Smile

I got a call from my lovely friend Jaz tonight as she was concerned with the trend my posts were taking lately. I conceded that despite the blogs, life was all in all good - and in fact I could do a lot worse than to be catching up over the phone with an old friend. So, if I may return to my numbered list format for another time (and David Letterman be damned)

TOP TEN THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS

1. Jaz's phone call
   
2. More new pop music than you can throw a pre-fab Girlband (TM) at: Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" is, particularly in the middle section spiralling through "My Love", "LoveStoned/I think she knows" and "What Goes Around/Comes Around" a deliriously ambitious and entertaining opus; Beyonce's new "B'Day" is an efficient and slightly forgettable effort excepting the dirty blues of "Suga Mama"; Xtina's double CD "Back to Basics" is a bloated mess with so much "whoa-ooh-ooh" that you forget she actually got a nice voice (see "Save Me From Myself"); John Mayer's "Continuum" has, in "Heart of Life" and "Stop This Train" a beautiful return to "acoustic John", but the other tracks, while polished, lack the live, bluesy urgency that made "John Mayer Trio: Try! Live" such a revelation.
3. Visiting my friends Mr and Mrs Nickless who are expecting their first child in February - I'm glad there are some grown-ups in our group down herealthough I almost lost continence when said Mr Nickless decided that the layman's definition of "anal tag" would be what you swipe pass the barcode reader for the price of an old person (thank God for people who've worked retail)
4. When my med students looked at me like I was nuts but still cannulated me successfully on the first pass - so well that I had to forgive her for forgetting to take the torniquet off and letting me bleed over the table
   
5. Being approached at the hippy festival "Earthdance for Peace" by a girl selling No Sweat shoes made to protest sweatshop labour and having to shamefully admit to wearing a Converse T-shirt at the time
   
6. Elana Stone live at Bennett's Lane - if you're in Sydney you should try to catch her shows -see www.elanastone.com
7. Elixir live at Bennett's Lane - Katie Noonan's voice is so pure and so fluid that even when she's bending and contorting the words of a random poet into a folk tune it's a beautiful mess
8. Me and my brother laughing our heads off at the ridiculously brutal sound effects in the XBox boxing game Fight Night: Round 3
9. Australian Idol contestant Ricky Muscat's unbelievably HELTER SKELTER SERIAL KILLER EYES
   
10. Wondering each day whether the cute Eurasian Aged Care reg thinks me and the other intern on my unit are idiots, and wondering whether this might have proportional repercussions on any attempt to ask her to coffee (I know this is slightly sad, but I find I laugh at ridiculously sad things much more often than I should)

Oh, and the other thing. The things I posted about in the last blog are not unique to me. Many people are grinding away at it a lot harder than me. I've resolved to write to a newspaper, not just for me, but for all of us, and not for any special recognition, but just for a little bit of peace so we can get on with a job that is busy enough as it is. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on this blog so far, particularly in the last few weeks. It's appreciated. And Jaz, stay wonderful.

Good luck to final year med students sitting exams soon, and I hope the interns got their jobs back.

Smiling, even though I've got to work tomorrow. :)