, and the other somewhere else before going back for the others with Jason.

On the way back I asked Jason how it was in Taree, he said it had its up days and its down days. I asked him if he was Biripi, the local Aboriginal group, and he said yes. I asked him how it was for Aborigines here, and he said it was mostly alright, but there was the occasional “KKK white c***,” but they were a minority.

I also asked him how it had been going to school here. He said it had been a bit more troublesome than what it was now, with more name calling etc, and that whenever they fought with the white kids it was always the Aboriginals who got suspended/expelled.

I asked him if he had kids, and he said yes, but they were in Port Macquarie because he’d split up from his ex-wife. He said she was now going out with his cousin. I asked him how he felt about that, and he said he would have bashed his cousin except it wouldn’t really prove anything, so he just let it go.

As we were heading back to pick up his siblings we were being tailgated by a van. He suggested braking hard to annoy them, but I just sped up a bit, slightly above the speed limit on a 70km/h road. As I went to U-turn at the roundabout to pick up the passengers we saw that the van was in fact a Police van, and we had a good laugh.

I asked Jason how he felt about the police. He said they were dogs, and that he had just come out after doing 2 years for aggravated assault. I asked him what happened, he said the guy was being a troublemaker, or something to that effect. I asked him who it had been, and he said it was a white c***. By then we picked up his brother and two more sisters, and headed back into town.

Once we got into town they wanted to detour to a bottle-shop. I said I couldn’t do that because it would be against my religious beliefs. They asked me to drop themoff at the roadside then, which I did, and they got out and started heading off. I asked the last to leave, one of the sisters, to remind Jason about the $10 he said he would pay, but she just left. I beeped the horn a couple of times, but they did not respond. I drove ahead, made a U-turn and then pulled up alongside them and said to Jason “Hey do you have my $10.”

His brother answered on his behalf, “Didn’t my sister pay you, when you dropped her off before?”

“No,” I said.

“Sorry we haven’t got any money!,” called out one of the sisters. “Then how do you plan on buying things from the bottle shop?” I asked. “We haven’t got any money, just leave us alone!” came the reply.

I told them that if they had no money they should have just said so, I would have dropped them off anyway, and then I sped off angrily. The last time I had given a lift to intoxicated natives (back in Armidale) they also didn’t have money, but at least they were honest about it and offered me some weed.

When I got back to my apartment block someone had taken my parking spot, so I had to park outside on the street.

Labour Ward

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This week I was on the labour ward. I had never seen humans give birth before, so there were many new things in it for me.

For one, I gained a greater understanding of the placenta. I knew it was something all placental mammals had, and that they usually eat it, but I never knew what it looked like exactly.

Unlike some other mammals that I have seen, these human babies were not covered in a membrane; it usually ruptures beforehand, though I had some expectation of that.

I also learned that babies are like lead bullets. As they pass through the birth canal they have to twist around it, because the first part of the pelvis is wider in the sagittal axis and the exit is wider in the coronal axis. In the same way that a bullet has to twist around as it is shaped by the rifle barrel, so too does a baby as it is passing through the pelvis.

It was also interesting observing the different ways the different women handled the pain of the process. Some of them were very loud and swore profusely, and would yell at their partners, while others would just cry in pain, and yet others would just look sad, though they would all end up screaming for the last push.

It was also interesting observing the fathers, who had to be present while their partner was going through this painful process, but were not able to do anything about it. Some of them just resigned themselves to texting their mates about what was going on.

In all I saw four babies, but only two complete deliveries. With the first I was sent to my break and told to come back in half an hour, but he popped out about 10 seconds before I walked back in the room, and nobody realised I had left my number on the noticeboard.This had been the fourth baby for this woman and was relatively uncomplicated apart from some blood loss from the mother.

The next was a water birth. I was present for the whole thing but I could not see the baby come out as the mother was in the all-fours position. I saw the midwife taking the baby out of the water, and she was quite floppy. She was given to the mother and she took some time to take her first breath. I think the combination of the hypotonia and the delayed breath caused the family members to think she was dead, because they left the room in tears, but came back as the baby started to cry. This was this mother’s second baby.

The next was a normal birth on a bed with a first-timer. She passed a normal healthy girl, though it took ages for her to pass the head out, and some time thereafter to pass the rest of her.

The last one I saw was I think the second child for the woman. She was a small lady and the membranes ruptured at 36 weeks, so it was to be premature. I took my break and was called back after about 5 minutes by a midwifery student to say she was giving birth, by the time I got back the head was already out, and then the rest followed soon after. The baby looked alright for his gestational age, but he wasn’t crying much so we put him on the neopuff until his O2 saturations were normal. This baby passed out much faster than the previous one, I was told this was because she had already had a baby before.

All in all it was one of the more interesting rotations. I think obstetrics is good.

Hitch-hiker

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As of this morning I had not been to the gym for about 11 or 12 days, primarily due to a combination of fasting and irregular night-time sleep affecting my routine. Today I decided I would go. I mainly did some resistance exercises with my back muscles as well as some treadmilling, burning an amount of calories so pitiful that I am too ashamed to report it here.

Afterwards I decided I would go to the 24h highway McDonalds to get myself a Choc-whirl Frappe. I am somewhat addicted to these and the only reason I haven’t been consuming them daily is because it would require a 14km round trip.

As I was about to cross the Manning River bridge I saw a guy on the side of the road with his arm out, indicating that he wanted a lift. I pulled over about 30m past and he came towards the car. I was a bit apprehensive about picking up a hitch-hiker because the last time I did it the guy claimed he worked as a stripper, and had a generally strange demeanour. I blogged it at the time but I can’t find the post. Maybe I deleted it out of shame.

The current hitch-hiker opened the door and thanked me for stopping. I asked him where he was going, and he said Forster, a town about 40km south. I told him I was just going to the Maccas, and that he was welcome to come that far, and he said that was fine.

Normally I keep some sort of bladed implement in the door-side pocket of my car, in case I do pick up a random person and they end up being inappropriately crazy. I didn’t have one with me this time, but it turned out this guy was okay.

He told me he had just come back from hospital in Sydney, and that his train had been late getting to the station, and so he had missed his bus. I asked him if he had anyone he could call, and he said no but he would eventually get home. I offered to take him there, and he offered me $10 in petrol, which was probably more than adequate. While at the petrol station he asked me where I was from, and before I answered he guessed Sri Lanka, which I think is the first time that has happened. He said he had been surfing many times in Arugam Bay, back in the day.

His story was that around the 1990′s or 80′s he started having episodes of unconsciousness a couple of times a year, sometimes they would last days or sometimes weeks. His doctors had initially had difficulty pinpointing the cause and diagnosed him with epilepsy and put him on an anti-epileptic which did little for him.

Years later he came across a thesis by someone from a university in Brisbane about a parasite that lived in a type of sea anemone, that could also infect people and had a ’90 day cycle’ of some sort (possibly reproductive), which he said correlated with the frequency of his episodes of unconsciousness. The researcher had been studying something about this in Sumatra. My passenger said he used to surf in Sumatra (about 10 years before his first episode), and tried to tell his doctors about this but they were dismissive. Eventually he contacted someone from the Marine Biology department at the university and they offered to help him with this, and now he had found some doctors who are interested in pursuing that hypothesis, and he is awaiting the results of some tests. He was very excited about being taken seriously about this hypothesis as these episodes had a major impact on how he lived his life; he had ended up losing his job and house and marriage from when he lived in Sydney.

When we got to his place he showed me his paperwork and assorted files. He mentioned Dr Wickremesinghe, one of our physicians, and said he owed his life to him. I have a memory of a patient calling out to Dr Wickremesinghe in hospital, saying that he owed him his life, but that was about 2 months ago and I can’t remember if it was this same guy.

He also had a Chihuahua in his house, and I was amazed at how small it was considering that dogs are descended from wolves. It was probably around the size of a large rat, maybe equivalent to a large Gambian pouched rat.