100 things - **Warning - really long post!**

I had a great time graduating on Friday – thanks for the comments. As
for the request for pictures – I won't be posting any here but I might
email some when I get around to it.

(And sorry, JPD – no puffy sleeves – the PhD gown at Sydney University
is a little more restrained! However, I do like seeing academics in
their graduation gear from other Universities – especially the English
ones – with colourful, puffy sleeves and boofy hats and all sort of
court jester material. Very theatrical! Mine was just the usual black
gown and hat thing but with a scarlet silky thing on top – sorry, am
not very good with descriptive words today. Was bluddy hot to wear –
wish I had a bikini on underneath!)

Hmmm, the walls are all naked in this building. Whatever art rental
service this company uses has come and taken away all the paintings!
The place looks dreary without them.

Okay, even though I've blogged since 2005, I've never posted one of
those "100 Things About Me" lists. So here goes...let's see if you can
spot anything that you didn't already know!

1. I'm 27, turning 28 in June.
2. I was born in England, moving to Australia when I was 4.
3. My parents are from Malaysia and India.
4. I have one brother. He's turning 30.
5. I was married on Valentine's Day 2004, to Hubby.
6. I've known Hubby since I was a kid.
7. We fell in love when I was 19.
8. He's English and has an adorable accent.
9. We were in a long-distance relationship from 1998 until three
months before our wedding. I loved the back and forth travel to
England.
10. The long-distance thing really suited me at the time.
11. Okay, #9 isn't strictly true – we spend a whole year in the same
country in 2001 when Hubby was here on a working holiday. Other than
that though, we were never together more than three weeks of the year.
12. Our mothers trained together as nurses in the 1970s.
13. Hubby has very strange parents – his Dad only speaks to him when
he's not getting along with a girlfriend, and he no longer speaks to
his mother.
14. My parents are also very strange – but in a good way – we speak to
them everyday and see them many times a week.
15. Hubby's nickname is "angel" – he's almost all sweetness and light.
16. When I say "almost" I mean don't mess with him or anyone he cares
for. He's sweet but not silly.
17. I'm a pharmacist but only work one day a fortnight in a pharmacy.
18. I work full-time for a pharmaceutical company.
19. I have a PhD in pharmacy.
20. My research was sociological.
21. My current work has nothing to do with my PhD and having one
doesn't make a difference to my pay or job title.
22. #21 makes me feel like a bit of a sell-out but I can't afford the
pay cut I'd cop if I worked in academia.
23. I find people who feel the need to pop pills and visit their
doctor for prescriptions when they have minor colds and headaches very
bizarre - but the ones who impose this hyperchondriac point-of-view on
their children really get to me.
24. I find people who refuse to vaccinate their children or take
antibiotics for a bacterial infection that isn't getting better,
preferring something with unproven clinical benefit because it is
"natural", completely infuriating and a threat to public health and
think they should spend some time living in the 19th century where
people died of measles and infections that are entirely treatable
these days.
25. I like making friends with people who are completely different to
me. It's boring to hang around people who have the same, for example,
political views, religious or cultural background, etc.
26. I am newly obsessed with gardening ever since we bought a house last year.
27. I spend at least an hour working in the garden every Sunday. It
slows me down and helps me appreciate the grace and beauty that
surrounds me.
28. I go to church almost every Sunday. It also slows me down and
helps me appreciate the grace and beauty that surrounds me.
29. It gives me a healthy dose of energy and perspective for the week.
30. I hate the way all Christian churches are portrayed in the media.
The good, quiet work of so many dedicated people are disregarded in
favour of the insane views of extremists.
31. I'm Catholic. Hubby is becoming Catholic too this coming Easter.
32. One of the reasons I still work at a local pharmacy is that, along
with going to church, it keeps me in touch with the local community.
33. I think it's hugely important to feel close to one's local
community and I think the "cult of the individual" is a very sad
thing.
34. I think that it's ridiculous that many large companies no longer
support charities run by religious organisations. Many worthy
charities are run by different religious groups and to cut them out is
political correctness gone mad.
35. I think that almost everyone goes through that teenage state where
they reject and question all forms of authority, and I think that
process is important. But I think many people get stuck there and that
fewer people are making it through to the other side where they learn
to continually look for deeper truths.
36. Even though I wouldn't call myself left-wing or right-wing, I do
have strong views regarding politics.
37. I find myself annoyed by people on both sides of politics.
38. I'm judgemental. I try not to be, but I am.
39. For example, when I see a very overweight person present with
prescription for their Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol,
reflux etc, I think "Gawd, lose some weight and you wont be on any of
this stuff!"
40.I reckon a lot of health professionals think the same way.
41.I hate when people argue with me when I'm so plainly right!
42.I do have a softer side, and visiting homeless people with St
Vincent de Paul has made me re-think how difficult it is to be in
control of one's life.
43.It also made me think about how we all make stupid mistakes. All of
us. We do stupid illogical things, even if our heads are screaming at
us to stop.
44.I want to do more volunteer work in my spare time.
45.But I worry that I'm not very good with people.
46.I get tongue-tied when I'm in a crowd of people in a social
situation and have to speak informally.
47.But I love lecturing and I have no fear of doing a formal speech.
48.I'm continually amazed at the stupidity of the general public.
49.I'm also continually amazed by the talents of certain people –
whether they are intellectual, creative or emotional talents.
50.I read the Sydney Morning Herald online everyday.
51.I love the letters section. I especially love letters from people
who have that dry sense of humour.
52.I was almost as excited at having a silly letter published
first-bill in the Sydney Morning Herald, as when I had my own research
papers published in scientific journals.
53.I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up but now I know
that it's a continual thing – I'm not suddenly going to get there.
54.I've always been the "quiet type".
55.I don't have a big group of friends who regularly meet up and hang
out together all the time.
56.But I do have lots of lovely friends when I think about it,
although I never see them as much as I should.
57.I'd much rather have just a few close friends than loads of people
calling me up all the time.
58.I've been called "cold and distant" but I'm not. I'm just not
always that great at getting close to people.
59.I don't think I've ever been as shocked as the moment Hubby was
diagnosed with testicular cancer in Nov 2005.
60.You know how people say "you never think it's going to happen to
you?" Well, they're right.
61.I worry everyday that his cancer will come back.
62.I've changed a hell of a lot over the last 18 months because of all
the stuff that Hubby and I have gone through.
63.When you encounter too much stress all at once, something changes
inside your head permanently. That's what I reckon anyway.
64.I worry about my parents getting older and I'm scared of something
happening to them.
65.I tend to get along well with people older than me. Especially
friends' parents.
66.I'm attracted to people who are a little different.
67.I am obsessed with Kate Bush and Tori Amos. Especially Kate. She's a genius.
68.I love reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.
69.I am still obsessed with Jane Austen. I will always love Mr Darcy.
Especially as portrayed by Colin Firth.
70.My school teachers loved me.
71.I went to a private, Catholic all-girls' school.
72.I got the shock of my life when I went to University and saw how
rude and disrespectful people – especially boys – were in tutorials.
73.Sometimes I worry that I care too much.
74.The thing I miss most about doing my PhD isn't the work, it's the
people. I miss working in an environment where I fit in.
75.I call Hubby way too many times during the day when I'm at work. I
never used to do this.
76.If I didn't need to work, I'd spend my time reading in libraries,
going to exhibitions, museums, films and concerts, learning new
talents and crafts, gardening, cooking and playing my piano.
77. #76 makes me sound like a retiree. But that's cool. I have no
interest in spending my spare time getting drunk and throwing up all
over myself like some other people my age.
78. I'm short-sighted. I wear contact lenses – or glasses if my eyes
are playing up.
79. I have curly, dark brown hair which I blow dry straight every so often.
80. I'm always trying to lose 5kg.
81. I love living in Sydney but I hate peak hour traffic here.
82. I hate getting out of bed in the morning!
83. I love going to bed at night – especially with a good book.
84. I hate driving. I freak out in heavy traffic. I'm a terrible driver.
85. I can't park in car parks. I just can't manoeuvre the car to fit!
86. Hubby often tells me that I need to accept that other people have
a right to their own opinion.
87. Our last big argument was over a friend of his who was into
homeopathic medicine. I said that it's unethical to charge people
money to for substances that have been diluted so much that they only
contain the "essence" of the original ingredient, which have never had
any proof of any clinical efficacy when compare with placebo, and that
properly trained naturopaths should not sell such products but stick
to quality-assured herbs and vitamins with clinical benefit.
88. Hubby couldn't see anything wrong with selling people things that
have a placebo effect if it gives them hope and makes them feel
better.
89. I told him that sort of thinking was removed from the traditional
practice of medicine and pharmacy years ago and that it's not right to
dupe the general public like that.
90.I have to accept that sometimes I need to agree to disagree.
91.Even if the other person is blatantly wrong and misinformed.
92.I hate having a huge mortgage and often think that we'd have so
much spare cash if we just left this expensive city.
93.I wish I wasn't one of those invisible people. It would be nice to
be one of those characters who everyone remembers.
94.If anyone is still reading at this point, they either have a very
long attention span, a need to skip to the end of books, or they're
champion time-wasters.
95.I love Hubby.
96.He's so lovely and warm to cuddle.
97.I often suffer from cuddle-stuckness in the mornings. That's my
excuse for not getting out of bed and to work on time.
98.I love Big Brother and Australian Idol. Those are my mind-emptying
escape mechanisms.
99.I was always picked last for sports teams at school. This has
probably scarred me for life.
100. I live for the moments of "yayness".