Because it's Friday...

And I'm a total sucker for a girl with a uke. Sue me:

She has, I think, one of the most tender voices. And if you can spare another 2 minutes:

30 Day challenge: Day 8

Day 8 11: Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up


I didn't get bored with the concept of a post a day, but the intervening topics didn't really interest me, so I skipped to this one. Being in the UK I use Spotify a whole lot, so I'm going to go with 10 randoms from my starred playlist. I'll link to them in Spotify and maybe YouTube or something

Skanking Song - [spunge] (or this link)

It reminds me of fun times when I was young enough to not be the weird old man down the front of gig. There was dancing and cider and stolen kisses from girls I never saw again, good times.

Take Me Anywhere - Tegan and Sara (or this link)

This is a song that totally reminds me of San Francisco, going over there to meet up with a girl I met online and actually ended up in a bit of a relationship with. It's a bit of goofy indie pop that makes me feel hopeful about life.

This Addiction - Alkaline Trio (or this link)

I'd just started nursing when I fell back in love with Alkaline Trio. Yes, I know it's emo power-pop and I'm too old and happy for that sort of nonsense, but it's great to run to and even better to thrash around to in the kitchen when you're cooking dinner.

Anaesthetist's Hymn - Amateur Transplants (or this link)

I love the Amateur Transplants. They are a pair of junior (probably not that junior anymore) doctors who have a knack for doing comedy covers of songs. And this is easily one of their finest examples. And it gets the role of the anaesthetist in the OR just right.

Autoclave - The Mountain Goats (or this link)

Possibly my favourite band right now. John Darnielle has a wry, self-deprecating sense of humour and a soulfulness that comes across in his music so clearly. This song is a warning to potential partners, but it's all said with a smirk.

What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie (or this link)

The other band I spend a great deal of time listening to because of the lyrics. This is just an incredible song which sums up the despair and loneliness of waiting for a loved one to die or get better in an ICU.

Samson - Regina Spektor (or this link)

I'm kind of embarrassed that I've only just found out about Regina Spektor. Her voice is beautiful. Oh, and have a look at the Laughing With video. That too, is pretty awesome.

Meddle - Little Boots (or this link)

This is another kitchen classic. It may even lead to throwing shapes and being generally a bit embarrassing.

Mr Brightside - The Killers (or this link)

Oh, this is a being dumped song that dovetails nicely into either the Alkaline Trio track or the Tegan and Sara, seeing as they all vaguely remind me of the same girl. That said, it's a cracking track in its own right and well worth a listen.

Sick 2 Def - Plan B (or this link)

This is the sound of an angry guy born on a London council estate. It's a dark, challenging song, not for the faint-hearted, but the lyrics are inspired and show an intelligence beneath the posturing and violent language.

Hope you enjoy some, if not all, of the above. Let me know what you liked or what you didn't :)

One thing I have in common with Don Draper

Last night was a night out at The Blues Kitchen in Camden which was pretty awesome. It's quite boutiquey and didn't get crazy busy which was nice. There was some great food, proper American Southern fare and some great drinks particularly the Old Fashioned that I spent most of the night drinking. And unsurprisingly the music was blues, which makes for good background noise when you're eating, drinking and chatting.

I'm quickly beginning to realise that this kind of thing will have to be a once in a blue moon event as I am now coming to the end of my last paycheque. From here on out it's student loans and whatever I can get from the occasional shift - although I'm still yet to actually get on the staff bank.

Drinking from the fire hose of knowledge

So, Medical School.

It's been nearly two weeks since I got my ID card, locker and dissection room coat and I am so happy that I went down this particular trouser leg of time (sorry for borrowing your analogy, Mr Pratchett).

My course graduate-only and consequently it is a broad church; people from all walks of life (I'm not the only nurse!) and with lots of different reasons behind wanting to study medicine. I think for a lot of people it is a personal challenge, which is nice because I think it means they will be very engaged with the course.

The structure is very much oriented to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). We have a session for a few hours on a Monday morning where we are given our case, then we discuss the issues that arise from it and any learning objectives that we think are relevant to the case.

And then we turn on the fire hose.

I have never had such fun leafing through books in a library and learning. My knowledge-base from nursing has given me a bit of a leg up, I suspect, but this is just learning turned up to 11. I have spent every day this week buried in books and journal articles chasing learning objectives arising from the acute abdomen and I love it. And after the intro bumf of last week, it's nice to kick things into high gear and get learning.

Some of it however is covering old ground - a BLS session that I could have done with my eyes closed, even down to calling out "CAN I HAVE SOME HELP PLEASE?!" in a crowded room (something that always makes me feel stupid). But this is to be expected. One of the most exciting bits of the course for me is finding out where my knowledge ends and where the new material I am expected to learn begins.

The hospital my medical school is attached to has its own nursing bank so I have applied to work there, money being unsurprisingly tight and I want to keep my hand in, too. Nursing has given me a lot in terms of supporting knowledge for medical school and I hope it continues to do so for the next few years. As part of the application process I had to take an entrance exam - drug calculations and a scenario-based "answer of best fit" MCQ section. Happily I scored 100% on it, so I guess I've not got that rusty in the past couple of months I've been off work.

Perhaps the most surprising discovery for me is that I think I have found the soundtrack to my independent study - Trance. I am an indie kid at heart and wouldn't have listened to dance music if you paid me previous to this, but trance is the music I can study to surprisingly well. And it means if I get bored in the library I can, quite legitimately, start throwing shapes in the church of dance. Or something.