She failed the Jesus test.

So I was sitting on a bench on the foreshore at about 10:30 on Friday night, watching the ocean beneath the pier at Brighton. I say to my friend who is with me and doing the same.
"Huh, there's a person coming out of the water."
We watch.
"Mmm, so there is."
We continue to watch, as a fully clothed sixty odd year old woman begins to stumble out of the water. Her unusual swimming attire clinging awkwardly to her.
She stumbles falling in the last few metres before the beach before beginning to call for help. Initially feeble but progressively growing in confidence and seemingly aimed at us.
I hopped the fence and went down to the waters edge, not wanting to take my shoes off (I'd only just put them back on.) Apparently my coaxing was successful, and I pulled her out of the last few inches of water.
"What happened?" I asked her. She seemed exhausted. I suspect she had not had her aerobic capacity tested in some time.
"I fell off the pier! I was out walking... and nobody noticed!"

So apparently she had to swim the few hundred metres back to shore unaided. Fortunately, apart from being a little tired and cold she was alright. Her husband came and piked her up.

So random. How do you fall off a jetty? And how does nobody not see or help? There were lots of people fishing. Pretty lucky/unlucky really.

On another note, I'm in Darwin now. It's sticky. But my housemates are nice!

Well now I don't have to worry about that

To Be or not To Be? That is the question.

So Carry Me,
I'm just a dead man
Lying on the carpet
Can't find a heartbeat
Make me breathe,
I want to be a new man
Tired of the old one
Out with the old plan

Perhaps some times we have things happen to us, so that we may understand things better. Out of the blue and I'm lost as to why or how. But that's how it is sometimes.

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close as a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,

Personally, I find the acknowledgement that it's all out of my control a relief. And I don't think relinquishing things to a higher power is a failing. It's a joy, not a crutch. Empowering, not restricting.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Let's roll

One more week in Radelaide. This time next week I'll be up in Darwin, to see how the Territorians do it. I'm pretty much ready to move on to be honest. General medicine has proved to be interesting and I didn't really hate it.

But I'm looking forward to something else, if not a little nervous about shifting.

I saw this gif on reddit and couldn't help but laugh. Who comes up with this stuff!?

Try me

I cant decide how i feel about the dancing man

Inappropriately timed post

Flights for the year:

Adelaide - Darwin.
Darwin - Adelaide.
Adelaide - Sydney.
Sydney - Adelaide.
Adelaide - Darwin.
Darwin - Adelaide
Adelaide, Perth, Johannesberg, Lusaka, Mukinge (Kasempa).
Livingstone, Joberg, -Nairobi.
Arusha - Zanzibar
Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Doha -London
London - Helsinki
Helsinki, Hong Kong, Adelaide.

And then I will officially have negative money. Like, so negative money!

Tub thumping

Almost a year ago, I began procrastinating. Trying to imagine myself in a years time. What adventures would I be having? Having broken through the barrier exams, what joys would await me? Where could I go, what could I do?

I began to contemplate...  And decided something that would both challenge me educationally and spiritually would be a good idea. So having heard through the virtual corridors of the medical school that a trip to a mission hospital in Africa would be an incredible adventure. I signed up.

So in five months time I'll find myself in a randomly small town in North West Zambia, with nothing but a flimsy graft of medicine and a lot of hopeful prayer to get me through.

So I've been starting to prepare for this adventure. Preperation is of course key. I've been getting the travel plans sorted (the tickets are booked and paid for!), the blood tests, the anti-malarials and unfortunately the vaccinations.

During my PhD I once gave a presentation using this picture as a metaphor for the critical juncture I was at in my project - a leap of faith. At the time I didn't realise this was taken at Victoria falls, Zambia. I found this picture entrancing. I think it's something about the hiking boots and that expectant step that will never be fulfilled. I want to try this. I will try this. But mostly I think its an appropriate metaphor once again.

I got a yellow fever shot recently. It being mandatory for travel in most places in Africa. But I felt quite wretched afterward. I'm not sure if I've had something else brewing or its related to the vaccine, but the occassional sweats, nausea and dizzyness have been frustrating. After a few days of headache I decided to go see a GP. I explained to him that the headache was driving me nuts, but there weren't any red flags. I questioned if it was normal and whether I could have a sick certificate.

His response? "So you've come to me worried you might have a brain tumour?"

He told me to come back in two weeks if my tumour was still growing. Now whilst I agree with the diagnosis and management plan I feel like making jokes about my brain tumour having just met me for the first time was just a little bit too early. It is fundamentally funny though. Medical students are notorious for assuming the worst outcome is inevitable. Maybe it was the headache that meant I didn't fully appreciate it.