Just another day...

OK, I'm not a bad multitasker, but this is rediculous! These moments where you have wet-lab (and therefore time-dependent) work needing to be attended to (timer beeping), and boss wants an evaluation form completed urgently, and admin person downstairs needs stuff signed AND our little German burns half her finger on a bunsen burner and needs doctoring... all at the same time!!

Luckily, being a little assertive and stepping out of the lab for a second helped me get my ducks in order and everything went relatively smoothly. I even think my Western Blot has been textbook so far (touch wood).

Now suddenly there is a moment of calm, and I decided to blog :-)

It's me again

For those who have been peering at my unupdated blog for the last 1.5 years and have been prodding me in person or by other social networking means to write something new, here's the thing: I did not leave the blogging world. It's just that the literary shit I was regurgitating between mid-2010 and end-2011 was so mind-numbing, so emo and so pathetic, I was really not going to put you through that. And I had this moment of paranoia when some folks were saying I was not myself and I decided that, whoever I was/wasn't, I was not letting that someone-not-me get hold of this blog!! Ok, so in summary, I'm pretty sure this is me. Hi.

Chin up, bitch

Empty spaces - what are we living for?
Abandoned places - I guess we know the score...
On and on!
Does anybody know what we are looking for?

Another hero - another mindless crime.
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime.
Hold the line!
Does anybody want to take it anymore?

The Show must go on!
The Show must go on!
Inside my heart is breaking,
My make-up may be flaking,
But my smile still stays on...

Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance.
Another heartache - another failed romance.
On and on!
Does anybody know what we are living for?

I guess I'm learning
I must be warmer now...
I'll soon be turning round the corner now.
Outside the dawn is breaking,
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free!

The Show must go on!
The Show must go on!
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile, still, stays on!

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies,
Fairy tales of yesterday, will grow but never die,
I can fly, my friends!

The Show must go on!
The Show must go on!
I'll face it with a grin!
I'm never giving in!
On with the show!

I'll top the bill!
I'll overkill!
I have to find the will to carry on!
On with the,
On with the show!

*sigh, slide to the floor*

The Show must go on.

10 things celebrity World Cup visitors (eg. Tom Cruise, Victoria Beckham or Mick Jagger) wouldn't experience in South Africa on their 6* platinum tours:

1) The taste of aloe juice directly from the leaf (ew!!)
2) "Gaan kak in die mielies"
3) A rocky beach walking/running trail that is only 50cm wide but still has signs with road names.
4) A petrol attendant called "Miemies" doing a Micheal Jackson impersonation while filling up your "gas".
5) Hanging out on top of a water-tower, drunk as a skunk.
6) Misjudging the force of an ocean wave and being crunched onto a submerged rock.
7) Playing "windpomp"
8) Horse-drawn carts taking up the entire turning-phase time to turn right over a major 2-lane street.
9) An upside-down panoramic view of South Africa's last indigenous forest *boing boing*
10) Jack Paro1 ("bra, hy lewe soos 'n straatmeit")

Now I know some people who may have more to add to this list - please feel free to add them as comments!

Tribute to Ciro

A voodoo priest and all his powders are as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself. ~Mark Helprin

Coffee sharpens the mind like a blade - given enough good coffee, I could conquer the world. ~Author Unknown

My race centenary

I know there are people out there who run 100km in one race - however, I am neither Iron Woman nor suicidal. Therefore, I am celebrating my first 100km in race distances for 2010! This will soon change with my inability to sit still - already planning the next race. But right now I'm celebrating. Quietly, inside. Sitting still.

Latest race times:

Bay-to-Bay 2x15m relay - 01:23:54 (my 15km), 02:53:37 (our 30km total)
West Coast 21.1km - 01:57:17
Two Oceans 21.1km - 02:00:01
Stellenbosch Vista 12km trail run - 01:12:55
Gino's 10km night race - 00:49:??
Milkwood 21.1km - 02:23:??

The Milkwood was a bit of a battle, since it seemed during the last week that everything was set against me running the race: a pulled hamstring, painful joints, a cold, Friday night's Stroh rum, sleep deprivation, a stubborn mother... A couple of good friends tried to talk me out of it too - but I just couldn't reign myself in. Ginger (aka Coco) was running his first half-marathon, and we managed to motivate eachother through the discomforts.

Next one is the Roberston Miles of Smiles 21km - also a very picturesque and forgiving route. I had a funny surprise when pamphlet-style entry-forms were handed out for this race after the Milkwood run:

Apparently I did a lot of smiling :-D (that's my Winelands camo wear) What's really cool at the moment is that I have a few good friends who are either also into running or getting into it, and events are just so much more fun when you're bunch of friends participating. And there's nothing like a nice long run to prepare you for a day of wine tasting!

The Oath of Hippocrates

(And no Cynthia, that is not a large container in which to transport large water-loving mammals with big teeth...)

Duties to my teacher:
To regard my teacher in this art as equal to my parents, to make him my partner in my livelihood, and, when he is in need of money, to share mine with him; to consider his offspring as equal to my brothers; to teach them this art, if they require to learn it. without fee or indenture; and to imaprt precept, oral instruction, and all the other learning, to my sons, to the sons of my teacher, and to pupils who have signed the indenture and sworn obedience to the physicians' law, but to none other.

As a physician, Hippocrates (Greece, ca. 460BC - ca. 370BC) played a great role in dispelling superstitions regarding medical conditions. He philosophically separated medicine from religion, rejecting the previously held belief that illness was punishment from the gods for displeasing them. Despite still being a far cry from modern medicine, Hippocrates nevertheless introduced a set of ethical guidelines in the form of an oath to be taken by any physician trained under auspices of the Hippocratic school of medicine.

Duties to patients:
I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement, but will never use it to injure or wrong them.
"With great power comes great responsibility" (a la Star Wars)

I will not give poison to anyone, though asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a plan. Similarly, I will not give a pessary to a woman to cause abortion. But in purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
"All life is sacred, preserving life is greatest priority"

I will not use the knife either on sufferers [...], but will give place to those such as are craftsmen therein.
"Leave certain work to the experts; humility"

Into whatsoever house I enter, I will do so to help the sick, keeping myself free from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from fornication with woman or man, bound or free.
(Well, he was Greek, afterall) "Integrity; trust between patient & physician"

Whatsoever in the course of practice I see or hear [...], I will not divulge, but consider such things to be holy secrets.
"Confidentiality"

As you can see, I've added my own interpretation of each part of the oath. However, this is my (rather uninformed) interpretation and if anyone wishes to raise any points, I'd love to discuss it further :-)

Obviously the modern version and interpretation of this oath are strongly affected by the the core philosophical assumptions of our time, as well as our contextual and religious perspectives. This philosophical legacy of Hippocrates raises an important issue in my mind: Hippocrates harked from a pagan, or polytheistic, society. The extent to which modern religions initially drew from pagan precepts is debatable, but nevertheless one message is universal: displease your deity = you get punished.

What combination of deities Hippocrates was attempting to please with his ethical code of honour can only be speculated. However, it has filtered through over 2000 years of progress in the fields of anatomy, physiology and psychology, giving millenia of physicians a standard of practice to adhere to: a moral responsibility for the well-being of their patients. If only the message would filter through to other groups of individuals with power of the lives of others.