Keeping Occupied:
A Guide to BearDoc' Interests

Doing Medicine is a tough slog - so of course, I try as much as possible to maintain interests outside of Medicine. Some of them I've listed below - if you want discuss any of these, email me and let's chat about it!

Travel: I love to travel, only at the moment I'm restricted in how much I can do by time and money (I'm a medical student, after all). Places I've been to internationally include the United Kingdom (when I was 4, the family stayed over there for three months, and I met all my extended family), Fiji when I was 13 - I went as a companion to an only child when they were over there, and also San Francisco in May 2000, with Los Angeles and San Francisco in December 2000/January 2001. In December 2001/January 2002, I had the biggest trip of my life - six weeks staying in ten cities in North America: DC, Philadelphia, New York (post September 11th - it was interesting), Boston, Toronto, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, and San Francisco. In 2003, I went to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, London, Birmingham, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver. In 2004, I'll be travelling again - for details, check the Travel page.

News and Current Affairs: Okay, so I'm a certified information junkie. A bear's gotta know what's going on in the world, right? So in the mornings and at night, you'll find me watching a news bulletin on TV and Radio, and during the day, I'll be reading news sites on the Internet.

Health and Fitness: Redefining myself since September 2005, I've lost 32kg and have been having fun challenging myself to new heights of fitness with the Les Mills Body Training Systems. More of this is on the Health and Fitness section of the website.

Eating and Cooking: I have a confession to make. I can't cook. Having no culinary ability, I end up cooking standard fare... but that doesn't mean I don't like eating fine food! I like a broad range of foods, but my favourites are most definitely Japanese, Malaysian and Italian. For restaurants and cafes in Sydney, I use Eatability, a user-driven review site for checking restaurants before eating out there.

Television: I'm proud to say that television is a very useful tool in my home - and yes, I do watch a lot, but I'm a very active viewer, not passive. In general, I prefer television that involves a fresh perspective, with either very original screenplays, fascinating characters, or something else that makes it stand out from the noise that dominates the airwaves. You'll find with me that a lot of programs will be my favourites for short periods, but unless they evolve and change, I tend to lose interest.

Australia has a lot of international (mostly US and UK) stuff on its airwaves, but also has a good range of home-grown stuff. Some of my favourite shows (past and current) are:

• CNNNN/The Chaser's War on Everything (Australia, ABC)
• Backberner (Australia, ABC)
• The Glasshouse (Australia, ABC)
• Real Time with Bill Maher (United States, HBO)
• Life Support (Australia, SBS)
• Seachange (Australia, ABC)
• Kath and Kim (Australia, ABC)
• The Simpsons (United States, FOX)
• Kyle XY (United States, ABC)
• Mythbusters (United States, Discovery Channel)
• Robot Chicken (United States, Nickelodeon)
• 30 Days (United States, FX)
• The Office (UK and United States, BBC)
• The Games (Australia, ABC)
• Frontline (Australia, ABC)
• South Park (United States, Comedy Central)
• The Practice (United States, NBC)
• Oz (United States, HBO)
• Desperate Housewives (United States, HBO)
• The Amazing Race (United States, CBS)
• Jack and Bobby (United States, The WB)
• Sex and the City (United States, HBO)
• 
  

In addition, I love thrillers, particularly British thrillers, which seem to be the best thrillers out there. Thank God the ABC regularly puts them on!

Music: My tastes in music are relatively broad (dance/R&B/rock/Australian rock/jazz/etc.), and I seem to like both truly original sounds in music and respond very well to intelligent and meaningful lyrics regardless of the style of music. To the horror of some my friends that have even a shred of musical taste, I'm going to mention the music that I regard as all-time classics:

• Safri Duo feat Clark Anderson: Rise (Leave Me Alone) (single)
• Eskimo Joe: Black Fingernails, Red Wine (single)
• Amerie: One Thing (Remix) (single)
• Baby Animals: Lights Out at Eleven (single)
• Delerium: Silence (Sanctuary Mix) (single).
• Bruce Springsteen: Secret Garden (single).
• Pendulum: Coma (single).
• Boxcar: Vertigo (album).
• Severed Heads: Dead Eyes Opened Remix (single).
• Deborah Conway: Bitch Epic (album).
• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (album).
• U2: Achtung Baby (album).
• Paul Kelly: Dumb Things (single).
• GANGgajang: Sounds of Then (This is Australia) (single).

Computers and Internet: Not really interesting in themselves, but more in terms of the opportunities they provide. I prefer to shop at online merchants in preference to shopping in shops these days, although I still can't seem to convince myself to buy groceries online. But the opportunity to videoconference with a friend in Germany, to send a letter to my aunt in Edinburgh, to shop in the United States without leaving my house, and to read news and opinions from newspapers, be they from Sydney, London, New York or Brazil, is an entirely new paradigm introduced in the late 20th Century. I find that really quite interesting that the Internet pervades all areas of my life.

AUSLAN (Australian Deaf Sign Language): Having picked this up in 1998, I'm fascinated by this visual communication medium, although I am very rusty now. I'd love to communicate with anyone that uses AUSLAN for conversation, and I need the practice - please don't hesitate to email me and let's chat about it!

LATE NEWS
(updated regularly)

My Journal has all the latest news about my life, and is updated regularly.

What's new on the site?
Photos from Southern HiBearnation 2007 will be up soon

Current Term: Chronic Pain. This is an interesting term and a future career interest - it's good to be back at a big hospital again too - I'm loving it!

CURRENT WEIGHT

88.5kg (previously 121kg)
20% body fat (was 36%)

more information on the Health and Fitness page.

LINKS OF INTEREST
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