check your brain!

as previously mentioned, my buddy punster is overseeing a bunch of psych research that's going on at the local university. one of the projects involves an fMRI machine, some simple response tasks and a willing volunteer. on tuesday, I was that willing volunteer.

things didn't go quite as smoothly as initially planned. the MRI technician was over an hour late because of traffic. and if that wasn't enough, there was a very brief power outage that left me stuck in the fMRI machine.
:(
but all's well that ends well. in the end i got paid a decent amount of money and even better, got to keep my scans!

i wish i could show you all the scans but that would require a software download and a whole lot of work.

pretty cool huh???

what's up with the canadian dollar?

you have got to be kidding me.
don't know whether its the canadian dollar rising or the australian dollar falling but the canadian dollar is stronger than it's been in quite a while.

as of this afternoon... $1 CDN was valued at $1.336 AUD. $1.34!!! for crying out loud!!! when i paid my 2nd term tuition back in august it was down at about $1.05! what the flip man!!!

i know this is something that's pretty much completely out of my control and getting my knickers into a knot really doesn't do much but... GRRR!!!

taxes.

just finished declaring my australian taxes. the fiscal year in australia start in july and ends in june the next year. so this year was july 1, 2007-june 31, 2008.

i should be getting $67 back. woohoo! what can i do with $67???

on a slightly funnier note: as you do your taxes you have to select your profession from a pull-down menu. some of choices included: prostitute, surfer and powder monkey. don't know what a powder monkey is? neither did i. it's really a historical term that was used for men employed to carry gun powder to canons/guns on a warship. apparently the current use refers to pretty much anyone who works with explosives.

give me my money!

i finally got my OSAP for the school year. in case you didn't know i started in january. JANUARY! that was 6 months ago! goodness gracious. silly government.

did you know... that the provincial government of alberta provides it's students upwards of $30,000/year in student loans. compare that with OSAP which gives you a measly $8400. pft!

gas prices are killing me!

last year i flew home during the x'mas holidays for about $2300. if you recall it wasn't the safest airline and it wasn't the most direct route (i flew brisbane to taipei, taipei to vancouver and finally vancouver to toronto). however it wasn't that bad. service was good, no major delays and no baggage lost.

but this year i thought i'd pay the extra few hundred dollars and fly home directly (e.g. Brisbane-L.A.-Toronto) to avoid the ridiculously long stopovers. i might have to rethink this option though. that direct flight is going to cost me a cool $3400. the flight route i took last year will cost me an extra $600 - so $2900 this year.

man. that's brutal. maybe i should just stay in brisbane...
thoughts???

a blast from the past & a cash infusion.

my PBL mates were in a big ball of excitement about the first krispy kreme store to open up in Queensland. yes. i know krispy kreme stores in toronto are going out of business. but this is australia where things are about a decade behind north america and where the obesity epidemic ranks only behind the great United States of America.

i remember when the first krispy kreme store opened up in toronto. well, i think the first one was actually in mississauga, and i was in grade 11. people would drive all the way out to mississauga just for donuts! DONUTS!
now i can't complain too much cause our grade 11 bio teacher was kind enough to bring us krispy kreme donuts and we devoured them like no tomorrow.

for those of you interested in brisbane i'm told the new store is on albert street (seriously) and is open from 6am (SIX IN THE MORNING!) until midnight.

***
i've been waiting on some funds from my student line of credit. there was a bit of a delay but they were finally released. thank goodness. i was worried i'd have to sell my kidneys or something.

speaking of selling organs, this aussie nephrologist by the name of Dr. Gavin Carney caused a big huff & a puff the other day when he suggested that the government pay $50,000 to those willing to donate/sell their organs.

apparently australia has one of the lowest donor rates in the world at roughly 9.4 donors in 1 million people.

dr. carney's argument is that because of the huge donor shortage, australian citizens are paying tens even hundreds of thousands of dollars to go buy organs on the black market - usually in 3rd world countries with questionable medical infrastructure.
where would the government get this $50k in the first place? dr. carney goes onto argue that patients often spend more than 7 years on dialysis waiting for a donor. THAT alone costs the government upwards of $500,000. so from a financial perspective, it could make sense.

of course there are huge ethical & moral obligations that need to be considered. i'm not going to open that can of worms. but if i may, here are my suggestions:
- as an extension of our donor cards that come with our driver's licenses... give people (financial) incentive to sign those cards. if your organs can be used after you die, and you've signed your donor card then you'll be compensated. if you don't sign it, then you don't get money. not a penny. if you sign it but your organs can't be used, you get a smaller amount.
- or similarly give everyone the opportunity to sign donor cards when they turn 18. you still have the choice to NOT donate. however, this excludes you from receiving a donor organ should you ever need it in the future. it's only fair that you should be given a second chance if you're willing to give someone else a second chance.

in the interest of full disclosure...
i don't think i've signed my donor card.
>.<
hahaha... what a hypocrite! hahaha!!!

new gig...

i've got a job!
i've got a job!
i've got a job hey hey hey HEY!

i had spent a couple of weeks in february, sort of half-heartedly looking for a part-time job. it was a half-hearted attempt because i wasn't too keen on working (who wants to work when you don't have to right?!?!) & also, i didn't think there'd be part-time work that could fit all my 'conditions':
- i wanted something that wasn't permanent, where i could take months off at a time (like june and november) to study for exams.
- i wanted something on weekends so as not to conflict with any school.
- i didn't want anything more than about 6 hours/week.
- and i wanted something that was going to pay me at least $20/hour.
- i didn't want to spend a whole lot of time traveling to and from work.
- and most importantly, i wanted something medicine related. i didn't want to usher, i didn't want to sell clothes, and i definitely didn't want to cook french fries.
i know. i'm picky.

i had a couple interviews back in february though.
one was with the Spinal Association of Australia as a personal carer. i thought the interview went well & they really liked me. they seemed to like everything except for my availability. they were looking for more hours and possibly for someone to spend nights at the house. that wasn't going to work for me.

i also had an interview with a company called Emergency First Aid Services. basically they provide medics for events. pretty much everything about this job was looking pretty sweet. i could pick and choose my shifts depending on my availability and the venue. pay was decent. it was medicine related.
unfortunately the training/orientation was held during the week that i was up camping on fraser island. oh well. i figured it wasn't meant to be.

BUT!
the other day they called asking if i was still interested in the position. they were looking to hold another training session to fill in some holes that they had. alright!
so saturday is my first gig. it's a high school netball tournament. i'll let you know how it goes.

ps. do you guys know what netball is? netball is the australian version of basketball - they still have basketball here but i'd say netball is bigger. the concept is the same - you're still trying to get a ball through a hoop. however, there is no backboard and you're not allowed to dribble. once you have the ball in your hands you must stop. you can only advance by passing or shooting. you also have allocated zones. you can't run everywhere and anywhere. the offense is on one side of the court and the defense is on the other. it's also more popular amongst women than men.

chalk one up for the little guy.

there was some confusion as to whether or not our tuition would be going up this year.
in one offer letter we were told that fees would remain fixed for the duration of our program. in another offer letter, we were told to expect a 3-5% increase annually.

yesterday we got a letter confirming that our tuition will NOT increase over the next 3 years. whew!
(we were all sort of expecting this but it's nice to have it in writing).

what sucks for the current first years is that they got a 13% hike in tuition compared to what we paid last year. THIRTEEN PERCENT!!! to make things worse, they are not under a fixed contract so they could potentially have tuition increases every year for the next 3 years at 3-5%.

what does this all mean in actual dollars? well, it means that being a 2010 grad instead of a 2011 grad could potentially save me as much as $32,545.25.

wow.

more of my life in brisbane...

i've been keeping up with some of the news back home and i hear that canada is considering getting rid of the penny. didn't we go over this before??? i think this topic pops up once every 4 years or so. just like the olympics. speaking of coinage, aussie don't have the penny. at first i found it a little odd but now that i'm used to it, it makes sense. things are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. and it's not a big deal, in the end, it all gets balanced out. there are days when you save a penny and other days when you lose a penny.



L-->R. 5 cent coin. 10 cent coin. 20 cent coin. 50 cent coin. 1 dollar coin. 2 dollar coin. pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters don't exist. if you ask for a loonie, they look at you funny. if you ask for a toonie, they... they... (can't find a word that rhymes with toonie!)



so these are timtams. i'm told that they are the national snack of australia. they are pretty good. they are little chocolate covered wafers... with more chocolate inside. mmm...



you see these things everywhere. they are called "utes". probably 1 in 5 cars (1 in 6???) in brisbane are utes. i initially thought perhaps it was an extention of their surfing culture, but apparently not. from what i can gather it is the equivalent of a truck back home. they look like sedans with a truck bed. i'm told that you're not a man until you driven/owned one of these "bad boys". i can't help but scoff. these "bad boys"??? i'm from north america where the gas-guzzler is king and you're not a real man until you've driven a REAL truck like a 345hp, HEMI-powered Dodge Ram. grr!!!