[Ask Me Anything] #2: vox nihili

[vox nihili]

Thoughts on Dimma mate?

This article puts it pretty well. He's been the most successful coach at Richmond for decades, so I reckon he cops too much flak.

Also, with Mick Malthouse gone, he's about the only source of entertainment these days in the pressers, so I reckon that's almost worth keeping him on for.

Thanks for sticking your hand up for this. Perhaps one for benefit of the younger folks on the forum: how did you get into public speaking (and/or debating) and would you recommend it to high schoolers? And if so, why?

My pleasure

I think like most students I'd had to do the odd oral presentation here and there during high school, and primary school too. I always enjoyed doing them and usually scored pretty well—and as most will probably appreciate, with perhaps not as much effort as may have been put into other assessments :p

The way I got into competing outside of school was reasonably bizarre to be honest. Someone had dropped out of the Plain English Speaking Award and the school risked being fined if we didn't field a student. So one day in class I was chatting away (probably whilst the teacher was talking) and the teacher said "well right then, if you won't shut up come do the Plain English Speaking Award". Off I went and actually won the regionals (I'd like to say I won on my talent but needless to say it was probably the worst regional final I'd been to :p) and got a pretty big boost of confidence after that. Got completely smashed by the others at the semis, but then decided to come back the next year and see if I couldn't do better. I didn't. But third time lucky, I ended up going to the Nats and the rest is history.

Absolutely I would recommended public speaking. It's very easy in high school to get stuck in the bubble and lose sight of the fact that there are other things beyond VCE and scoring well. When you get out into the big bad world, your prospective employers will look over you if you can't communicate well—after all, no matter the job everyone has an interview! So for purely practical reasons, it's a great skill to develop.
Beyond that, I personally got a lot out of it because it allowed me to mix with different people. My school was pretty rough-end public and was very demographically homogenous, so it was actually a really valuable experience to get to hang out and become friends with people from different backgrounds. Some of the best life advice and some of my most valued friendships came out of competing at PESA There are a billion other reasons as well, but I've already said way too much on this!

[vox nihili]

Thanks for doing this - whenever I'm looking for help on the Biology board, your answers always seem to help.

Would a bear or a shark win in a fight? ^{also, why did you choose to pursue medicine?}

Great to hear that, thank you!

I mean that's a pretty loaded question. It all depends on context. If they're in the ocean, I'd back the shark—mainly because the bear's probably gonna drown anyway. Conversely, and take it from me that I'm certainly no expert on fish, but pre sure if it were fought on the ground the shark would be toast—again because of "air" drowning? (points to whoever can tell me what that's actually called, because I have no bloody idea).



It's actually a pretty difficult question, why I chose to do med. I mean, it's actually kind of weird to think about—I'm not convinced that most of us really know why we make a lot of the life decisions we make; we just make them.
For me, if I had to put words to it, I'd say that med appeals because it combines a lot of the things that interest me. I'll get to do science. I'll get to teach. I'll get to help people out. I may even get the chance to try to improve how medicine is practiced, which is something I really want to do as well.
It's hard though. I think I've mentioned on the forum before that I wasn't really certain I wanted to be a doctor, and I'm still not certain. This year though, I must say I've been able to picture myself as a doctor a bit better, so that's a good sign

Favourite music?

Aww man, my music is really eclectic. I like a bit of everything to be perfectly honest. I really appreciate people who can really use their voice though. When you just sit there and think "shit they can sing".
Confession though, my most played artist is Shakira hahahaha like Shakira's hips, I don't lie

A million respects for vox!
What's the story behind the username?

Well I changed it from Mr T.Rav because it felt like time for a change. I started off with t-rav, because it was a nickname a friend gave me, then (I think?) Yacoub encouraged me to add Mr...felt like time for a change!

Anyway, to vox nihili. A vox nihili is a useless or ambiguous phrase, which is basically what a username is so I figured that suited :p

(I wish I could say I knew that, but there was a bit of googling that went into finding the username :p)

What is the meaning of life?

RNA....or is it?

What did u work as when working with vcaa?

I was one of their adjudicators for the Plain English Speaking Award. I've done that for the last couple of years and was lucky enough to be invited to adjudicate the state final last year (which was pre cool because I basically sat in a room arguing with the head of VATE about who we thought were the best speakers). This year I only did the state semi finals, because I couldn't make it to any of the regionals There was some pretty amazing people—one in particular stuck out, but I won't embarrass her in case her friends or she herself is on here!

Get hyped though, it was just announced to us today that the winner we chose this year went on to win the National finals this week that's two years in a row for Victoria, 3 times in the last five!

DEFINITELY taking advantage of one the suggested questions that I'm sure everyone is dying to know:

who is your favourite Bachelor contestant??

Cassie


(not actually watching the Bachelor, but Cassie seemed like a good bet for someone on the Bachelor...apologies to any Cassies here :p)

What did you find to be the most difficult part of your (biomed) degree? Best piece of advice you could give to a 1st year in it?

Why did you pick up Spanish at uni as opposed to continuing French in uni?

Have you had your inner health plus today?

Honestly, the most difficult part of Biomed was finding my confidence. There were only two of us in my year level that got an ATAR of 80, so coming into an environment where everyone is a lot smarter than you, it can actually be really bruising. Took me until second year to realise that I was probably undervaluing myself and could actually keep up with people who had all "beaten" me in VCE. Before that, I just felt like I wasn't doing as well as I should and struggle to adjust to it.
Best piece of advice to a Biomed: try as hard as you can to get everyone to work together. Not only is it good for your academically, Biomed desperately needs people willing to work with others and not against others.



Well I had the option of knowing French, or knowing Spanish and French. So I thought to myself...





Seriously though, I was sick to bloody death of studying French by the end of VCE. I had heaps of fun doing it and really enjoyed French classes, but I was drained and wanted to try something new. Spanish was a great fit, because it's similar to French and there's a hell of a lot of opportunity to get involved in using it. Plus, have you heard how fucking amazing it sounds?




Nah, no inner plus health for me today. I'm a med student, so I don't really like to dabble in therapies without a clear evidence base, so I just stick to my chlorophyll capsules and collagen cream

[Glasses]

Two questions:

1. Was there another career/faculty you were tossing up between when you were in high school, or did you always have your heart set on biomed/med?
2. Why did you choose to go to Melbourne Uni?

[clarke54321]

Hi Vox Nihili,

Do you have any advice for year 11s going into year 12? Looking, back is there anything that you did differently when approaching year 12?

Thank-you 

[vox nihili]

Two questions:

1. Was there another career/faculty you were tossing up between when you were in high school, or did you always have your heart set on biomed/med?
2. Why did you choose to go to Melbourne Uni?

1. I think like most people I had in mind a number of different careers along the years. I wanted to be a psychologist or a journalist for a few years. Then was thinking to do Arts and then something (?) after that.
First time I actually thought about Med was year 10. My psych teacher at the time said "don't be a psychologist—you're too smart, do med and be a psychiatrist instead". Not the humblest quote of course, but for a cocky year 10 I took that on board and agreed to do the prereqs, mainly because I respected that teacher's advice. Got into Biomed because I found I loved Biology after the girl I had a crush on at the time convinced me to ditch literature for Biol half way through year 11.
Then Biomed itself was only a really last minute suggest. I had my heart set on science all through year 12, so that I could have the option of doing Chem. But at the change of preference day, one of the Biomed students there convinced me to change my mind, with what was probably some fairly (read: absolutely) misleading advice.
Funny though, it was just a series of accidents. I had never wanted to do science, least of all Chem, but did because of that particular statement from my Psych teacher. I had been waiting years to drop maths at the start of year 11, but chose to continue after many, many weeks of nagging by my maths teacher. And then Biology—my absolute love in VCE—was also a complete accident.

Can say now though that if it weren't medicine, it'd be teaching. It's what I'm most passionate about and probably what I love most to be perfectly honest.

2. Prestige. I'd also had a little bit of exposure to Melbourne Uni via KLD (which is exactly why it exists), so I guess it felt a little familiar. In many ways though, my experience is probably a case study in how not to choose a uni. Had my heart set on Melbourne for purely superficial reasons and really didn't take the time or the care in making what is ultimately a really important decision.

Hi Vox Nihili,

Do you have any advice for year 11s going into year 12? Looking, back is there anything that you did differently when approaching year 12?

Thank-you 

Bizarrely, this has reminded me of the advice I used to be really keen on at the end of year 12. Enjoy your subjects. And if you can't enjoy them, pretend you are and you might just find yourself following along with that.

If you're actually interested in what you're doing, you'll engage with that content so much more. One of the difficult things with year 12 is trying to look beyond the ATAR and actually just enjoying what you're doing. Will make it a much better year for you, and one that will be more constructive in the long term

[AngelWings]

Hi Vox Nihili,

Some more questions coming your way:
1. What do you do when you're stuck in peak hour traffic? (Trivial, I know. Feel free to make the answer as interesting or plain as you like.)
2. What's your favourite joke? (Just because.)
3. If you were given a chance to take one of the two following paths, leading in opposite directions, which one would you take and why?
Option 1: A dark short path, covered in forests and most likely filled with unknown dangerous beasts, but with a guaranteed reward (i.e. brighter result) at the end.
Option 2: A path that's long and winding, but with certainty that it will be safer than the first option and no guaranteed reward at the end. There are some lights to illuminate the path along the way.

[vox nihili]

Hi Vox Nihili,

Some more questions coming your way:
1. What do you do when you're stuck in peak hour traffic? (Trivial, I know. Feel free to make the answer as interesting or plain as you like.)
2. What's your favourite joke? (Just because.)
3. If you were given a chance to take one of the two following paths, leading in opposite directions, which one would you take and why?
Option 1: A dark short path, covered in forests and most likely filled with unknown dangerous beasts, but with a guaranteed reward (i.e. brighter result) at the end.
Option 2: A path that's long and winding, but with certainty that it will be safer than the first option and no guaranteed reward at the end. There are some lights to illuminate the path along the way.

1. I never drive in peak hour, take the train in instead. Although, peak hour train is pretty crap. They've just added a whole heap of stations to the Geelong line (all of which are in Melbourne itself, so tyvm govt for adding metro stops to a rural service)... Used to spend that time angrily tweeting VLine or getting really grumpy with everyone for every little thing :p I'm a country boy who really doesn't do any sort of crowd or traffic well hahaha

2. I couldn't possibly post my real favourites, but here's one of my favourite silly jokes:

"Two cats have a swimming race aross the English Channel, one English, the other French. The English cat is called "One two three", the French cat is called "Un deux trois".
Which cat wins?

One two three cat wins because un deux trois cat sank!"

3. Option 2. Because, y'know, fuck fighting with monsters

[Hopelesshopefull]

RNA....or is it?

^omg love this answer   

so my questions:
- what do you wish you knew before starting biomed and also before starting med? 
- how do you fight the beast that is  procrastination ?
 

[vox nihili]

^omg love this answer   

so my questions:
- what do you wish you knew before starting biomed and also before starting med? 
- how do you fight the beast that is  procrastination ?
 

Hahah I'm glad somebody appreciated it :p

To answer your first question, I wish I knew that I could do it. I mentioned a little bit earlier that the biggest challenge you face in these degrees is finding your confidence and finding your rhythm. In both cases, it took quite a while to realise to get my confidence up and realise that I could rise to that challenge. I think it would have made life a lot easier and probably improved my experience if I went in with a strong belief that doing well would be achievable. That's obviously a very personal answer and one that won't apply to everyone taking those degrees, but it is probably the thing that stands out to me. In a more practical sense, I wish I understood how Uni worked when I started Biomed. All through Chemistry I simply refused to believe that they'd expect that much detail from us and that they wouldn't go over the stuff we learned in lectures again. That attitude belied a fairly healthy ignorance of how Uni works, one that I think a lot of people entering Uni probably don't have.

To answer your second: not well. Actually setting time-dependent goals is really important, and writing those down. Also choosing a study technique to adhere to is important as well.
I tend to have my phone in my bedroom whilst I work in my study, and block Facebook (and all the rest) while I'm working. That usually works. Not working so well now because I've hidden my phone away in my drawer as though that will stop me from using it (it's not!).

[FallingStar]

After completing your course in biomedicine, what do you plan to do? As in do you plan to do further studies into masters, or do you want to go straight into the workforce?

[vox nihili]

After completing your course in biomedicine, what do you plan to do? As in do you plan to do further studies into masters, or do you want to go straight into the workforce?

Hmmm, I'll probably try to get into med, but that's pretty difficult to get into! :p

[Alter]

Hmmm, I'll probably try to get into med, but that's pretty difficult to get into! :p

You wouldn't stand a chance of getting in. Don't even bother applying.

Please don't ban me <3

[vox nihili]

You wouldn't stand a chance of getting in. Don't even bother applying.

Please don't ban me <3

[Joseph41]

Are you familiar with Friends? If so, how would you describe yourself in terms of the main characters? So like, 100% Joey? 50% Phoebe and 50% Chandler? And so on.

If you're not familiar with Friends, just make it up - then we can chortle at the results.

[vox nihili]

Are you familiar with Friends? If so, how would you describe yourself in terms of the main characters? So like, 100% Joey? 50% Phoebe and 50% Chandler? And so on.

If you're not familiar with Friends, just make it up - then we can chortle at the results.

I laughed way too much at the thought of someone not getting that Friends is a show and thinking that you really badly just ripped on them.



Would have to say probably 40% Chandler, 30% Ross, 30% Monica. I really can't stand most of the characters on that show, aside from Chandler, but being honest I've got enough anal retentive to chuck in some Monica and enough dorky to chuck in Ross :p