I took one of those quizzes. About what colour I am . (sorry, color). Made by a paint manufacturer, hardly surprising.

And, apparently, I am RED.  This should not surprise anyone who knows me.

You boast incredible willpower and are capable of overcoming obstacles that would normally leave others shaking in their boots. You have a penchant for colorful environments and often impress others with your energetic bursts of energy. Your interests in many areas of life often leave you scattered, but when you focus you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

More blogging later maybe.

Not the best of days; a rather busy week focussing on other things meant that I'd done exactly 1% prep for my class today. Spent the morning in the library working at speed (but not at any depth). Hadn't brought any lunch with me- no bread, pitta or bagels left in the flat- and meant to go out for something but ran out of time, so lunch consisted of a bottle of coca cola and a bar of white Divine . Which was scrummy, I should point out. Probably constitutes a balanced diet. Which is to say, on balance, I will die young of coronary heart disease.

Cup of coffee and a lovely slice of choccy cake with Soz this evening (at the ever excellent Kember and Jones - the deli I will open if this medicine lark doesn't work out) and I think the highlight of my day was her telling me about demonstrating a 100% perfect positioning of a doppler probe on a fetus, seeing the consultant spot the look of shock, delight and relief on her face and realising that she may need to work on the calm, unflappable exterior a bit more if she's to wing it in the world of medicine. That's her finished her last placement; only three weeks of revision before finals, then some shadowing of a Junior Doctor, and she's ready to graduate. It'll be sad not having my chum in fifth year any more. But then, by then I'll be well on my way to being a vintage second year!

For reasons unknown, it has taken me over 15 weeks of medical school to twig that, whilst I might not wear it whilst studying, an iPod does make a neat little commuting companion. I had a great time today listening to tunes on the train, and I burned down the hill in 15 minutes (75% of normal journey time) because I was walking to a beat. My thighs were burning when I got in but a)that practically makes it exercise and b)perhaps I'll be less close to missing the train like this and thus not need to do an inelegant run through Waverley station so often. My only problem in this regard is that I'm short on new music. Anyone recommend anything? One album each, max- the last time I asked a friend for new music he gave me about three albums each for 20-odd artists and I was so overwhelmed by the choice I ended up never really exploring any of it.

I wish I were going skiing this weekend : o (

Medicine is bloody brilliant but I wish we got more regular holiday, rather than exhausting terms followed by big long break in the summer. I can't binge and purge on energy, that's not how my reserves work. Time to recharge is a bit hard to find sometimes.

Right. Dinner, I think.

• saying 'Big Issue Sir?' to me will not endear me to purchase. Yes, I am tall and have cropped hair, but I was wearing dangly earrings and carrying a flowery hand bag.
• the most important thing staff at a family planning clinic can do is take a woman's needs seriously
• hoping for an easy weekend as topic of study for Monday is inflammation and bacterial infection....which comprised about a third of what I learned in the third year of my degree
• a very nice doctor put a victime de la guerre bandage on my arm. instructions are to relax, do no housework this evening and have gin brought to me at intervals. I intend to add shouting "I 'ates you Sharpey!"
• my young persons rail card is no longer valid: I now have student ID, valid till 2014.
• I have not quite got used to saying "I am a medical student".
• This is the sixth day of Heleneukah. What will tomorrow hold?
• Today I received a piece of (peer) feedback describing my work as 'pretty sweet' and calling me the 'reference guru'. Both are firsts, in my experience.
  
• I hope that I haven't terribly upset one of the peers to whom I gave feedback. I expect I have but hope they will see the way out of it.

In the end we replaced the defective Season Three of BSG with the Seasons 1-4 +miniseries+Razor box set. With the refund from the original box this only cost us £50 altogether which seems like a not bad deal.

We had a grand wee day yesterday, with old friends round the table for lunch and sucessful cooking and some diamond chat. Today, however, both Mr MacLaren and I are struggling with colds. Unusually for me, my head is still clear (as opposed to full of cotton wool) which makes me fear I have yet to suffer the worst of it. Certainly I have a sore head and scratchy throat and pain in my neck/behind my eyes but I have no sneezles and my nose is not running so there may be more to come. Typical seeing as I am to present a poster at the Institute of Molecular Medicine inagural annual retreat on Wednesday, which will require some brain.

We had masses of chicken drumsticks for lunch yesterday which spent yesterday and this morning with some pork ribs from the freezer boiling up into tasty stock. I think the plan is now for lentil soup; just was poorly folks need to see them right.

...on finishing disc two of season three of battlestar galactica, and opening the second box, to discover two disc fours. Fully an hour after the shops have closed, so there's nothing we can do about it tonight.

Instead we are setting up the new toy but it is so cold in our front room that whenever I move from underneath the big blanket I start to shiver.

Those of you who were paying attention, ooh, exactly two months back will know that I was agonising over some career choices. I had gone down the option C route as it seemed like 'the sensible thing to do' and latterly, as I approached my interview, the whole idea was making me feel ill with worry.

So I was brave. Bold. I said loud and proud- this is not for me- and then I took steps towards what I believe- hope against hope- is the right direction.

I am excited. I am ready.

Alone in the flat, in perfect peace and quiet. Fab. I've been totally floored by my fruit salad (mostly alphonso mango but also and orange and some strawbs) but am still picking at it a little.

Things I ought to be doing:

• Making up the bed, which I stripped this morning.
• Ironing pillow cases for said, and just generally dealing with the ironing pile.
• Blogging about our weekend's Nigella Express exploits.
• Planning menus for the week ahead, to assist in our progressing through The Challenge at a better speed. 
• Putting a wash on for tomorrow
• Finishing the card I started making for K&B to congratulate them on their engagement.
• Writing letters- either to friends in far flung places or to go with the few remaining, yet to be sent out Change of Address cards.
• Simply sitting, reading, quietly. You know, for pleasure.
• Going to bed.