sadly, it has become somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine to cancel off each deadline after each submission. though i must admit i haven't been as on top of things as i should hv this far along in the trimester :(

i've been feeling like crap physically since the school-year started, and i blamed all my dizzy spells and feverish episodes on the fact that my body was literally rejecting the need to do work. my habit of doing things at the last minute probably didn't help ease the panic attacks much either ;p some lecturers were nice enough to grant me extensions with barely 24-hrs notice whenever these bouts of 'sickness' came around - most commonly whilst i was sitting in front of the computer attempting to finish my assignment on the morning of a deadline. but my last two papers required a legitimate mc from the dr's office should i need a few days extra. and since i'd never been one to head to the hospital without duress, i pulled anothing string of allnighters and cram sessions in an attempt to churn out a 750-word and 1500-word assignment due 2 days apart. added on to the fact that i'd only just gotten my 400o-word lit review draft sent to my supervisor the day or so before!

but like clockwork, another dizzy spell claimed me less than 12hrs before. and these moments of dizziness... they weren't like the usual ones someone gets after standing up too fast or after spending a day in the blazing sun. these spells didn't involve any actual dizziness. in those brief moments, i felt the blood drain from my head, a cold sweat consume my entire body, followed by insane nauseaseness before the inevitable "oh-my-god i'm going to faint" sensation. totally dramatic... totally attributable towards 'assignment stress' XD

but as i was creeping up on my fourth episode, mom was freaked and forced (see, i stayed true to my resolve even at this point!) me to head over to the clinic and get checked out. this suited me just fine since it would require me to miss the afternoon's seminar session in which the 750 was due. hahaha! so i drove over to the clinic on chapel street and had a sit-in with the doctor. it'd been 2 years since i saw the guy last, so it took him more than 10minutes updating my file in the system (and yes, they actually key things into the computer in front of you here) on all the ailments and drugs i've accumilated these past 24 mths.

evidently, i was just there for the mc (naughty, i admit). but i'd been nursing a cold since my bday 2 weeks before and wasn't entirely against getting that taken care off since: 1) writing my assignments would be sooo much easier without having snot issues, and 2) what kind of flu even lasts that long?! i told him about the dizzy spells as an add-on, more concerned over how to get rid of the cold. but after taking down my history, and a quick stethescope to the chest and back - he'd ruled that my cold was a small infection that would heal in no time with antibiotics. he was more concerned with the dizziness... right.

i guess what i've been trying to get to is that, university students don't take enough care of themselves. there i was, blaming every ailment, every warning sign on the fact that i had a pile of assignments and commitments due - whilst simultaneously putting myself at a greater risk than i even thought possible! turns out i might have been hypoglycemic the entire time! O_O

yeah i had to google that too ^^ but in simple english it basically means that my IR-laden, lazy-ass somehow managed to neglect comsuming enough sugar. i had a pretty good laugh in the dr's office when i heard that, since everyone i know could tell you that i consume so much sugar on a daily basis that my blood probably tastes like treacle! but i'd been skimping on meals (as i always do during assignment/exam season) but taking regular doses of glucophage as prescribed. here's the equation the doctor gave me:

the lack of sugar coming from my missed meal times + the glucophage already working to cut the levels of sugar in my system + the cortisol released by the body in times of stress burning more sugar from the body + my IR-ness causing ineffective insulin, requiring my body to work harder than most to burn glucose = i was spent.

it's been about a week and i'm glad to say the cold is gone ;) i've fought the urge to run away from all things sweet and actually downed bottles of juice whenever i knew food wouldn't be on the agenda for a couple more hours. a bad trade i know... but effective in terms of keeping the hypo episodes away. i promise to be more diligent when my assignments are done with... really! ;)

here's another bit of news that'll make up for my irresponsible behaviour:


i know. how does someone kinda pass the gamsat? well the exam is apparently not graded on a percentage system, so the numbers mean squat to me. all i know is that it's above what some of the uni's in australia are looking at in terms of admission scores. the 'kinda' bit comes in since i dipped 2 points below the curve on one section and won't know until the applications have gone through how badly that'll effect me. so for now, i 'kinda' passed. and i'm 'kinda' over the moon about it ;)

so there you go... a quick run down of the last couple of weeks. my bday party was awesome and maybe if i time permits i'll transfer a few photos from facebook over to this blog for everyone to see ^^ graduation was the day before and kinda cool too since they actually took the time to separate us out - so i walked on stage as the emcee declared "graduating with a bachelor of science, with distinction". i got copies from the professional photo session which i'll try and scan and upload as well (warning: i looked like a doe-eyed pillbury doughboy in a dark blue robe XD). hahaha!

i also had an interesting afternoon today. after almost 3 years of complete absence, my buddy joel has resurfaced! (and no i didn't mean to make him sound like a submarine ;p). reminiscing does make people sentimental, so joe decided it was about time we caught up after a session of 'trinity photo oogling' a few days before. me, joe and jacq had coffee on degraves lane today... and it was kinda awesome. so much has caused us to change over the last few years, and yet enough of our old selves remained for us to get along and talk incessantly for 3 hours ;) though i must say it was kind of embarassing to realise that despite being the eldest one there, i had absolutely NOTHING to contribute when they talked about their exes. sigh... hahah!

till next time! bighugs!

making a difference