The Stationery (As Well As Stationary) Vending Machine

Here’s something novel that I’ve recently seen,
it’s a stationery vending machine.
Instead of selling artery clogging snacks
it endeavors to sell whatever items you lack.
Lets say for example, I forgot to pack my pencils.
I can always pick from this range of writing utensils!

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دروس العربية

Here’s something from two weeks ago
before study forced my blogging to slow,
the beginning of semester for language night-classes
at the department to which our university passes
responsibility for LOTE and linguistic instruction,
translation, interpreting and related functions.

It’s here that I intend to continue learning Arabic
an endeavour I’ve been pursuing for a bit
over a year now but it’s being difficult while working
and my return to uni may just give me the chance I’ve been yearning
for to put time towards such self-strengthening measures
given the relatively high amount of leisure
time students (yes, even ones doing medicine)
are permitted to use for almost anything.

Because I’m Too Tired to Write a Real Post

If you were wondering about the lapse in my blogging
it’s because for the last two weeks I’ve been slogging
away at studying for a mid-semester assessment
and only now, at the end of this huge time investment
have I had a chance to resume my normal rhyming
and in the next few days I’ll resume my roughly weekly timing
of posting poems on the minutiae of medical school
(I’d start again immediately but I’m far too tired for all
the effort of writing a proper post at this particular time
but after a good night’s sleep I’m sure I’ll be fine.)

Down at The Globe

Last night I planned to do some quiet pre-reading for my Monday tute
so I wandered down to catch bus 412, which traverses the route
from a shopping centre near my residence to the university
when coming up the centre stairway who should I see
but two girls from my PBL group standing, waiting to go
somewhere with a gaggle of 1st years I didn’t know.

“We’re going to the city” explained one of the two who I knew
“UQMS is running some sort of charity-talent night do,
with med students in bands playing their own songs.
Forget about studying. Why don’t you come along?”

Having been somewhat reluctant about the pre-reading from the start
I was quickly convinced to go watch the more musical students ply their art.
So we all headed down to The Globe – though not quite sure of the way
(we only walked in the wrong direction for 5 minutes I’d say
before realising it was actually down the other end of the road)
When we got there we waited a while in the queue before we showed
our IDs, were given three red stickers each and allowed admission.
The stickers it turned out were to vote on a photo competition.
I never found out who won that (and I don’t really care).
The first bands we listened to – well, it’d be flattery to call them fair.

So we went over the other side which was converted from an old cinema
but without any seating so there were a crowd of students sitting in a
series of amorphous rows on the floor like an open air concert with a roof and walls.
Unlike the band on the other side, the musicians here you could actually call
talented. We stayed there until the temperature in the enclosed crowd got
a little too high, even when they moved in an industrial fan it was still too hot.
We drifted back and forward between the two sides of the club for another hour or so
then decided we’d had enough and it was time to go.