It's Been A While...

I have been through a blogging 'funk'. For some reason, my desire to write withered away as the end of the year approached, and has not really returned. I simply checked in to peruse other blogs linked to mine. It's not that things aren't happening that deserve to be solidified and immortalised in literary form; it's just that I'm not feeling particularly qualified to capture them. What can you do...

Let's begin:

• I am now a psychiatry registrar. Essentially this means the two past years of general medical experience now mean very little, and I'm starting from scratch again as an 'intern' (but with much better pay). In many ways it would've been easier to transit into physician training - I was at the point where I was confident enough to be a medical registrar. However, after four weeks of psychiatry, I can breathe a sigh of relief and confidently say that this work is far more fascinating. Maybe I'll even feel useful in a year's time. And if I decide psychiatry is not for me, I can always change career paths. It's not too late.

• I crashed my car. It was the first time ever, and it was my fault. Driving west along the M4 after lectures at Cumberland during peak hour, I saw the brake lights from the car in front of me blink on. I put my brakes on as well, and then realised at the last minute that it wasn't enough. I floored the brake, smelt the burning rubber and heard the squeal of my tires, and then rear-ended the car in front.

I got out of my car to make sure the driver in front was okay, and then realised he'd actually hit the car in front of him (and much harder - his airbags went off). I had seen his brake lights and assumed he was slowing down, when he had actually hit a car and therefore come to a sudden and complete stop.

So, my car is off to the smash repairs. The damage is only structural as I hit at low speed. Plus I assume I'm paying for the rear end damage to the guy's car in front as well (which was a small dent - I'm lucky). The guy in front will be paying for the very considerable damage to his bonnet, because he crashed his car before I crashed mine.

No one was hurt.

Welcome To The West Coast

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better than yesterday, which was a struggle to be honest. I arrived at LA airport and was picked up by my sister, and shown around San Fernando Valley.

Essentially LA looks like a a massive version of Sydney, except with a smaller CBD (although probably more mini-CBDs a la Parramatta). The first thing I noticed at the airport was only Black and Latino people working outside to shift luggage. That trend continued in the valley - no Whiteys raking the gardens or working on the buildings.

In the afternoon I walked around to try to stay awake, and in the evening we drove up the Hollywood hills and looked at a whole bunch of pretentious houses. Then we stopped at a couple of lookouts, which proudly displayed the vast sprawl of LA at night (beautiful - surprisingly...).

Then, we did a quick take of Hollywood Boulevard, saw the walk of fame and the Chinese Theatre, but I didn't get to stalk any celebrities. Pity.

Oh, and the bread is disgustingly sweet.

Be Well

Blogging has lost its unique flavour recently, but I thought I should mention my impending holiday to the United States.

I'll be spending a week in Los Angeles, and a week in New York. Wasn't really my first choice of destination overseas, but the opportunity arose and so I grabbed it (placing other 'projects' on hold, so to speak).

I'm really looking forward to being in the presence of so many icons previously limited to glaring two-dimensional television sets. I was talked into visiting Disneyland, even though initially I was against it. I'll take a stroll along Sunset Boulevard just so I can absorb some glamour and take a tacky photo of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Maybe I'll even take a couple of days to see the Grand Canyon... who knows.

The height (quite literally) of my excursion will be Kingda-Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. This unusually named roller coaster is the world's highest and fastest, and is my Mecca.

Here is a picture of my God...

I Love You More Than...

And so my old faithful G5 has been offline for a while now, and there seems little likelihood of it being repaired. It took a while to come to terms with the end of our friendship, which was standing solid at five years, but I've now come to realise that all good friendships endure through the hard times and may in fact be strengthened.

I will always remember my beautiful MegaBitch. May she rest in peace.

Here is a memorial dedication to Megabitch. Tissues recommended.

But the circle of life continues unabated, and the phoenix has risen from the ashes in the form of MicroBitch. She will arrive on Monday afternoon, and although she will never be able to replace MegaBitch perhaps someday she will heal my poor broken heart.

Something From The Past...

...always make me sentimental. Oh, the sentiment.

An old friend from Japan recently found me on Facebook. This is the friend who hand-painted a scroll of the Yamaboko from the Gion festival in Kyoto, which is hanging up in my room. If you have been in my room, chances are I have forced you to admire this scroll, and no doubt explained it's significance in tedious detail.

My old friend hasn't seen me since 2003. The first thing she told me is that when I was in Japan I was a boy, but now I have grown up and become a man.

Surprisingly, this wasn't funny, and I didn't immediately think of some way to laugh at what my friends would say if they heard her comment. Instead, I thought that however immature I am now, I must have been far more so when I was 22.

I like the thought that I am changing in this way, because when I first heard that people don't change, I foolishly believed it.

Poor naive Cam.

What Is The Matrix?

I'm here at my mother's house, and nobody is at home. My computer is in the background, coughing and spluttering as I desperately try to save it from being replaced by a newer, more advanced model.

Today was a day of advancement:
• I bought a new bed, a queen size ensemble that will be delivered on Monday. My life in all it's modern comforts is finally complete.
• I bought a new phone, a glistening silver beacon of modern technology. I'm struggling to learn how to use the damn thing, and I'm afraid I may have to copy my entire inventory of phone numbers onto paper, and then reenter them in one at a time, but I'm feeling patient today. As a rule I usually don't delete numbers (you never know when you're going to need them), but I might thin out the list. After all, I have Facebook now.
• I took Older Bro's useful and unorthodox advice and dissected my computer. Transplanting some internal organs into external casings is like playing God.

Older Bro just came home, so I'm going to finish this up here and go and chat to him. He's telling me about his aural exam...

Dear You,

Shooting up junk is a choice.

Eating junk is a choice.

Dropping your small child from a bridge is a choice.

But in many ways it isn't. And if you dismiss a poor choice as "they're own fucking fault", I feel sorry for you. You'll never really understand the way another human being thinks who's "wired" differently to you. This means you'll only ever relate to those people who are more or less you in a different suit. What a banal and boring world that would be.

But I have looked into the eyes of a heroin addict and seen a decent human being - in some ways more so than myself. Perhaps I could have been him if I grew up in a different environment, instead of the doctor trying to keep him alive.

And if society looked down on me, why on earth would I want to rejoin it?