Day 4 and 5: FIVE FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RURAL

For all those following this blog, I can safely say that I am now back at home. Yeah...
Due to the fact that its late andI have work tomorrow... I will keep this short.

Over the last few days I've realised a few things about working in a rural town

5 Facts about Going Rural

1. Rural pharmacies can afford to use MAC as their dispensing computers

2. In a rural town you can try all the dining restaurants in 3 days

3. Rural Town have random houses

4. Some rural towns can have a highway running through it

5. You may even meet someone who is related to a star
(one of my workmates, her brother's daughter, Miranda Kerr is a well known super model who is currently dating Orlando Bloom.)

Day 2 and 3: The Life of Pat

I am currently working at Macksville Pharmacy. Funny thing is that at the pharmacy I am working at there are three "Pat". There is Patrick who owns the pharmacy. There is Patrick who works at a Locum pharmacist and there is Patrick, the boy from Brisbane (Me).

It's always like the assistant would say... "Patrick" and both of us would turn around at the same time confused. But yeah its a pretty good experience out at rural. The rules are so different. Everything is so laid-back even though compared to working at city pharmacy. Even though I must say doing 200 scripts per day is more than usual but cuz of the laid-back it doesnt seem that bad.

What is even better we can have as long a lunch break as we want. We've tried the coffee shop, MARILYN's which does really good Tomato and Ham quiche and I think their thickshake is awesome. For a price of 3.40 you pretty much get two serving. For lunch today Marissa and I went to BRIDGE CAFE (which is like a ELVIS-era cafe) and had chips in a bread roll with spinach.

In regards to dinner we went to have chinese food last night. Surprisingly it was quite authentic. The seafood combination in Bird Nest was great. I finished it all myself. Also the way the restaurant was set out it felt Chinese but it also had a balance of australian Brick Wall feel. It was simplistic, a few drawings and a fan. that was it.

Tonight we went home and I cooked Beef Mince in Oyster Sauce on Rice. And cuz we had a lot of leftovers we made fried rice as well. It was nice and now we pretty much cleared out hte whole fridge.

Day 1: One step into the unknown is one step into the bigger world

Today was the first time I went beyond my comfort zone. I was forced to leave my nice comfort bed and the wonders of the urban city that I was so accustomed to and humbled myself to live in rural town.

So what is the name of this place... Its called Macksville. This town is located about a 6 hour train ride from Brisbane on the CountryLink Train. In order to get here on time, we had to get to Roma Street Station at 7am. Considering I had to leave CiA Camp last night early and get back to Brisbane at 12 midnight, having to wake up really early wasnt my kind of thing.

This was the first time that I took a train interstate. It felt wierd. Instead of expecting the sudden thrust of the engines that lifted a plane into the air, The train was smooth. A little jerky but it was okay. On the train we met another pharmacy student that was going to Coffs Harbour. We had a good time walking up and down the train taking lots of photos. The trip was so long... But we eventually made it. The food they provided on the train was pretty alright for a price of 9 dollars you got a piece of crumbed fish and a few chips. This was kinda okay. But it seemed more like something that came out of a Birds Eye Crumbed Fish packet. On this note I was very disappointed that for the whole trip my mobile had no reception which meant none of my messages went through.

Anyway as I said we eventually got to Macksville. Not knowing which direction to go we walked up the only street we could find and found out that the place where we were staying was much closer to the town centre than we expected. When we walked into the motel, the owners were like you kids are crazy to walk to the motel which was a good 4-5 mints away. They told us we should have given them a call to be picked up. How nice of them. They were really hospital. After going up to our rooms as you will see in the phoots we went to the town to have a look around. There were many interesting things. including Aboriginal Care centres, clinical psychologist, dentist, doctors, a "supposibly " asian store and a of course a pharmacy. The price of the food was exactly the same as things were in Brisbane so that was pretty alright.

Looking around at the people in the town they were all pretty casual. Mostly young generation around 30-40 years old with familly and kids. MInd you it seems like its a fashion for girls to be wearing mini skirts in the area. Dont actually understand why they do it. But they do. **anyway we went and bought some food and them went back to the rooms.

After a little nap we went to the RSL club where we sayw a different aspect of the town. It was just a small group of elderly people who semed to know each other really well. There were about 5-8 people and according to some of the staff that was one of the busiest days they had. Something else we noticed was when it was dark there was no one on the street. It was quiet and deserted.

Enjoy the photos.

The day before I become a young man

Some common words of wisdom shared on birthday eve....

"Oh its your birthday tomorrow... Oh then happy birthday I guess...

Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?

Tomorrow, you will no longer be a teen, you will be officially a young man"

  

I have heard from many people who been through this period when you go from 19 --> 20. It's a day when you finally have to admit you are old. No matter how much I want to run away from you Mr Two-Zero, you keep coming back at me. 

I sit here watching my life tick by on the clock at the bottom of my screen where I will have a few minutes of fame and then back to reality it is. 

Sony Ericsson W910i

Motorolas... Nokia... Samsung...

What do they all have in common? Well simply they have a high chance of stuffing up in regards to hardware and software.

I've even heard that the new iPhone that sold almost 200, 000 on the first day alone has been having many hardware issues.
So why the whole... random jibberish... Due to my stupidity on stepping on my Nokia 4 months ago. I have been united with a new Baby... the Sony Ericsson W910i Walkman Phone. Supposibly the Sony Ericsson even though it has not much in regards to design compared to other phones. Its reported to be more durable.

Over the last few days I've been mucking around with it and the photo below is what i came up with. I didnt know you could do panoramic photos with the phone. It looks pretty cool. I like it.

Then again I shouldnt get too carried away with my phone as there is much more important things to worry about.

Turning over a fresh leaf

Over the past few months, I've been trying to understand why it seems that the world around me has been changing so much. It almost seems like everyone has started to run the race whilst I am still standing at the starting blocks, waiting for someone to tell me what to do.

This feeling of being lost and confused. This feeling of wanting someone to hold my hand and spoon feed me. Many a times I lie there in bed wondering "What can I do?" Is there anything I can do to help out various issues around me? The focus has been very much as to what can I do in order for something to happen. Even though I must admit that I have started a weekly prayer time for various people I know. I know its not this that will get me into heaven. Having written a Bible Study on Luke 18:9-14, I think I can liken myself to the Pharisee.

⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about^[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

¹³"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

¹⁴"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14)

Here the Pharisee, even though he is seen as holy and righteous with God, thought that his actions was going to make him better than someone like the tax collector who was seen as an outcast in society, ie. being a Jew who collected money to the Romans. I think for the last few months, I've been trying to do things alot like the Pharisee and I guess I keep overseeing the fact that I am a sinner and that in order for anything to happen it is by God's strength and not mine. I guess because of this on a few occasions I have done things that seemingly glorify God but end up with the wrong motive.

When I read my Bible this morning I flipped to Romans 1 and the first thing I came across was the following

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Roman 1:18-19)

Seriously this sounds scary as one would know its because Jesus died on the cross for us that we do not have to take the punishment as judged by God and that we have a chance of salvation. If I was to face God's wrath today, I think the punishment for my actions will not come lightly.

So I guess in light of all that has been said, its not really the world around me that has been changing without me, but maybe I am the source of that change. Its going to be a rough journey down this narrow path. But I've taken a detour previously and now is the time to get back on the narrow path to start afresh.