a very very long post - a new record

apologies for the month long absence
thought i'd make it up by posting a really huge, long post with truckloads of photos
so here it is

rod laver arena - home of the australian open, fina world championships 2007 & many more.

The susie o'neill pool, in all its splendour
view from cheapest seat in the house (with fangilla) but with an amazing bird's eye view of the entire pool (best view to watch the race, i reckon)& starting/ finishing block
see below

take your mark

*beep*
all in less than 5 seconds
(men's 200m freestyle finals)

view from free front row seat tickets on the last day of the competition! (with ah saz)
close up but not so great view of the action (couldn't see who was leading by how much)
see below
slicing into the water in perfect form (men's 50m backstroke finals)

very nice 'curtain of water' with (you'll have to look closer on this) highlights of the days before beamed onto it at the start of the last day of the competition

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. the one & only michael phelps (a very short excerpt)

if you look close enough, he was actually swimming a whole body length in front of the red world record line & smashed his own WR by 0:02.04 (new WR 4:06.22) - this was the 400m individual medley finals

after he'd broken another WR - yeah, what's new

(men's 200m freestyle finals)
1st place: michael phelps (WR 1:43.73)
2nd place: pieter van den hoogenband of the netherlands
3rd place: park tae hwan of south korea

i guess he was in a hurry

2. aaron peirsol

yet another american who broke his personal WR (new WR 52.98 - men's 100m backstroke finals)

the way he did it was as if it was no big deal at all!
this was probably the only time he actually showed anything more than just a polite smile & wave

3. natalie coughlin

guess what
she's american
she broke her own WR (new WR 59.44)
go figure

women's 100m backstroke finals
1st place: natalie coughlin
2nd place: laure manaudou of france
3rd place: reiko nakamura of japan

the star-spangled banner was played so many times i think i know it by heart now

4. federica pellegrini

a surprise WR (1:56.47) by italian pellegrini in the women's 200m freestyle semis
insider's goss: a swimmer can get up to $15000 (if memory serves me right - just something i heard from a more senior colleague at the MSAC when i gushed about how we witnessed 4 WRs in 1 night) per WR

5. the usual aussies

australia's number 1 favourite liesel jones
seen here with tara kirk (usa) after the victory ceremony for the women's 100m breastsroke (new CR by liesel 1:05.72)

eamon sullivan & brenton rickard signing autographs after the victory ceremony for the final event of the competition: men's 4 x 100m medley relay for which australia won gold

they need to slow down
seriously
shown here - lisbeth 'libby' lenton



you wouldn't want to get to close everytime a record is broken

this, i think, for all swimmers is the start of everything

special thanks to fangilla & ah saz for watching the making of history & analysing swimming techniques & screaming themselves hoarse with me.

"...sexy" "..,music"

those 2 words were used (both within the same week) to describe the F1 noise i'll have to endure for 4 days
i guess it's 1 of those things i'll never understand

for chandran, biggest rev head i've ever known
(i wish i knew how to upload the audio clip of him imitating the sound of the engines, that he specially made for me, ha!)
The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
sorry, didn't make it to ferrari's 60th anniversary exhbition at crown, this is the closest thing
( http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00309.htm)

so it's that time of year again
where people pay good money to sit with their ears plugged for hours
(honestly, you can't really talk to your friends or anything because 1. your ears are plugged, right? 2. you'll have to try & scream your head off which won't look very nice if your friend's ears are plugged & you'll just look like you're... screaming at him/ her.)
& watch something speed by at __fill this in, chandran__ km/h every few minutes

& the noise is positively driving me nuts now
explain to me again, chandran
WHY.

=p

chamarel, grand bassin, black river - yeah, around there

random waterfall at 1/2 way pit stop up to chamarel (7 coloured earth)
jason, correct me if i'm wrong

view from 3/4 way pit stop up grand bassin (gwan bassahn)

to all med students

yes, especially you, niro
"useless PEE-sios... Dr.s are too busy & important that's why we pass some on to the pee-sios"

& you, chandran
"yeah, 'cause physios' jobs are so safe,
what's the worst u can do...break a bone?"

& you, fendi
"the pee-sios will make tea for me"

"load the rum!"

pure home made mauritian rum - infused with spices (cinnamon & stuff & i think, a hint of chilli) & herbs (rosemary & stuff) & fruits (lychee & stuff)
1 shot & it burns a path down the throat (much more fiery than whiskey or brandy, i think)
i learned it the hard way - i sputtered & coughed my way from my 1st sip to the last
but it was good shit

Capt. Jack Sparrow: "What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade, the rum."

Elizabeth Swann: "Yes, the rum is gone."

Capt. Jack Sparrow: "Why is the rum gone?"

Elizabeth Swann: "One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me. Do you think there is even the slightest chance they won't see it?"

Capt. Jack Sparrow: "But, why is the rum gone?"

- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

cotton candy

fluffy fluff at flic en flac

"are you indian?"

mauritius - my 1st sari

a patient asked me today if i was indian

& no, I wasn't wearing a sari (at that time)

go figure.

1 call

3 years ago, that changed everything

& i still ask myself questions i don't have the answers to
i see him, & i see you
& every little thing that reminds me of you - a big mac, free willy...

you didn't pick yourself up
if only you did

pause

due to the stresses of neuro life, this blog will be inactive for awhile, at least for the next 2 weeks.

a typical day (not like you'd be interested but...)
6.30 am - *alarm clock rings*
7.10 am - dash through the door & out to the tram stop
7.35 am - sprint through ticket machines just in time to hop onto 7.38 am train
8.00 am - arrive at the austin hosp., begin the daily climb up stairs to main entrance, through foyer, up 3 floors, cross over to the old building & to shuttle bus stop
8.15 am - shuttle bus arrives
8.30 am - arrive at the repat.
9.00 am to 4 sometimes 5 pm - assess & treat patients, brains picked by supervisors etc...
4 pm to 6 pm - do all of the above again, walk in through front door in time for the simpsons
6 pm to 11pm - dinner, prepare notes, read up for next day's patients, crash into bed
Repeat 4 days a week.
& i'm sure you don't want to know my friday timetable.