Broken blood vessels

It's Wednesday (12:09am) and I just finished my learning objective on the examination of the respiratory system. This was the first time that I was given a clinical LO. SO MUCH FUN! Yes, the basic/clinical science theory is very important but actually knowing the clinical signs and symptoms about particular diseases/illnesses just gives me goosebumps!

This upcoming weekend is the UQMS May Ball. This is, supposedly, the premiere event in our social calendar and the explanation is all in its name. A gala ball, held in May and attended by over five hundred people, beaten only by the Graduation Dinner for shear numbers. There is an informal welcome from the Head of School, before patrons sit down to dinner, wine, and later on, a little dancing. The twist to this gala (as in previous years) is that it's a masquerade ball! My parents sent my mask from Canada (I had bought a mask when I went to New Orleans in 2001 to visit a friend and take a two-week intensive Spanish short-course). There was quite a bit of noise about this year's May Ball because of the price of the tickets. In previous years, the tickets were around $40. This year, they are $85. Apparently in previous years, there was no food or drinks served. Also, the Roma Street Parklands is the world's largest urban subtropical garden. The entire event will be held under a marquise (read: glorified tarpaulin). Everyone is getting all excited about it. People are getting last minute things finalised: tuxedo rental and dresses (I'm decided against the tux and am wearing a tailored three peice navy blue pin striped suit), hair (hmm...I'm not going to even go there because this head of hair needs a weedwacker to cut it down and I'm not going through the hassle of testing a new haircut on the 'premeire social event of the year'), and things like that. Needless to say, all of this excitment has taken its toll on studying. The weekend was quite productive in terms of studying because I knew that I wouldn't be doing much this upcoming weekend.

Ahhh...back to the title of this blog. On Sunday night (Monday was Labour Day in QLD), I decided to take a small break from studying. I went to the Royal Exchange to meet up with Matt B and his girlfriend. After a couple of drinks, I met up with a whole bunch of other students and headed down to Caxton Street. During the day, there was the infamous Caxton St Seafood Festival. I didn't attend because I was studying and I don't see myself eating and enjoying mussels and octopus (yuck). Regardless, the street was blocked off for pedestrian traffic and beer cans were everywhere! It almost looked like the aftermath of Canada Day outside the Maple Leaf Pub in London. I didn't have much dinner before heading out and after a few drinks, I was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. I realised that this wasn't what I wanted to do this evening, as I knew that I would have to get up early the next day to get some more studying done. I left the group around 1am and waited in a taxi queue. In Brisbane, there are taxi queues around certain hotspots and at certain times (around bars/pubs in the late night). I stood in the queue and started talking to this friendly couple. And I had enough to drink that my senses weren't totally sharp but I definitely knew what I was doing. After some time of the conversation, what did I do? Mr. Thankey thought it would be a good idea to pash this girl whilst standing the cue with her boyfriend right there! At first, I didn't think that he was her boyfriend but then again, nowadays, you really don't know how people are associated with one another. I ended up getting a small hickey above my left clavicle and proximal to the sternomastoid muscle (read: on my lower neck above the collarbone). After this short pashing session, the couple asked if I wanted to 'share' a taxi with them. They lived in Bardon, and I in Toowong. Bardon is close to Toowong but definitely out of the way. The couple soon kissed each other after making this proposal. So many thoughts going through my head. I ended up taking a taxi home (by myself) and thinking that one miss opportunity isn't such a bad thing. :) I tell you, sometimes I just get the shits and giggles thinking of what things I have and can get into. Oh well, I guess it makes for a good anecdote on a late Tuesday night (hmm...I wonder what sort of anecdotes will come from this weekend...stay tuned...)