Lazy Days

After April 15th when I had my presentation things have been very laid back. Since I'm on break I don't have any classes or assignments, but that doesn't mean I don't have anything to do. I was super proud of myself finishing two blogs for my Biology class (click here to see them). After that it's been ridiculously hard to get myself to do much of anything.

For the last week there have been some serious internet issues going on. It was so bad for a little while that I had to go to the library to get anything done. Suddenly it was better, and now it's messed up again. Sometimes if I reload a page a ton of times it might work. I don't mind going to the library but it's not a good place to skype with Matt, nor does it have quick access to food. Also, there's something about the library that makes me feel guilty if I am procrastinating or wasting time there. Hopefully it will get better soon and stay that way.

This last Sunday was fun because I went to go visit the Websters. Stephen and Rosely have a large home in

Stephen and Rosely Webster

Kenthurst, NSW where I stayed in 2009 for my study abroad. They are such and amazing LDS family and I had a spectacular time last time I was here. It was quite difficult to get there actually because I had to take two buses and the closest I could get to their home was the nearest shopping centre. Unfortunately those buses don't run very frequently either so it's impossible to get back home after 7pm. Luckily Rosely was able to pick me up from the bus stop and drive me all the way home after dinner. It's fun catching up with people! I'm constantly amazed at how much has changed in 3+ years.

Tuesday I went on an adventure with my classmate Elayna. We had planned to go to the city to watch the movie Kon-Tiki. I was excited for the movie since I had read the book. Elayna's bus was quite late so she told me just to go ahead and get food without her at Oporto's. As a side note: Australia uses chicken salt on their french fries (chips) which makes them so much better! We decided to follow my phone and just walk to the theater because we had enough time. The GPS had us go through a parking lot (car park) and then work our way to the theater. Luckily we made it on time, only to discover they didn't have the movie Kon-tiki nor had heard of it. I must have misunderstood what theater it was at or something. In the end we decided to watch the zombie movie Warm Bodies. This gave Elayna time to grab some chips and eat before we saw the movie. Warm Bodies definitely exceeded our expectations by being the first romantic comedy zombie apocalypse movie that I have ever seen. Afterwards I had all kinds of fun getting home because I missed the train I planned to take by seconds and then took another train to a city bus stop that would stop right by my house. I got home late, but in the end I had completely finished reading The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis and had a very fun night.

Yesterday I went to a Biology seminar (this one wasn't required) by Duncan Irschick. He is a very accomplished scientist that has worked in many areas but some of the more interesting aspects of his work with geckskin - an example of biomimicry. Biomimicry is innovation that has received its inspiration from nature. Using geckos as the model, Irschick and his team were able to create an adhesive material that works just like gecko adhesion. The simplest explanation is that a soft material (like saran wrap) will adhere but it needs to be paired with a stiff material. Duct tape uses a liquid adhesive on the stiff fibers, but it can't be easily removed. Additionally the liquid adhesive will pick up dust and other particles that make it lose it's adhesive ability. Geckskin uses rubber paired with fabric (the stiffer the better) to adhere. Not only can a small piece of this hold hundreds of pounds, but it can also be easily removed with no residue. Unfortunately it would not hold if it was rotated so they added a tendon like geckos have that helps it to be more stable. It's pretty neat stuff, but I was sad he didn't bring any. Click here to watch a piece of his lecture online. Another interesting part of his seminar was about a spider that rips one of its genitals off and swings it around in a circle which helps it seal the wound. It's got seriously huge genitalia so by removing one it can move quicker and hopefully be able to beat other males at mating with the female (click here for video). Biology is such a fascinating subject! A few other things I learned was that patents in the US cost about $25,000, and an international patent is $35,000. Apparently the business side of inventing things is kind of a nightmare and it's easy to get ripped off, have your project fail, or just go broke.

At the seminar I also met a guy at Macquarie who is working on spider silk. Apparently spider silk is the strongest material known to man, but we can't reproduce it. The silk starts as a liquid form that they then make into a solid. We can reproduce the chemicals to make the liquid, but to make the silk into a solid like spiders is a long way off. If this material could be produced it may have all kinds of uses because it is insanely strong and can absorb a lot of energy. Irschick's geckskin could be ridiculously strong if made with spider silk. I'm interested to see where that research goes.

It's been a fun and relaxing week. Nevertheless, Sunday I am giving a talk in church and next Wednesday I have an assignment due so the rest of this weekend I have plenty to do.

School vs. Religion

This last week was an interesting one. This week and next week are the mid-semester break so all last week I had to work on assignments that were due yesterday. Not to mention it was conference weekend for me so I was praying I'd be able to finish everything on time.

The week started out all right on Monday because I skipped my boring Statistics class so I could go to a seminar on the erasure of fear memories. It was a really neat seminar about how children actually recover from conditioned fear situations better than adults. Hopefully in the next week I'll write my blog on it for my class and you can read more details about it. Later the day wasn't as great because I saw my first assignment grade for another class (MRes). I got 70% and my teacher had made comments about how I didn't need subtitles and I didn't have a conclusion. It was a 500 word definition so I couldn't see how I could lose so much for things that I had no idea not to do (we didn't have a grading rubric). I figured I would talk to my tutor about it. Unfortunately my Friday class with her got cancelled because she's sick so I e-mailed her and was grateful she was well enough to respond. Apparently there was a typo and I got 80%. This made me feel better since I have to get 75% or above in my program in order to keep my scholarship and eventually do a PhD. However, I was still frustrated I lost 20% on stylistic things and not the actual writing so I still plan to discuss it.

A few of the other girls in my program were also discussing about our ridiculous writing assignment that was due the next Monday. This ended up being a very valuable conversation for me. I knew that the grading system here is pretty different, but the last time I was here I still got 80-90% on everything. Here 75% and above is a Distinction which is basically getting an A or high B. A High Distinction is 85% and above and is equivalent to an A+ in the US (see table below). This reminded me that I'm still doing well if I get a 75% and above and I should feel lucky if I get above 85%. In the end I feel a whole lot better, but I still get frustrated that I seem to get lower grades than my classmates. Yesterday I finally was redeemed when I got my Statistics assignment back and I got 93%! I spent two full week and loads of time with the teacher so I would have been furious had I not done well. Finally I have a class I can do well at, and hopefully it will boost my average grades in case I do poorly in another subject.

Australian University	U.S. University	Canadian University
7=High Distinction	A+	85-100%
6=Distinction	A	75-85%
5=Credit	B	65-74%
4=Pass	C	50-64%
3=Conceded Pass	D	40-50%
1 or 2=Fail	F	0-39%

The other school frustration occurred last week when my internet suddenly became ridiculously slow! Pages struggled to load, I couldn't get any videos to load at all, and doing online assignment stuff was impossible. I already had to go to the library to get research articles (I still had that issue) so I had to spend a lot more time there. In the end though, I completed my assignments and I didn't even mind going to campus on Saturday to get stuff done. It was a beautiful day and I finished enough of my homework to lay in the sun on the grass and listen to Conference talks on my phone. I even did my skype call with Matt outside that day and he thought I was on a golf course at first. In the end all went well.

If I were to talk about all my favorite talks on Conference this would be a VERY long blog. Instead I'll mention some of my favorite quotes:

Craig A. Cardon - "We must see men not as they are at present but as they may become" 

Richard G. Scott - "Don't rationalize away future happiness by taking shortcuts instead of applying sound gospel principles"

David A. Bednar - "The Lord's truth is not altered by fads, popularity, or public opinion polls."

Thomas S. Monson - "The great test of this life is obedience"

Jeffrey R. Holland - "Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes"

Bruce D. Porter - "We need not fear the future, nor falter in hope and good cheer, because God is with us."

Over the next 40 days I will be joining my friend Laura Wleklinski in doing a 40 day challenge to read and reflect on one conference talk per day (including priesthood session and Young Women meeting). I am considering starting another spiritual blog to go along with it. We'll see if I have the time. I LOVED conference and I think I got so much more out of this one than any other. Now the next step is to apply it all.

So the week ended on a really high note. I should add that on top of conference and school I had just finished reading Jane Austen's book Persuasion and Sunday night I watched the movie. I'm not sure which Jane Austen book will be next, but I'm also now reading/listening to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I actually think the book was better for Persuasion, but the movies are better for the Chronicles of Narnia. We'll see if that pattern continues.

Yesterday I went to have FHE with Brock, Kaytlin and Dave which concluded my great spiritual weekend. Brock gave a fantastic lesson on relieving stress. My ultimate favorite though was the video by Amy Cuddy he showed at the end about how you should fake it till you become it (click here to see the video). Ironically this goes in so perfectly with Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on how everything starts with faith and you build upon it. I truly believe that you can be whatever you want to be if you set your mind to it. I've been able to do many things in my life that has proven to me that anything is possible. The Lord will help you to become even more than what you think you can, but first you have to show him you are willing to work for it.

Blue Mountains and Cuttlefish

It has been nearly two weeks since I have posted anything, simply because I forgot. I'll just focus on the highlights to prevent writing a novel.

After a nice easy week of classes I was able to start my long weekend with an early morning hike in the blue mountains. Dave Cruz and his roommate Paul picked me up at 6 am and then we drove up to the beautiful blue mountains (see Pictures page for more blue mountain pics). We got there around 7:30 am and combined two hikes together so we were there nearly 5 hours hiking. To my surprise in our first hour or so of walking Dave spotted a lyre bird on the trail! I've never seen one in real life and it was running along the trail in front of us! Everything just got better with the gorgeous views, spectacular waterfalls, and sun coming in through the trees.

Hiking also provided a great time to chat with Dave and Paul so it was a fun way to get to know each other better as well. We stopped at one of the waterfalls and decided to take a swim, but the water was definitely cold. After swimming in it for a little while it got better, but when I got out and continued to hike I was freezing for a bit. At the end of the hike is when we encountered all the other hikers, tourists, and crowds which made the narrow pathways and stairs difficult. Dave wanted to sprint up all the giant steps to the end, but my poor short legs were not up to that challenge. Afterwards we cooled off and had lunch where I introduced Dave and Paul to my favorite app to catalog movies called MyMovies. They were anxious to start cataloging all their movies so we went back to their apartment and watched A Lot Like Love while they sat scanning stacks of movies into their apps. When I got home I was exhausted, but it was so wonderful to do something active again!

The next few days I spent a lot of time wasting time. I started a new tv show for fun which ended up being a bigger commitment than I anticipated. Merlin is a fun, witty, fantasy tv show that I spent a lot of time watching all five seasons. It was a great way to pass the time at first, but I was quickly reminded why I typically don't watch tv - it's too easy to waste time. When classes started again the next Wednesday it was hard to find the motivation for homework. The issue with a holiday is that you remember how much fun it is to not do homework! Nevertheless, I did start on some assignments early and was able to be semi-productive by the end of the week. 

Friday I went to the city to visit my friend Damon to catch up. It's amazing how much you can cover over dinner. We went to a Malaysian place and talked about what we've been up to for the last 3-4 years. The food had so much flavor! I love asian food and the lamb was awesome, but we ordered cuttlefish which for some reason I thought fish equals something like halibut. Cuttlefish tastes like squid, so it has a very weird, hard, and chewy texture. Neither of us liked it much, but the lamb and roti we had was plenty filling. Afterwards we had some very rich hot chocolate which was too much for Damon so I had most of his as well. It was a nice night, especially because it's always great to catch up with good friends. 

It has been a wonderful and relaxing two weeks, but this week I have a LOT of work to do since I have two assignments due on April 15th. Additionally General Conference is this weekend for Australia (it's difficult to watch live since that's the middle of the night for us), and I am hoping to set up some fun things to do over the break from April 17th to the 29th. I'm determined to not get started on another long TV series that will eat up my time. I think I will stick with reading Jane Austen, The Chronicles of Narnia, and traveling to the city and beaches for fun.