Yet another day has come and gone. It has been an overall rather depressing day. I started from 08:00 this morning. Actually, to be fair, I didn't start at 08:00. I started at 08:15 because I managed to get myself all stuck intraffic and stuff so I was late. I was TA'ing from 08:00 so I thought that I would be in the poo when I got there but to my relief, the lecturer was late too. And thus started my day. I TA'ed for 4 hours solid (08:00 - 10:00, 2nd years, 10:00 - 12:00, 1st years) which was so tiring that by the end of it I couldn't actually make my mouth produce real words. Only the kind like 'pell' instead of 'pen'.
By this stage I decided that I didn't have any obligation to remain after the 1st years lab to make sure that they were all okay and ran off to get myself some food. I got a spinach and feta pie from the Wits theatre. These pies are amazing! So tasty and vegetarian!
So after grazing I went and checked all my e-mail and did some e-mailing. My friend Joe, who is a Bristolian, is currently in South America e-mailed me. He is part of this really cool program with the University of Bristol where, if you are studying a language, you get to go to a country where that language is spoken to learn it. I'm so jelous that they don't do that here. I'd study spanish and get myself to South America! I've always wanted to go there. Maybe next year...?
Anyway, the point of this story is that Joe e-mailed me back in one day. He usually takes at least a week to reply to e-mails. This, coupled with the content of the e-mail, worry me. He sounds like he is very down and misses his family. Apparently, his Spanish courses have yet to start (that's what he's there for), he has no job, he isn't getting any sleep due to the aviary that his hosts have and he's in the middle of the Peruvian desert so there isn't much to do anyway.
I hope he is okay...
After doing the e-mail, I went back to TA the first years again. They had a ton of work to get through today so they were told that if they want to come back during the lunch break they could and that we would be around to help them. Hense the fact that I returned to the grind...
Once they had all left, I helped my friend Helen to feed her lizards. Vanessa helped us too. It was really random because the head of school, Kevin, randomly showed up, watched us feed the lizards and then buggered off. Didn't chat to us or anything! He is a botanist though...
After that job was over, we just chilled in the honours room for a bit and then got prepped for our stats lecture. Stats depresses me. I just don't get it at all. It is so incredibly stupid! I say this because of the fact that if you are not getting the result that you had hoped for from your data, there are a million ways to change it to get the desired result! In which case, what the hell is the point?!
Before I could go to stats, I had a meeting with Laura about the 'Mr. & Mrs. Wits contest' that was happeing this evening. I was told that they might need my help with the running of the evening and I initially said that it shouldn't be a problem. Laura said that someone would call me is they needed me. But nobody did. Also, the more I thought about it the more I realised, my grandfather is in hospital and my sisters and I are basically running the house at the moment so I can't afford to waste time at some Wits party when my help is required elsewhere. So, anyway, I went off to the meeting with Laura to explain all this to her, but she never pitched. So I just went off to stats.
Stats was horrible, as usual. Eebee, Helen and I brightened it up a bit by playing a similar game to the one from 'Who's line is it anyway' where they are given random objects and have to guess the uses. We used the cardboard wrapping around a Dentene pack (Chewing gum). It was rather funny. Our uses ranged from paper plane through binoculars to a bizarrely shaped yarmulke. After stats I went to help Helen to clean out the iguana's enclosure. The iguana is called Dr. Melville and was adopted by one of the lecturers and his lab after it was found abandoned in, surprise-surprise, MELVILLE! She is really cute and loves to be scratched on the neck, or on her dewlap under her chin. Problem is, she doesn't take kindly to being handled, so moving her is a problem. But somehow we managed.
From Wits I then went straight off to the hospital to go and see my grandfather. It was a rather strange experience...I hadn't really been affected emotionally by it all until I saw him in that bed, surrounded by all the tubes and wires and machines. It was disturbing. It was also really scary because he is partially sedated. He can hear things and can move a little but he can't talk. Neither is he really consious. Today when I went and took his hand and spoke to him, he got this pained look on his face and started to move around as if he were writhing in pain. It was horrible to watch. I left soon thereafter, unable to stay and watch.
I then came home, had some dinner and watched a documentry about cannibalism. It was really interesting...
And thus concludes my day. I read Tom's blog today and was particularly moved by how he wrote about his gay friend. I feel the same way that Tom does. I think that parents should accept their kin for who they are, and not treat them any different to how they would anyone else! Someone once told me, 'You don't choose family' and I think that is very true. You get your family and you grow to love them regardless of all of their apparent flaws...
Anyways, that's my deep thought for the day. Now for a photo...
My puppy, Asia.
No comments:
Post a Comment