tomthevet - a prognathic mitten man

2010-03-08T07:43:00.002Z

MY BLOG HAS MOVED. This one got neglected - please visit http://prognathic.tumblr.com

Harry Patch (in memory of)

2009-08-19T00:34:00.004+01:00

Radiohead have a new song, an epitaph to Harry Patch, the last survivor of WW1 who died on the 25th of July at the age of 111. I find it hard to imagine that we now live in a world which contains no-one with any first hand experience of the war, 'lest we forget'.

The song itself is a simple 5 minute series of rising strings, with Thom Yorke lamenting over the top; clearly Radiohead in the same mindset as they were when they wrote 'Last Flowers'. It's by no means a masterpiece; I find the juxtaposition between the sweeping string orchestra and Thom's arhythmic lyrics quite difficult to handle, but then I should be used to that sort of thing with Radiohead. Probably a grower, certainly a song written about a very important subject - lets hope its presence in millions of iPods will help to keep people reminded of the sacrifice these men made.

You can download the track from http://download.waste.uk.com/Store/did.html for £1, and all the proceeds go to the Royal British Legion.

The Golem - Flyering

2009-08-18T11:57:00.004+01:00

The run of Broken Glass Theatre Company's "The Golem" finished on Sunday, and what a run it was. I didn't write about it during the run, because it soon became clear that the main route for people to find our website was through search engines, and with the huge number of online listings for the show (timeout etc.), I didn't want any blog posts to appear in the way to distract people from the broken glass website. The show ran for 4 nights, and you can see a series of blog posts posted during the run by one of the cast members here.

Camden Town is a unique place - it seems to contain people that only exist in Camden; I'm not sure any of the tattooed, mohicaned, ear-lobe-plugged, dressed-in-leathers-with-metal-studding people ever leave Camden, or if they do, they are so quickly diluted by the less eclectic of us that they go relatively unnoticed. In Camden however, they suddenly burst to the top of the demographic pile, so that those of us dressed in jeans and a t-shirt suddenly fade into a minority.

There are also, of course, a large number of tourists in Camden, who waft around in the breeze of Camden-residents rushing from stall to stall picking up random paraphenalia emblazoned with the Union Jack. In trying to discern who to hand a flyer you find yourself trying to calculate people's grasp of the English language from 10 feet - if someone says "merci" on taking one of your flyers you know you've probably wasted it. But then you never know, the Frenchwoman who briefly forgets the English for thank you might be a massive fan of physical theatre regardless of whether or not she can understand the language. Even then she might be multilingual. At the end of the day, you have to hand out your 500 flyers to the first 500 people who show an interest in taking one from your hand. I'd love to know what they flyering success rate is. Perhaps 1%?

More Camden Fringe related posts to come - I'm going to split them up, because there's so much I could talk about!

Florence and the Machine - Lungs

2009-07-31T20:08:00.005+01:00

When I first started the CD spinning (or, more accurately, hit play on Spotify) I was hugely disappointed that here was another young female singer, having been brought up on her parents' Kate Bush records, trying to create that 'alternative sound', and instead sounding like all those other singers that think London-sound is cool. The voice is reminiscent of Kate Nash, Laura Marling and, dare I say, Lily Allen, and the first track, Dog Days Are Over doesn't do anything to dispel this.

However, as the album continues. her accent very quickly melts into the background as you get carried away into a jolting, almost tribal wall of music. Every song is like a great book; you really can't put them down until you've found out how they finish. An underlying pattern of verse-chorus is hidden under the evolving drums, guitars, harps that build up and up until you can't help yourself joining in. Drumming Song opens with a pattern of drums that's reminiscent of 'People Party' by the relatively unknown band, "For Stars" and builds into an epic that makes you feel like you're flying through the Amazon rainforest at the speed of sound in the arms of a superhero that you're passionately in love with. Your face is being scratched by the creepers as you fly, and you're missing getting to see the monkeys, but damn you just don't care!

In short, this Florence has a massively powerful voice and can't half write a tune, and is clearly supported by some incredible musicians. I have been surprised, but pleasantly so! Yes it's easy to like, and yes it's going to be hugely popular, but that shouldn't be a reason to ignore something that is both pleasing to the ear and intrigues the mind. I for one am delighted that popular music is going in this direction - people are starting to think about their music again.

Sum

2009-07-12T00:17:00.003+01:00

I've just read "Sum" by David Eagleman. I didn't intend to buy it, and I'd never heard of it before this afternoon, but I was drawn to it in Waterstones today, and am incredibly glad I was. It's one of the most unique fiction books I've read in ages. It consists of fourty short (2-4 pages) narratives explaining how the afterlife might be. It expounds beautifully on the huge range of possibilities that our universe presents, and how no-one really knows the answer to any ultimate questions.

A particular favourite quote of mine comes from 'Missing' where it is explained that God is in fact a married couple, and that when you die, you enter a parent-child relationship with them. I love how cleanly it explains the synergism between science and religion

"Every human in the world is a child to them, and they devote a tremendous effort to their parenting skills.
It is heartening to see that they learn from us in the same manner that all parents learn from their children. For example it turns out they didn't know how to express the workings of their universe as equations, so they are greatly impressed with the ideas of their physicist children, who phrase clearly for them for the first time what they wrought"

This is a fantastic book, and I would unreservedly recommend it to anyone. It's well thought out, imaginative, unique, entertaining, humorous and moving, all at once.

Photos!

2009-06-29T16:06:00.009+01:00

Today has been an absolute scorcher (as has the whole weekend really), and I took the opportunity to go into the garden and Richmond Park to wave my camera around. I had a £2 off 1hr processing voucher at Snappy Snaps so I bashed the film in there in the afternoon, and here are a selection of pics I got.

From my Mum's sweetcorn plant. This little anemone is, believe it or not, the part of the plant that will grow into the cob.

A ladybird I spotted while patiently waiting for a damselfly to land on the patch of grass by my feet.

Another silly photoshopping escapade

This photo is less focused than I had expected. I used a macro lens at 70mm, 1/1000 sec, f/32. Should have had enough depth of focus (maybe a few cm anyway, which is all I needed!). I'm not sure why it's so blurred!

My lab coat out drying in the sunshine a few days ago.

Diving geese.

Warmth and Rain.

2009-06-27T23:59:00.000+01:00

Today has been a beautiful day. It was sunny, warm, and yet just cool enough to be bearable. And it had that sort of rain that comes when it's hot, and the sky still remains blue. You can just stand outside, hold your hands wide and enjoy the cooling drops of water falling on your face, and evaporating within a second; like natural air-conditioning. I didn't enjoy the rain as much as I should unfortunately, as I was trying to get my head around my elective project. As part of the initial research, I'm trying to fathom how farmers might perceive risk... relative? Economic? Not quite sure yet, but hopefully some pubmed scouring will be revealing over the next few days. Unfortunately, the few papers I've wanted to read have been just outside the university library's dates of subscription, so I haven't been able to read them. Grr.

Other than that, Dad and I cleared out the shed today, as we had a few cwt of sand to squeeze inside. It's always a very cathartic experience cleaning it out, removing piles of dust and rearranging everything at right angles, and in an organised fashion. A little bit of an OCD pleasure. I also had a little bash at photoshopping an old photo I took in Norwich a few years ago. I've made the foreground black and white, and changed the colour of the sky. It's not perfect, but let me know what you think.

An Afternoon in Camden

2009-06-24T11:44:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I cycled to Camden. I'm feeling it a little this morning, but nowhere near as badly as I expected to. I left Richmond Park at Sheen Gate, then headed up Castlenau to Hammersmith Bridge, then through Kensington, past Hyde Park, then through Regents Park to Camden; It's about a 25 mile round trip.

I found myself sat in the window of a coffee shop slowly imbibing the days coffee and devouring Heller's Catch 22, but my literary meal was regularly interrupted by the sights, sounds and smells of the street.
My nose was assaulted with a strange combination of roasting coffee, exhaust and the sickly aroma of caramelised peanuts from a street seller just a few paces up the street. It's probably the last job you'd want to do with a hangover (besides being a wine taster), particularly if you had a nose as large as this chap did, yet somehow he showed no signs of nausea from the warm toffee aroma surrounding his head.
From the back of the shop, the wailing of a small child was all but drowned out by the sound of the road, but when I moved further into the shop, I realised that the child's mother was engaged in a vociferous argument with someone over the behaviour of her child - "Don't you have children?". Ironically, the kid was so fascinated by this exchange that she was entirely silent while they shouted at each other, only to recommence her wailing when they stopped. Thus the piercing sound of child-scream was replaced by deeper adult-bark, and then back again, oscillating like this for what seemed like an age. Neither adult seemed prepared to step down from the argument, presumably because they both realised it was the only way to keep her quiet.
The street itself was a 3 lane one way high-street which led into a 5 lane junction. The front of the coffee shop was open, and so I was all but sat on the pavement. My first observation was the melting of the paint on the road, which resulted in small tyre prints being left in the red-zone line as cars squeezed too close to the kerb. This was followed by the sight of a man sat on a 1 foot wide ledge, 2 storeys up, in an apartment across the road. He wasn't planning on jumping, just happily sat there reading and enjoying the sunshine. I imagined an elaborate system of hoists within the room helping him to balance so precariously, and yet so nonchalantly, perhaps just to salve my conscience as I did nothing to stop him falling, merely took a photo on my phone.

2009-06-23T23:55:00.001+01:00

Tee hee

Bike tinkering complete!

2009-06-22T12:55:00.005+01:00

The bike has now been tinkered with, and is new and improved. Here's a list of the adjustments

New lights added as old bracket had broken
Brakes adjusted so both rear levers have action, rather than just one (thus removing irritating squeaking)
Wheels added (as they had to be removed for transport) and tyres pumped
Gear lever secured (as bolt had been lost)
Washed and hosed down
BOX ADDED (very exciting). I've attached some pictures below so you can see. I've used an old recycling box - if my parents need it they can have it back (I'm sure they wont mind that I've drilled a few holes in it) and I'll get a proper box. A really useful box would be good (as they have water-tight lids), but I'm not sure how to make sure the lid doesn't get stolen. I'd need to attach it to the bike with a chain or something. It's attached using an ingenious combination of holes and cable-ties, with another hole drilled to take the light bracket.

2009-06-22T09:49:00.003+01:00

I'm back home. The car took a long time to cram, mostly because I decided to bring my bike home. This involved pulling off its wheels (easier said than done, as some of the screws had rusted), and then balancing the frame on the back seat. The chain had to be wrapped up in a plastic bag to stop the seats getting oily, and then wheels were balanced on the middle of the frame. It needs a lot of work doing to it (cleaning, gear lever broken, rust removing, mud guard filing etc), and I'm most likely to do it at home.

The Golem has gone well - we're all rehearsed up now until we begin before the performances in August. I've written out a full score and musical prompt sheet, and must remember to keep practicing this holiday, both so I remember it, and so that I maintain my callouses.

My room in London is now impassable for boxes - it's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over a few years. Today will see a massive unpacking session, and also some bicycle fixing.

In other news, I've put some new pictures up on deviant art

The Golem

2009-06-17T00:32:00.004+01:00

The Golem rolls on. It's all slowly coming together. All the scenes have now been rehearsed, and the next few days will see the slotting together of everything into a continuous piece. I'm very excited about the music now, having written myself a short prompt sheet and the whole score (in mandolin tabulature). I'm managing to use the mandolin in a number of diverse ways on top of the usual string plucking or strumming. The body makes a perfect percussive drum, while the strings behind the bridge sound almost like clanging metal when plucked, all of which are proving invaluable in the performance. It's thrilling to hear such a range of sounds coming out of one small instrument, and really is putting it to its maximum use. The last few days have also seen the creation of the publicity flyer, and soon the poster. My recent discovery of photoshop, and the wonders that can be performed with a few mouse clicks have made image design much easier, and the flyer is looking very good. Alex's brother has designed a very classy image, which, with a little digital juggling, has fitted beautifully. Hopefully it'll be online soon.

If you want to see the play, it's being performed from Thursday 13th August to Sunday 16th August at 7.30 pm at the Studio Theatre, Roundhouse, Camden. Click here for more details, or here to buy tickets.

2009-06-07T21:01:00.007+01:00

A few weeks ago, I took my Grandad's old Minolta SLR to a repairers in Ilkley (Annings), to fix the shutter (which would open but not close), and to replace the blackouts on the film casing. I took it along to Derbyshire earlier this week, and also waved it around on our trip to Coton last week and really enjoyed playing with it.
I finally took the films to Boots to be processed, and there are some lovely pictures. However, I opted for a boots photo CD only, as I didn't urgently want the prints as I usually store my pictures on my computer, and it was much cheaper to just get the CD. When I got home I excitedly opened the CD, and the pictures looked great. That was, however, until my eyes got attuned to the photos. Within a few seconds the photos appeared incredibly grainy, and extremely poor quality. In fact, the whole CD (24 photos) is only 22mb in size. I've put some up here - they're fine for the internet etc, but they're nowhere near as nice as the originals would be (even if scanned from a print), so I'm going to go have to go back and get some prints made. Will not be using the photo CD service again!

Returned.

2009-06-04T08:14:00.002+01:00

I've just returned from the 5th Year Holiday in the Peak District. It was incredibly beautiful, and presented the opportunity for much walking (we must have walked 20 miles in 3 days), and picnics, barbeques, ball games and sitting around drinking beer. The perfect way to celebrate the end of exams. It also gave me chance to wave my camera around and take some snaps, of somewhere completely different. Every corner presented something picturesque, which made it quite difficult to select what to snap. I'll put some pics up over the next few weeks. I've recently made a deviant art page, where I've kept some of my favourite photos for the world to see. If you like, please add a comment or favourite one of the pics! T'would be fab.

Exams

2009-05-24T23:36:00.002+01:00

And so it begins. Exams tomorrow. Scared, but hopeful.

Today's discovery (apart from the primordial stew of knowledge swimming around my head) was this 1937 Cold poster. That's my kind of pathology (unfortunately not veterinary, so is of no use to me tomorrow!).

Avez vous?

2009-05-10T00:36:00.004+01:00

I am absolutely loving "avez vous deja vu?" - a fantastic series of French cartoon shorts I discovered from Sarah's blog here.

My particular favourite is Avez vous deja vu Poppi qui joue Hamlet au Royal Shakespeare Theatre?
They all end with "Maintainent, oui!" which I assume is - "now you have!"

2009-05-08T00:31:00.002+01:00

And so the lectures came to an end. That's it. Fin. Over. They've now didactically taught everything they can and so now comes the steep practical learning curve. Eep! It's a massive relief, and very exciting, but bloody scary at the same time.

2009-05-07T00:10:00.002+01:00

A marvelous faux pas.

Me: How old is your brother?
Megan: 15.
Tom: Aw, he's wee! Well, no, actually, he's probably about 6 foot!
Megan: No, he has growth hormone deficiency.
Tom: Ahem....

Meep! Luckily, taken in good spirits!

c u r r e n t l y

2009-05-04T23:29:00.005+01:00

Thanks to last.fm radio, and the ever plunderable Spotify, I've discovered Jason Webley - an American music-man who is a little like a more interesting version of Willy Mason who collided with an accordion and a few violins in a tragic (and yet beautiful) pile up, which was then attended by Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse fame) in a particularly shouty mood. Listen to the song 'Broken Cup' to see what I mean.

I've decided that in future I should avoid looking at photos of musicians on the internet however. They never look like you expect.

2009-05-04T23:27:00.003+01:00

The revision continues. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to commit things to any sort of a long term memory. I'm reading about diseases and thinking, yes, that makes sense, but it's so difficult to squeeze hundreds of pathogeneses and clinical signs in one brain AND then link them up with the right disease.
Things which seem to permanently fox me include Salmonella and E.coli - not sure why, I think I just try to make them much more complicated than I need to.

Still, there's still plenty of days to go!

2009-05-03T23:55:00.005+01:00

I have hair.

That's quite a sudden outburst I know, like I've just experienced a sudden acute bout of hirsutism, or have only just acquired a new toupee. However, I mean this in a more on-going, my hair is growing kind of a way. Now most people's hair grows, but mine tends to grow out and then in. Thus creating an arcing curve into a bowl the likes of which wedgewood couldn't imagine. However, my last haircut was done by Alex, and somehow she's managed to kill the bowl. My hair is now possibly 3 inches long at the longest part, and even in its untampered state looks half-decent. I'm well chuffed!

Tomorrow is slight trim day, to remove the tufts that are intent on invading my ear-canal like little miners, and the growths that are tumbling down my neck.

Ooo..

Crash Magazine

2009-04-29T23:59:00.007+01:00

I have just realised that I have never linked to "Crash Magazine", a new online arts magazine edited by Cambridge Grads, and my personal friends, Vicky and Reece. They say what it's all about much better than me:

"‘Crash’ is an aesthetic quality in opposition to the formulaic, the sterile and the life lived automatically.

Captured by an artistic production, it is the point at which forces converge to produce a moment of clarity which challenges the way we see the world.

Instances of ‘crash’ are not limited to a single artistic movement, but found in great art of all ages and all places. "

It's going to comprise of reviews, reports, snippets of creative writing, drama and visual art, and already includes some interesting material (including one of my photographs). Have a look at www.crashmagazine.co.uk.

Image courtesy of www.crashmagazine.co.uk

2009-04-28T00:20:00.003+01:00

I donned my summer clothes today (summer trousers, no coat and sunglasses). This was, however, a bad idea as I tempted the English weather into a comeback that rivalled Elvis Presley's post-humus number one back in 2005.

It rained, a fair bit
My sunroof was still open (though luckily somehow the rain stayed out, and my kindly neighbour put a note through the door to warn me)
An old man threw a packet of salt at me in the coffee shop near the vet school. He just lobbed it over a small partition wall and it landed with a slap in my lap. I think it was probably accidental, but that's one hell of a twitch.

Fail

2009-04-14T23:38:00.004+01:00

Have recently been enjoying failblog and have added my own - vote for it if you want to see it on the site!

Angry at TV

2009-04-08T22:47:00.003+01:00

I read an article today about an ITV program called vets uncovered, and it has enraged me somewhat. The major factor that has angered me is the fact that they took in undercover people with healthy animals, and gave false histories (e.g. my dog's been being sick), and then complained that at many vets there had been £100 bills run up. On numerous occasions I have seen owners come in, clearly distressed about the fact that their dog has been vomiting, but the dog has shown no obvious clinical signs with normal temperature, hydration status, alertness etc., and never have I seen a dog vomit in the consult room. Are we to be expected to turn these people away on the assumption that the owner must have made up, or imagined the problem? A veterinary consultation is a two-way process - the animals can't give their own history, and so a vet is entirely reliant on the owner's perceived history and then their own clinical exam. If we are to battle with mystery owners making up history, many animals in need of simple but effective treatment will go without.

Rant over.

Pyjamas

2009-03-09T23:30:00.004Z

And so the MCQ exams have finished (assuming this last one has been passed successfully)! We all rocked down in Pyjamas, looking like a uniformed bunch of upper-middle class students who'd recently been on a group trip to Jack Will's drapers and suitors (and been offered a very good deal on their latest line of baggy-slob fashion), except with more dressing gowns, and the occasional pair of slippers (though I'm sure Mr Will's do a fine line in those too). I remember seeing the 5th year one day last year, and being incredibly confused as to why they'd all, by some seemingly random coincidence (for I knew of no unifying reason why this should be so), decided that their pinkest clothes were due for an airing. It was of course their last MCQ exam, and so it is tradition that the final exam should be seen out in some sort of costume - and we chose pyjamas (by democratic vote).

Now, the examiners were entertained by this more lazy than usual attitude to morning attire that the students had taken, but the proctors were not. Apparently, we were very lucky to have been let in at all, particularly as we may have distracted the other students (who were also wearing pyjamas). Where has the fun gone in life? The turn a blind eye attitude that universities should take towards students engaging in non-violent, non-drunken daytime exam-related fun, does not seem to be forthcoming... though it would have been entertaining to see the entire year disqualified from the exam.

The exam was Clin Path (or Clinical Pathology for those less well versed in the unnecessary abbreviations of veterinary medicine) and was pretty tough, though rather invigoratingly so - it required some logic, rather than just blind regurgitation, which was nice. Helps differentiate us primates from cud-chewing ruminants don'cha'think. Hopefully it should be ok, and I can enjoy having a week where my next exam is not for 2 and a half months! Huzzah!

12 consonants in a row!?

2009-03-05T22:13:00.003Z

What an amazing word:

tachydysrhythmia

ta-CHY-DYS-RHY-THM-ia

Going Home and finding Cubes of Irritation

2009-03-02T22:31:00.002Z

I went home last weekend. It was really good to see the family again, and enjoy some home comforts, as well as a fantastic meal out at Frere Jacques in Kingston. I ate snails for the second time, followed by roasted pork with plums and savoy cabbage. It was all delicious, though I'm still not convinced by snails. These ones were much less garliccy than the ones I had in Paris a few years ago, which meant the underlying flavour of land-mollusc came through. It was strangely aniseedy, with a bitter tang. Not unpleasant, but certainly not delicious. I withhold judgement for the moment.

Also, while I was at home, I discovered an old Rubik's cube under my bed. I've not had a go at it for ages so I picked it up and had a few spins. I managed to work out how to get one side and a T shape on 4 other sides, but no more. However, once you've picked one up, they're very difficult to put down, and when I arrived back into Cambridge I found out how to finish it off with the help of a youtuber. Now I can do it every time - my quickest being 2mins 6seconds. If anyone is vaguelly interested, or cares, you can see my geeky video of me doing it in a slightly slower 2mins 30ish seconds. Just got to stop spending so much time working out what to do next, and I'll have it down below 2 mins. If I can be bothered!

2009-02-24T09:31:00.002Z

I was sent this silly little idea on Facebook, and it's quite fun if it works out.

Instructions:

1. Go to "Wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2. Go to "Random quotations"
or click: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3. Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

So.. what did I get?
Which I think worked out pretty well all told!

Making Focaccia 4

2009-02-22T15:51:00.006Z

Here we go. All finished, and well worth it. It has a pleasing salty outer crust (vaguely reminiscent of pretzels), with a fluffy olive-oily centre. Not too oily though. Delicious.

The recipe was from this website, and it worked very well. The only changes I made were not putting yeast in (ahem), but then adding it later, and because I rose it in a slightly warmed oven, I shortened the rising times from 2hrs, 45mins and 45mins to 1hr, 30mins and 30mins respectively. Also, I used dried rosemary from tesco, as we haven't got rosemary in our garden at uni.

A most delightful morning well spent. Now back to the cardiology.

Tom

Making Focaccia 3 (How can you tell I'm supposed to be revising for an exam?)

2009-02-22T14:03:00.004Z

Now yeasted and happy, focaccia is in the oven and we are very excited - here it is in ready to go state.

Making Focaccia 2

2009-02-22T13:18:00.003Z

Yes, Alex is right, and for all I'll be teased by my father, I did somehow forget to put the yeast in. Which means I spent 2 hours rising a lump of playdough. BUT, I've now added some extra yeast, with a splash of water and flour to help it dissolve, and the bread is now on its 2nd rise. Soon (though not as soon as originally though) there will be tasty focaccia.

Here's a picture of the dough struggling to rise (with no yeast).

Making Focaccia 1

2009-02-22T10:36:00.004Z

We're currently having a European morning. Having enjoyed a cup of coffee with croissants, and now I'm baking some focaccia - tasty Italian salted bread with olive oil and rosemary. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. At the moment, it's rising, and in our poorly lit Sunday morning kitchen it looks like this:

So dentistry day wasn't too bad.

2009-02-21T20:17:00.002Z

So dentistry day wasn't too bad. The worse thing was getting up, the best things were that it was a beautiful day, and it was actually very useful. I pulled an incisor and a 2nd upper premolar, both very successfully! Huzzah!

Saturday? Dentistry? Together?

2009-02-20T19:26:00.004Z

The intrepid 5th year are spending 7 hours at vet school tomorrow (Saturday) learning all about dentistry. Now, I don't mind dentistry - it's another string to the exciting bow of veterinary practice (what other profession lets you be a GP, surgeon, radiologist, dentist, business adviser and smart-ass all in one (with the possible exception of plumbers)?). I also don't mind Saturdays; in fact, I positively enjoy their usual lie-ins, and the invariable swelling of my fridge that occurs later in the afternoon.

What I don't enjoy however, is when Saturday and Dentistry conspire to coincide. With an almighty bang, like the start of the universe, but in a less exciting all-creating sort of a way. Especially bang-worthy is the fact that we have a Cardiology exam on Monday (which is pretty huge and conceptually difficult), so we're all a little unimpressed.

Still, it gives me something to moan about to anyone who doesn't have a 7 hour practical on Saturday. Bring on the sympathy

Tom.

2009-02-20T00:14:00.001Z

Some of the more astute amongst you may have noticed that some ads have appeared on the page (on the right-hand nav bar). Sorry, but if it helps, it's because I realised I don't give any money to charity. If by any chance I do make any money from the ads, it'll all go towards Macmillan Cancer Care.

And so the lists continue

2009-02-18T00:10:00.003Z

And so the lists continue... Monday is Cardiology, which is a course of 15 lectures, each one as listy as the one before. Just lists of diseases followed by lists of diseases. Incredibly dry, incredibly sapping. All the courses are like this. Jumping through hoops. Leaping, like a lion in the circus.

2009-02-16T22:36:00.001Z

Copied from my most recent post on the Broken Glass Blog (here)

"And so the first ever Short Fuse came and went, in a flurry of drama (not to mention snow), and was more of a success than we could have imagined.

My own personal involvement in Short Fuse, as web designer, poster-maker and mandolin player for Broken Glass’s own piece, Salon Loitscheck, has seen me follow the progression of the evening, and its philosophy from the initial idea to its conception and the evening itself. Vicky and Alex received a huge number of applications to perform on the evening, and were restricted to choosing around a quarter of these, which I think is testament to just how much something like this was needed.

In designing the posters, I wanted to produce something (like all publicists) that would give away everything the evening was about in as concise an image as possible..." read the whole post

2009-02-15T19:01:00.001Z

This is the tastiest honey ever. I can usually take or leave honey, but I decided to treat myself the other day in Tesco and splash out £3.99 for a pot of honey. Boy was it worth it!

What I've discovered this week.

2009-02-14T21:37:00.004Z

I haven't posted for ages again. There's been a flurry of exams (still 2 more to go this term), so I've resisted blogging.

I'm currently holed up in the Clare library. I've got an electric heater next to me, and a nice little cubbyhole in the laptop-room - very snug, unlike our house - which is freezing!

Things I've discovered this week:

Discovery from current revision: Dilated Cardiomyopathy is more common in dogs, while Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is more common in cats.
I much prefer espresso coffee from coffee shops than their horrible watered down mud. Particularly starbucks coffee which is strong, but in a horrible over-brewed way. Espressos taste good though. However, espressos are by definition, small, and so are not useful for stretching out for 2 hours for a work-fest. Hmm. Fortunately I have justified the caffiene content to myself by discovering that most bought coffee contains 2 shots of coffee, exactly the same amount as a double espresso. Huzzah!
People like drama - Short Fuse was a massive success (the room was completely crammed with people!). We had to turn people away at the door, and people were heard to remark that they want to come to the next one. So there probably will be another in Autumn. Huzzah!
You can hold a bed together with paperclips. I finally got hold of the bed for my room from my landlady, and unfortunately there were a few screw missing for the cross poles. Luckily, after some sword fighting with the loose poles, Reece, Bethmo and I came across some paperclips and twisted them around the poles to hold everything in place. Bodged beautifully.
Music made with dropping water is good, but only every now and then. Otherwise too much like water torture. The song I refer to is "Drop" by a Japanese chap, who goes by the name of "Cornelius" - very Japanese.
Gilbert and Sullivan can be quite good fun. After my previous trip to the Mikado which I promptly forgot a few days after seeing it, Alex and I went to see Iolanthe at the Cambridge Arts Theatre on Wednesday (our 4th anniversary), and it was very enjoyable. Nice and laid back, with some good tunes and an amazing set. The girl playing Iolanthe was particularly good. Plus the oboeist was, of course, a stand out genius (Mary).
While not strictly this week, Jamie Frost has a podcast. It rocks. Go to his website, or get it on iTunes. I'm listening to it while learning about myocardial disease, and it's very soothing when the fatty degeneration gets too much.

Tom

Excitements

2009-01-20T20:21:00.005Z

"Song" is now on youtube. You know you want to watch it! Unfortunately, the 4th video is taking a while to process, but you can watch most of it already.
EDIT: The 4th video is now available!

Part 1 of 4

Part 2 of 4

Part 3 of 4

Part 4 of 4

2009-01-20T20:18:00.004Z

This napkin drives me mad! "Less napkins"? Which fool came up with that? And which brain-dead monkey in management said "Duuh, yeah, do dat"?

Short Fuse and the cinema

2009-01-16T00:22:00.004Z

Rehearsals for Short Fuse have now begun. Alex and Vicky are putting on their adaptation of a part of "The Golem" by a Mr Meyrink (I think) for the Short Fuse event on the 6th of Feb at Liberties Bar in Camden. I am playing the new, and very exciting, mandolin (or tiny -guitar as it has now been dubbed) for the performance, as it requires some traditional music at various intervals. Rehearsals went quite well - I'm particularly enjoying my easy part of simply sitting in the corner of the stage tinkling away while people act around me. So that's how minstrels felt!

In other news, I went to the cinema with Alex last Friday to see "The Reader", featuring Kate Winslet's Golden Globe winning role as a concentration camp guard (lots of WW2 holocaust-related films around at the moment) who strikes up an affair with a 15yr old school boy, who later becomes a law student and is present at her trial for war-crimes. It made interesting viewing, and raised some interesting questions into the worth of trials, particularly of those lower down the orders (and the Nuremberg defense, which is only invalid if a moral choice was available to the defendant). Kate Winslet was fantastic, and as always I was amazed by Mr Fiennes' range. What a range... Again, a very different role from that he played in 'In Bruges', which was in turn very different from that in 'the Constant Gardener'.

Talking about ranges, there was an interesting blog about Kate Winslet's range on the Telegraph Online today, talking about the fact that she hides out of the lime-light which enables her to maintain such an impressive range of performances. It argued that because she keeps herself apart from celebrity culture we can forget we are watching 'Kate Winslet', and get fully involved in her role.

2009-01-11T17:18:00.000Z

The revision continues - even Charlie is getting into it...

NEWS FLASH

2009-01-08T22:14:00.002Z

17 DEGREES!!!!

What Will it Take to Heat this House?

2009-01-08T21:53:00.008Z

A little Maximo Park quote there ... a group of guys from the north who are probably loving the cold. It has been very cold in Cambridge, our house is struggling to reach above 14C inside. I recently resorted to nailing old curtains over the back door which has helped the temperature claw up to 16C. And no, the irony that I spent Sunday on my knees insulating someone else's loft has not been lost on me. I'm tempted to offer to do ours to the landlady. AND, everywhere in Cambridge has sold out of fan heaters! Even the disgustingly tacky bright pink Argos heaters had all gone. What will we do? What will it take to heat this house? Currently it's taking alot of gas and some chunky energy bills to... how shall we say... tempt it out of single figures?

On the other hand, it has meant my new dressing gown has been christened in exceptional style - getting hours of wear every day (pretty much from the moment I enter the house to the moment I go to bed). And my flat cap has had a little outing to vet-school. This brought a flurry of comments, possibly each one more sarcastic than the last (or less sarcastic... no... AS sarcastic?). Or not. I shall continue the wearing until everyone is used to the image of Tom as a posh farmer/landed gentry type-fellow. Excellent.

AND, we have an exam on Monday - Urology which is a LIST. LISTY LISTY LIST. A few tasty little concepts to get into, like the "nephrotic syndrome", and the big spider of renal failure, but apart from that, it's listylist. However, it did inspire Alex to give life to the beautiful song, #There's a hole in my glomerulus dear Liza, dear Liza#. Joy!

Tom

I've edited this post to remove my excessive use of the passive tense. Why do I think that writing in the passive makes me sound more capable of writing?

2009-01-07T11:36:00.003Z

Yesterday - Rotation day! I started the term with Obstetrics, which was a 'self taught' rotation, where we 'learnt' the finer details of calving and fetotomies. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice to say it involved wheelie bins with holes cut in the bottom. Classic.

That afternoon, we ventured to Mary's where she made us kedgeree, a weird Scottish/Indian dish of smoked fish, egg and rice. Only the Scots could think up something like that - with a little friendly Indian input. It was surprisingly nice - an official version of Andrew's very successful smoked fish risotto that he made last year.

2009-01-05T00:05:00.008Z

I have spent this evening resting my weary legs, and Alex and I have trawled the internet for interesting geographical marvels:

Ship Graveyards of Russia
The tiny city of Diomede on Little Diomede, the US Owned Island in the Bering Strait - photo
Chernobyl, Ukraine
The US Mexico Border in El Paso, complete with moat(?) separating the two

The Tale of the Dusty Loft

2009-01-04T23:59:00.004Z

I spent much of today hidden away from the sunshine, under a thin layer of slate amidst dust and other people's things.

One of my friends has spent the last few years doing garden work for one of our old supervisors, and his latest (non-garden related) job was to insulate her loft - for it was done in a very slap-dash way by whomever did it before. And so, with a little assistance from me, the loft was insulated. Boards were pulled up, had squishy fibreglass lain beneath them, and then replaced. I was glad of the face-mask provided, for it was black with dust afterwards - nice to know that could have been coating my alveoli, and yet, was not!

So, now I know how to insulate a loft - a useful life skill no?

Tomorrow lectures begin again... once more unto the breach!

2009-01-02T20:47:00.001Z

Christmas trees were sold, once again, for the 4th year, though this time at a *new* site in Richmond. Under the dappled shade of leaf-less trees, and the new found comfort of a portacabin we sold and talked-up trees until darkness fell and then beyond. Usefully, all of the local chains sold out early, which caused a cascade of customers which kept us busy and distracted from the huge job of raking up bales of muddy straw.

I worked in Northallerton (north Yorkshire) for a few weeks at the start of the Christmas Holiday, and it was cold. Not cold like we get in London. Proper, consistently in the negatives cold. I got snowed in, and spent one morning digging Mercedes drivers out of the snow in a small village with a few police men and women, and all the villagers. It was very rationing-time community spirited, and I for one loved it! Plus the vetting was fun too. I tried my hand at surgery for the first time, and managed to a reasonable job of cat castration and spaying, so hopefully all will be well.

London was also pretty cold, though nothing in comparison. Luckily, I managed to buy some leather (pimp) gloves for driving in after Christmas, which has staved off the frost bite. Luckily, it provided ample opportunity for some more seasonal photography, which included this tasty snap of a crow in Richmond Park a few days after Christmas. I love the colour of the sky.

2009-01-02T20:23:00.000Z

Another apology for lack of posts - I have been whisked away to places far away (well, Yorkshire) this December, and was, on occasions, probably further from the internet than you are from a rat in London, which I suppose is quite unusual when you think about it.

Tomorrow I set off for Cambridge once more, though first, I shall backdate a few photos.

Tom

2008-11-14T12:44:00.001Z

2008-10-23T23:17:00.007+01:00

A quick nod to the vet-thing, today I learnt how to listen to a horse's heart (not a moment too soon!) and managed to identify systolic and diastolic murmurs (hooray for vet-school horses)

¬0ӎ

Hearts and Vodka

2008-10-23T23:17:00.006+01:00

A quick nod to the vet-thing, today I learnt how to listen to a horse's heart (not a moment too soon!) and managed to identify systolic and diastolic murmurs (hooray for vet-school horses). The lady who runs the stable was surrounded by one gynaecology rotation, and our cardiology rotation, which lead to the phrase "are you here for hearts or bums?" Eurgggh.

In other non-vetty news, Alex and I are planning on creating chocolate vodka. It is a simple recipe involving cocoa nibs and vodka. Instructions as follows. 1) Mix nibs and vodka 2) Wait 3) Drink vodka. My sort of cooking (though I did make a champion Teviotdale Pie this evening if I may say so myself)!

T0ӎ

p.s. It was Alex's birthday on Tuesday, which means it's shout-out time. Happy birthday Alex!

My Photo in the Telegraph Online

2008-10-19T10:24:00.001+01:00

Dear Blog,

Today I got a photograph put on the Telegraph online website. Huzzah!

Click here.

They may have got the location wrong, but my name is still there!

¬0ӎ

Autumn

2008-10-18T14:44:00.002+01:00

We're having an absolutely beautiful autumn at the moment. It's appeared all of a sudden, but all of the trees look absolutely beautiful. I'm taking my camera out with me whenever I leave the house to take some snaps before they all drop!

¬0ӎ

New Monkey Pose!

2008-10-17T00:30:00.001+01:00

As you may have noticed, there is a new monkey picture - the first one for... well, over a year! I hope you enjoy it and fingers crossed there might be a few more on the way if I can get my creative juices flowing!

¬0ӎ

Discoveries this week...

2008-10-09T22:26:00.006+01:00

Things that I have discovered this week:

A "demonym" is the word which describes the inhabitants of a country. I.e. "English" is the demonym for England.
Some snails have "love darts", which are non-projectile organs which stab other snails during the passage of sperm, though they are not related directly with impregnation. Of course, snails are hermaphroditic.
Whoopi Goldberg has no eyebrows.
If you threaten a car with the garage, it fixes itself.
In the congo, brickettes are a convenient environmental fuel for burning, as an alternative to charcoal. They are made from old paper and sawdust, and are made by mixing these ingredients with water, and then compressing them in a tube to form a doughnut shape. And very effective they are too (by all accounts).

More to follow... probably.

2008-10-09T19:55:00.003+01:00

I went out yesterday to take advantage of the autumn sunlight in our garden and took some snaps. Some artsy (I especially like the one of the garden glove in the plant pot - it was like that when we arrived at the house, and none of us have moved it), some gruesomely green (our pond looks like the Amazon... crocodiles anyone?), and others just general garden snaps - you can see how gorgeous it is. All photos are on my flickr account, recognisetheview.

Rectalling a box - Update

2008-10-09T19:50:00.001+01:00

An update to my earlier post about learning rectal exams using PM uteruses in a box, here's how Glasgow do it.

Despite all the wires, it's still not a patch on using real life (well, dead) material and the joys and japes of a plastic box-cow.

Rectalling a box

2008-10-09T12:13:00.006+01:00

Have just enjoyed a morning's rectalling. It was a fantastically laid back, yet hugely useful rotation. We started off looking at post-mortem reproductive tracts (as a crash revision course), and had a go at some bovine rectal examination through plastic boxes with holes in! This was surprisingly useful - you could lift the top off to check you were doing it right, and they even had plastic pipe vulvas! Nothing was left out... except animation I suppose. Apparently Glasgow have virtual reality rectalling systems, but I'm not sure I believe this [I later discovered this to be true - see above]. Mary's brother has just started there though, so I shall get her to enquire about this. Rich took great pleasure in reaching inside the top of the boxes and grabbing James' hand when he least expected it - "It's the fetus!" I helpfully added.

Then we had coffee, and advanced to real horses, which I rectalled (and tail bandaged sucessfully - oh yeah, I rock the horsey world now I've passed my basic horse-handling exam!), and managed to find all the useful bits that lady-horses have.

Yes, it may look like a home-for blue-tits, but this is, infact, a schematic drawing of our cow-boxes. Hand goes in top hole.

Morning

2008-10-08T08:33:00.004+01:00

Good morning! Am up bright and early for a lecture on Cattle medicine. Our last lecture was really good and today we begin displaced abomasums(?, abomasi?) so should be interesting if I manage to stay awake. Am currently chugging tea to wake myself up. This time last year I'd have left already but in our new closer-to-the-vet-school house, I don't have to leave for another 5 minutes. Eeeexcellent.

Unvetty?

2008-10-07T23:31:00.003+01:00

Having bounced round the internet a little this evening I've realised that of the vetty blogs out there (for example, or try this one)mine is distinctly un-vetty. Partly this is because I am excited by things other than vetting, and don't want to bore people with the boring details of "today in lectures I learnt...", but maybe it's a shame. I don't know really.

Interestingly, have discovered a new fun way of learning diseases. It's a game called "I have a cow...", and essentially you think of a disease and someone has to work out what is wrong with your cow in a 20 questions yes/no style. It's a bit sad, but very useful. So far this evening Alex and I have covered RDAs, Milk Fever, Pulmonary adenomatosis, caseous lymphadenitis (yes, we branched out into sheep), white line disease and coccidiosis. Huzzah!

Freecycle

2008-10-02T08:49:00.003+01:00

I have recently discovered the wonders of "freecycle". The basic premise is that people have loads of stuff that isn't saleable, but would probably be useful to someone somewhere, so why throw it away? There are loads of local groups, based on yahoo, and all you have to do is post a message offering something, and it gets sent out to the list. The Cambridge one has over 14000 members, and yesterday I picked up a new mattress for my room, to replace the TINY bed I had before. I drove out to a little place called Whaddon, and, using some new £4 bungee cord and Alex's help, rolled it up into a tube, and squeezed it onto the back seat. And so now, I have a double mattress that can be put on the bed-frame that I am assured is somewhere in the vicinity of the house - just to find it!

Plus, since I got a new bike last term, my old bike has been sitting around gathering dust (and rust). It's not really worth anything, so I popped it on freecycle last night, and I've had 10 replies already! Crazy! I'll have to choose someone by apparent-deservedness. Blimey!

Car

2008-09-28T22:16:00.003+01:00

I have just realised that my spate of non-blogging over the summer means I have not mentioned the new car. I have a new car, which is VERY exciting! Tis an old peugeot, and most impressive, if a little French (see below!). Image is not of mine, but gives you the general gist. I would not park mine in a field, unless that field was full of cows and mud... as well you know.

French Cars, and Holocaust Films

2008-09-28T22:07:00.003+01:00

On Friday, I ventured out to the cinema for some large-screen entertainment. "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" was not, for some reason, showing on either of the central Cambridge cinemas, so being the spoilt towneys that we are, we could go to a third cinema, a little further away. In previous years we would have spent 45 mins hiking there on foot, but this year, I have my little (well, actually quite big) peugeot, so off we drove.

Unfortunately, the car, having an annoyingly French mind of its own, decided that "zeze multi-story-carparkes are not for me moisieur! You wish for me to sit around wiz zese other Engleesh and German cars!? PAH!", and refused to MOVE. Fortunately, with a little coercion, and lots of revving, I managed to squeeze it into a space, much to the chagrin of the people behind me who must have been quite irritated at the retarded boy in the old car stalling it about 50 times (I repeat, car's fault!).

The film was amazing. It was touching, moving, and had an amazing spin towards the end, that I didn't suspect until it was all too late, and then the whole audience was pulled down with it. It was a holocaust film on a much more personal level than most, and managed to be harrowing without being exploitative. As it finished, I didn't know what emotions to feel, I just stared at the credits for a minute, my mind spinning. In short, go and see this film. Even if you just see it once.

Tom

A small plug...

2008-09-24T22:22:00.000+01:00

Horse Vetting

2008-09-16T13:13:00.002+01:00

I have spent the last 2 weeks working with an Equine Vet, and, surprisingly, thoroughly enjoyed myself. They have no concept of normal working hours, so I was usually doing 11-12 hour days (with a 1 hour commute each way), but it was well worth it. I've learnt a huge amount, become more confident with horses, done nerve blocks, half a castration and a whole castration (horse and cat respectively) and learnt loads. It'll definitely stand me in good stead for next year which is jam packed!

The only problem is that I'm now full of a cold :(

The Fringe

2008-09-01T13:09:00.000+01:00

I hope this blog doesn't die! It's been going for so long, but I've been really lazy at updating it.

The Fringe was amazing. I was only there for about 4 days, and by the time I left it felt like my life - you get totally engrossed in getting up - handing out flyers - moving bathtub - show - lunch - flyers - see another show or 2 - hand out some flyers - eat - flyers - see a show - sleep. Just crazy busy, and knackering - how the cast, directors and Jo coped with a whole week I'll never know.

The show went fantastically, though it was ruthlessly snubbed by The Scotsman, the festival magazine "Three Weeks" seemed to appreciate what Alex and Vicky had tried to achieve - it wasn't months of hard work for nothing. The owner of the theatre thought it was fantastic too, which was a real bonus.

You can see some fringe photos on the Theatre Company webpage, www.brokenglassplay.co.uk

Cattle?

2008-08-18T23:14:00.003+01:00

Blimey - it really has been a long time since I last posted, and now I'm well over halfway through the holidays.

Mostly I've been vetting, fitting well into hand-up-cow's-backside and kitten adoring stereotypes; while also assisting in preparations for Broken-Glass-do-Edinburgh.

I seem to have fitted quite happily into the life of a large-animal vet. There's something about being outside in the open, driving around beautiful landscapes (so far I've experienced those of Cheshire and West Yorkshire) and turning up on farms. Yes, to an extent it's saddening that the opportunities are not there for huge heroics, but every decision has repercussions on a whole herd, and in most cases being a vet is a much more respected position on-farm. Almost all of my work has been with cattle, and I just love them. As animals I think they (more specifically dairy cattle) are a perfect balance between tame and wild. Tame enough to deal with (with sufficient precautions, the likes of which you should be able to, but cannot use with horses) but just that little bit wild to keep it interesting. This is then all tied in with the economics and politics of farming that fascinate me. Maybe as a London-boy I'm a little behind, but it hasn't seemed to bother most people, and I'm willing to dive in outstretched arm first. 2 years to go, lets see what happens.

Castle Mound 2008

2008-06-16T23:42:00.004+01:00

Ben managed to drive an entire clan of Chavs of Castle Mound today.

Ben: Y'a'right mate?
Chav: Wat college ya from?
Ben: I'm not from a Cambridge, I'm from Durham, Up north
Chav: Like, Scotland
Ben: No, Durham, it's in England
Chav: Edinburgh
Ben: Durham
Chav: Shropshire
Chav2: Lake District
Ben: No
Chav: Yorkshire
Chav2: Lake District
Ben: Sort of
Chav: Glasgow
Chav2: Lake District
Ben: No
Chav: Blackpool
Ben: No
Chav: Newcastle
Ben: Yeah, it's near Newcastle
Chav: Liverpool
Ben: No
Chav: So where is it... just tell us
Ben: Durham
Chav: Why dint ya tell us dat?
Ben: I did
Chav: 'Av a nice night fellas... and ladyfellas.
Ben: You too
Everyone: slightly nervously YOU TOO.
Chavs: E's off 'is rocka mate!

Broken Glass

2008-06-15T12:04:00.005+01:00

Important news is that the Broken Glass Website is up and running fully now - looking quite snazzy if I may say so myself. Have a look round and read about Song. It should be quite an exciting and moving play to see, so if you're in Edinburgh, or need a good reason to go, let it be Song.

Playlist

2008-06-09T12:05:00.001+01:00

I made a playlist!

2008-06-05T01:23:00.003+01:00

Exam done. It wasn't great, but it was alright - it seemed to concentrate a little too heavily on being able to identify inflammatory cells (which I'm crap at).

I have loads of mouth ulcers at the moment (~12), and having just done an alimentary exam, I'm convinced I've got ulcerative stomatitis, or possibly foot and mouth disease, or even malignant catarrhal fever. The problem with veterinary knowledge! You think you have the symptoms of diseases it's impossible for you to catch. The ultimate hyperchondria!

Bridles, Coffee, Blogs and Cyclists

2008-06-04T10:31:00.003+01:00

Hurrah! So I'm all bridled and meetinged up now. I thought I could do bridles, but I'm resigned to the fact that their complicated leathery straps are just too much for my brain to handle. I managed it in the end (though needed some more pointers as the horse refused to take the bit) though. I've also had coffee (how I needed coffee) in the little cafe to prepare for the Alimentary exam, and edited my blog. How committed I am. Actually, I've reached the stage where last minute cramming will turn my liver into fois gras (fatty change in the liver resulting in vacuolated hepatocytes with eccentrically placed nuclei as a result of increased food intake in birds didn't you know) and my brain in to mingmush (not sure what the pathogenesis of this one is).

Ah, term is almost over - It's gone so damned quick!

News item of the day - I wonder how long it is until these damned cyclists in Cambridge are allowed the wrong way up one-way streets - it can only lead to deaths, though probably more economic use of police time.

Profile errors?

2008-06-04T00:29:00.002+01:00

I've just realised that my profile random question reads the following:

Q: Your pajamas have duckies on them. Why did you switch from choo-hoos?
A: I would probably cover myself in golden syrup and then roll in sawdust. Mmm. Crunchy

Of course this is an answer to a completely different question, but I'm going to leave it for comedy value.

The evening before the exam.

2008-06-03T23:20:00.007+01:00

The evening before the exam. Alimentary is tomorrow morning. I'm not overly worried, but nowhere near as confident as I was before breeding (which I found out I passed today). It seems to have snuck up on me without me realising. I seem to have continually convinced myself that it is a few days away, and here I am with it being tomorrow morning. Still I've made notes, and been through everything at least once. There are alot of drugs with silly names that don't seem to be going in, but apart from that it's fine. The picture on the left is a photo of a skull with "lumpy jaw", caused by Actinobacillus lignersi which is essentially an osteomyelitis of the mandible. See if you can work out which species the skull is though... It's hidden in this post somewhere. WALLABY!

I've also got to go in early tomorrow to prove that I can put a bridle on a horse - I messed it up the other day (got the throatlash twisted through the top), and so have to go back to show that I do now how to do it. Should be fine, I've had a practice which was fine. Hopefully nerves won't get the better of me! I've also got to meet my supervisor tomorrow for my termly meeting, to discuss EMS gone and to come, and to check I'm still in one piece!

2008-06-03T00:13:00.003+01:00

I was very glad to find out today that biscuits are getting the coverage and respect they deserve. Often the important work they selflessly perform is overlooked as they calmly sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Other random links, the designer of the pringles can is buried in one.

Amazon tribe, never seen before.

The eternal growth of trees, no matter what gets in the way

Logic rules

2008-06-02T23:01:00.003+01:00

I'm currently enjoying having translated my lecture notes on Alimentary Pathology from an illogical stream of randomness to a logical progression for each disease with --> style arrows and everything (one thing I have forced my Mac (now running iWork, not office) to take from Microsoft is the creation of an arrow from '-->'). It's so much simpler to revise from when you start with the pathogenesis, go into clinical signs and then pathology. I'm enjoying it anyway!

Damned window-smasher

2008-06-01T18:05:00.000+01:00

Someone smashed my sister's window the other night, showering her room with glass. If I find out which drunken 1st year Yorker did that, I'll give them beatings.

Amnesia...?

2008-05-30T18:37:00.002+01:00

So anyway, little thought for the week. A hypothetical situation to consider…

I am given a drug - a perfect amnesiac, producing 100% amnesia, but no analgesia, muscle relaxation, loss of consciousness etc. This drug is administered for 1 hour, and lasts for only 1 hour, by which time it wears off instantly. During this one hour period, I am exposed to a painful stimulus, say a capsaicin infusion that lasts only 10 minutes, before wearing off with no lasting pain.

During this 10 minute period, I can of course feel the painful stimulus, I have not been given any analgesia. However, as far as I would be aware, I would also have “woken up” one hour after the analgesic was administered. Extreme cases of amnesia result in people believing they have woken up for the first time regularly, as they have no memory of anything that has happened in the past. So, if I was effectively “asleep”, though 100% conscious during that time, and presumably able to scream at the pain, if I feel, after 1 hour that I was asleep the entire time, did I actually “feel” the pain - was my welfare compromised?

It’s a really interesting question I think!

Birthday

2008-05-29T20:31:00.004+01:00

I haven't posted for a while - my apologies!

Last week was my birthday, and I proudly entered my 23rd year (22nd birthday) with a stylish MCR formal followed by cellar-time (i.e. Bar) with friends. 15 people came to formal in the end, including Linguists, House people, school friends and some vets, and we all had a great time (for a low-low price!). Rahul came up from London, which was exciting; it was good to see him. The linguists were in the midst of their exams, so I think they enjoyed the brief ability to escape the pains of exams.

Photos:

2008-05-14T18:11:00.006+01:00

As you can see, I'm procrastinating quite heavily - I largely blame 'VPH' or Veterinary Public Health as it is more accurately known. It's interesting, let's not pretend otherwise, it's just a bit dry. Filled with welfare legislation, notifiable disease regulations, control methods, zoonoses, salmonella, PMs, abattoirs, salmonella and salmonella. I've got as far as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and just want to burn something! Apparently Cambridge was criticised a while back for not doing enough VPH, and now we seem to have bounced in the opposite direction... 39 lectures!!! It's as big as BIDDS was!

3 Exams this term, Alimentary (which is really good), Animal Breeding (also really interesting - the obs and gynae stuff is seemingly my thing, probably helped by doing developmental bio last year) and VPH.

I've just discovered that there are loads of vet student blogs out there - maybe when I've got some time I'll scout out the best of them.

Tom

Bad unis.

2008-05-14T17:51:00.005+01:00

Seems like the people at Kingston University have been taking a leaf out of ARU's book!
click here for news link

“if Kingston comes down the bottom, then the bottom line is that nobody is going to want to employ you, because they'll think your degree is shit”

“although this is going to sound incredibly biased ... if you think something was a 4, my encouragement would be, give it a 5”

Boris is Mayor... update

2008-05-14T17:48:00.001+01:00

So Boris is the new mayor of London then. I suppose it's evidence of how keen the people of the UK are just for a "change" of some sort.

UPDATE

So he's scrapped the mayor's free London newspaper. I can see what Ken was thinking in making it - give the people a common publication to try to create some sort of a sense of community (as close to a village newsletter as one can get in London), but it's a huge waste of paper, must have lead to hours of cleaning time on the tube (they're always rammed with them), and cost £3million! £1million going to plant 10000 trees on streets can only be a good thing - it'll make people happy, and hopefully give us all a little more oxygen!

Linkies!

2008-05-14T12:57:00.005+01:00

Some random and exciting links for your internetty perusal.

A story about a huge cow! Enjoy!
An amazing table, named after the tasty product of the female version of the above.
The most fantasticest computer ever- I am now the proud owner of one, bought refurbished on ebay so as to lessen the insult to my bank account. I'd recommend the seller (mactuition) as he provided an excellent service!

Picture pinched from www.telegraph.com - hope they don't mind!

Thoughts

2008-05-12T22:53:00.007+01:00

Jesus' 1st instinct when confronted with the sick was to heal. Lepers, the blind etc. So a god doesn't 'like' suffering, he hates it.
I'm sure I've lost a proportion of my readership already (however many you are). Simply using the J word evokes emotions in most people - in many, fear, confusion, anger, pity and resentment. I know for me the word still conjours up images of South American States-types preaching "Jesus Christ, praise the lord" which I find shocking. And images of CICCU hoodies and people professing to know all the answers. People telling me I am "a parachutist without a parachute" [CU in 1st year] just succeed in scaring me off and creating a stigma for themselves and religion as a whole.
In Alastair McGrath's rebuttal to Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion", "The Dawkins Delusion" he makes the observation that many eminent scientists and intelligent people are practicing Christians - surely they are not all "deluded" people with an "imaginary friend" as Dawkins would have you believe - do they know something I don't?
I've already had the shocking epiphany that a belief in God and an understanding of science are not incompatible (here) which was vitally important in seeing that 'God' is not a deluded excuse for not understanding. I suppose it is an explanation for that which cannot be explained; that which we can explain (his work???) we do - through science.
I don't want to be "Christian" or "religious", I'm almost ashamed of the stigma, but there is also no way I can be an atheist - it seems to be ignoring a huge proportion of the argument. I couldn't come to terms with, for example, the death of a loved one with a simple "that's the end" attitude. I would need to believe that there is something more, that I would one day see them again. Of course need is a well documented atheist explanation for the existence of religion, and that shouldn't be a starting point, but it's important.
One of my previous questions "Why church?" has been answered in a number of ways. One, an evangelical response was "If we believe that God exists, then it demands some sort of response rather than apathy as most of the British public choose" ,and another less evangelical one "it's like going to a dinner party where you've had an amazing time and thoroughly enjoyed yourself. You should say thank-you". Both I think, are good answers.
I realise that I'm mostly just presenting information here in an unstructured fashion - maybe I'll return to this later and make it more readable (perhaps a cogent argument would be useful), but at the moment I don't really know where I'm going with it, so it's difficult to structure. I'm writing this down to justify decisions I make. Any move from here will have to be one I find logical and one I believe to be valid.
To leap back to the start, suffering. People believe different things (or more than one). We have free will, and certain types of suffering (war etc.) are a result of a human abuse of this. Other, natural forms of suffering are harder to justify in a loved world. I suppose they simply result from the natural way the world is set up. Take cancer as an example. It is, in most cases, a normal cellular function taken to an extreme - cell growth uncontrolled, and the result of a mutation in the genetic code for either a "tumour suppressor gene" (TSG) or an "oncogene" (actually an 'after the horse has bolted nomenclature, like calling bones 'flaccidity preventors', or television aerials 'static removers'). All genes are mutable and this can result in their malfunction which can lead to cancer through the loss (TSG) or gain (oncogene) of function of these genes. However, of course mutation - the imperfection in the replication and maintenance of DNA is vital for the processes of evolution - without this imperfection, all species would be static, infact, most wouldn't exist at all. So in order to have evolution, there must be imperfections in the system which leave it open to pathology. Does this mean the world is imperfect? Not necessarily, it's just the way it is.

Cows continued...

2008-05-08T00:01:00.001+01:00

Well indeed Mary, what about the cows? I saw them again today - whiffling grass as if nothing has had happened. And I'll tell you something else - the theodolite man was gone... I think this can only lead us to 1 conclusion. Yup, they ate him.

Actually, I saw a theodolite man in Lion's Yard today too, so I suppose they must have set him free. Cows have hearts too (bloody big ones if I remember my IA anatomy correctly).

2008-05-04T01:24:00.000+01:00

So Boris is the new mayor of London then. I suppose it's evidence of how keen the people of the UK are just for a "change" of some sort.

2008-04-30T21:14:00.004+01:00

This morning, on the way to lectures, walking along the Storey's Way cycle path I was distracted by an engineer in a field. He was using a theodolite, presumably to do theodolitey things for a development of some sort (ok, I don't know what he was doing) right in the middle of the field of cows. The cows however, were not neatly distributed, or even in a random herd; they were crowded behind him, all carefully watching. If any of you, like Jen, are worried that cows are more intelligent than they look, this poor quality (UFO style) mobile phone photo will only add to your paranoia.

Yesterday I gave blood, and so did Alex. She came along for moral support (though I pointed out that this would make me seem like a scaredycat), and was so impressed by the whole affair ("I thought it would involve knives and buckets!") that she gave blood an hour later (after a trip to Sainsbury's). Worryingly, she also managed to predict her blood flow rate into the bag at exactly 43 ml/min... scary!

This evening we have had an uber-cleaning fest. The hall, landing and kitchen have been hoovered, and the hall and kitchen mopped, alex is frantically dusting and vacuuming her room. Two days ago we flash-mobbed the living room, and shifted furniture before leaping in with the hoover, and I dusted my room at the weekend. Slowly, we are freeing ourselves of the respiratory nightmare that is our house. Please, parents, if you're worried about your child developing asthma, bring them here for an hour and they'll be desensitised for a century.

In other news, my computer is breaking. It's been deciding again that 2 usb ports is one too many, and so I again have to chose between internet, printer, music or pen drives - turn off one, plug in the other etc. etc. Plus it's been crashing alot for some strange reason (I think it's confusion at an external hard drive), and for some reason Ubuntu has started crashing too). I've been eyeing macs up again... apparently there's a new macbook coming out soon, so I'm not sure whether to hold on and see what they're like, or jump in and get one of the current ones cos no doubt the price will go up. Or whether I should even get one at all. Oh well!
Edit: actually it seems the new macbooks are already out.

More blogs.

2008-04-29T11:56:00.008+01:00

Just squeezing a blog or two in before the end of April. I'm sorry I've been awol for a month or so, I've been galavanting around during the Easter holidays doing various vet-related things, and haven't though to blog. You'd think it'd be in the blood by now. Sorry!

In recent Cambridge news, the Broken Glass website has been revamped using some cunning css and html japery that Andrew and a wesbite have taught me - it makes designing about a trillion times easier to do, and has enabled me to do it simply with the use of a text editor. Huzzah! Take a look and be delighted :)

Also, Vicky, Alex and me went to see I am Kloot last week at the Junction, and my what a gig it was. Kloot really are amazing, even their new album (which I feel is quite poorly produced) sounded good live, which thankfully helped me realise that it's not the band that have gone awry, just the production. They're still good songs. They were supported by a random American called Ferraby Lionheart, which really is a good name, even if it did take me about 100 failed attempts at remembering his name before I got it. He was quite good - fairly standard guitarry-singy stuff, the sort of thing you could imagine drifting down the tunnel to the museums at South Kensington tube station. I got a poster at the end (it's got cartoony pictures of the band from a gig they did in 2006 on my birthday so I had to get it really), and just as I bought it, John, the lead singer turned up with a big black pen. So I asked him if he'd mind if I "waved a poster under his nose", he didn't mind and signed it up. Huzzah!

Small Fluffies

2008-04-22T12:13:00.001+01:00

Today I was less muddy than your average common-or-garden vet student as I was playing with small fluffies. I handled rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, guinea pigs, degus, chinchillas, ferrets, tortoises, corn snakes, bearded dragons, salamanders, skinks, and tarantulas.

Most surprising: Bearded Dragons - much softer than skaly skin and spines suggests
Nastiest: Hamsters - I held one hamster, and then another. The second was convinced my hand was the other hamster and sniffed, sniffed, sniffed and then nibbled. Little sods.
Best pet: Guinea pig all the way

House!

2008-04-21T21:09:00.000+01:00

We have a house! After months of searching, we've finally found and managed to stake our claim on a lovely little three bedroom house in a great location. Woop!

2008-04-08T00:24:00.002+01:00

I haven't blogged for an age, as I've spent the last 3 weeks distracting myself with vet related fun. I spent two weeks at my 1st EMS practice in New Malden, and had a good time. Vets work long hours and stand up for most of those, which takes some getting used to (though you can buy foot cushions I discovered yesterday) but I haven't been put off yet!

10 Gnomes

2008-03-09T11:08:00.005Z

10 Gnomes is a game I suggest you all have a go at. Just find ten gnomes in the nicely photographed scene. Sounds easy doesn't it!

Rabbit!

2008-03-01T15:13:00.004Z

Rabbit!

Apparently this is the 1st thing you are supposed to say at the start of a new month. According to Tom T. I just stick with the reliable "Pinch-punch" - never fails (except when I forget).

This week has been tiring, not least because I've done two post-mortems (at about 4 hours each, spending the entire time standing up, it's quite surprisingly knackering, along with a 6-lecture day on Tuesday, and a late-night lambing shift on Wednesday. PM was quite good fun, even though our animals were lacking in anything obviously diagnostic. Nevermind - it was a good opportunity to have a good look at normal.

Also, saw Juno yesterday - a good film, and 85% happy as I described to Andrew.

CAMS Open Mic Lent 2008

2008-02-26T01:13:00.006Z

Alex and me played at the CAMS (Clare Alternative Music Society) Open Mic Night on Sunday. We played two tracks, Proof by I am Kloot, a classic that we've played once before, and the more adventurous Lover, You Should Have Come Over, by Jeff Buckley. He's got some really impressive chord progressions, and it was a challenge, but I like to think we made a good stab of it! The open mic nights have been really impressive recently, and it was really satisfying getting such an amazing response from the audience - the cellars were pretty packed. Plus, Alex was mistaken for "Amy Buckley", Jeff's non-existent sister... she must have been singing pretty well to be mistaken for a blood relative of the man himself... and I suppose Buckingham does sound a little like Buckley.

All of the other musicians were fantastic, including Davy, Ruth and Paddy who played some cool Irish ballads, and The Staircase Band who got my blood pumping with their European folk accordion, brass and violin tunes. They sound alot like A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and I seriously suggest that anyone who has ever come in contact with an accordion and thought that it was possibly the sexiest instrument around to check them out (both, though you'll need to look out for the Staircase band in Cambridge). I have added a photo of Alex and me at CAMS, I hope the people responsible won't crucify me for stealing it, but it's an amazing photo. If you are from CAMS and you'd like me to take it down, email me, but I'm linking to your facebook group!

C u r r e n t l y m u s i c 26/02/08

2008-02-26T01:04:00.004Z

Currently listening to:

Roxy Music, Roxy Music
I am Kloot - Moolah Rouge
A Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Way the Wind Blows
Radiohead - The Bends
Jeff Buckley - Grace

New Bike

2008-02-26T00:53:00.002Z

I have a new bike! I decided that it was finally time to lay my mountain bike of 10 loyal years down. It was too small for me, and was becoming an unnecessary effort to cycle. So, I toddled out to a cycle shop on King's Street (same road as the Bun Shop for those of you that Cambridge), and a helpful chappie sold me a hybrid road bike for £60. It's large enough, easy to cycle, has new brakes, a pannier, and can go much faster, with less effort than my old one. Huzzah! Plus it was a bargain. Am well chuffed.

In other vaguelly bike related news, I cycled up to the lambing shed with Alex tonight (she's doing a crazy midnight 'till 8am shift, yes, they work us vet students hard), and found out that my caeserean section sheep is doing well, as is it's little lamb. Huzzah!

PM

2008-02-25T17:00:00.000Z

I spent this morning in the post mortem room, post morteming a cat. It was very interesting, but unfortunately it showed fewer lesions than we expected which meant, while we got a good chance to see what normal should be, we had nothing exciting to write up. Hopefully we'll have more luck on Wednesday!