It’s that time of year again: it’s muck up day at Sister Doctor Squared HQ! Tune in to hear what happens when Aleena and Janine do minimal prep and have maximum fun: reflections around space junk; Janine’s progress with fighting bedtime procrastination; the perils of running on hardwood floors in socks; intentionally reduced news consumption; what happens when you rush healing from major surgery; reaching the state of radical acceptance; going down the “K-hole”; cat bank accounts; fatbergs; more David Bowie awesomeness. Plus, the annual Sister Doctor Squared Awards ceremony! Strap yourselves in to the nerd train one more time for 2023!
Mastering of this episode, plus intro and outro music and “What can we learn from David Bowie?” theme music by the ever-talented Dr Adrian Diery.
Biggest thing we learned via the podcast in 2023?
Aleena – space junk is a huge and growing issue and dealing with it is complex (episode 23). Janine recalls that some space junk actually washed up on a beach in Western Australia not long after this episode went live (more here).
Janine – significant progress made with her bedtime procrastination habit after learning about the extent of her problem! Mindfulness and intentional scheduling in the day can help (episode 22).
Biggest thing we learned in general in 2023?
Aleena – don’t run around your bamboo floor house in socks unless you want to run the risk of broken appendages (episode 22)! But on a serious note, a reminder to let go of what you can’t control and be mindful of the volume and scope of your engagement in news and current affairs.
Janine – sunshine and physical activity really is critical for your mood! Also, you can’t rush healing from major surgery. Your brain will give very strong pain signals if you push it, even though there is not necessarily additional damage at a tissue level. All pain is ultimately decided by the brain. But wait, there’s more: Janine has also reached some sort of state of “radical acceptance”, as pretty much everything seems to have a funny side now. This meme perfectly captures the general vibe:
Funniest moment of 2023?
Aleena – What do you do when your cat has a chew on the corner of the book you borrowed from the library? Aleena thinks you should come clean with the library staff in a very professional, sincere email, complete with photographic proof of the gorgeous furry culprit… This email has Janine in stitches (listen in to hear it!)
Janine – Aleena going on a cleaning rampage at Janine’s house and throwing “junk” off the back deck; turns out that “junk” was a collection of sticks Janine had been collating for months for her macrame projects (ha!). Plus, Aleena being unable to not be funny while Janine tried desperately to not laugh and trigger pain following surgery.
Necessary tangent: Following surgery, when standard opioid pain meds were not getting the pain under control, Janine went down the K-hole (read: post-operative ketamine was delivered!). She experienced complete disassociation between her sense of self and the location of the pain. It was pretty wild and very helpful in the immediate recovery phase. Check this paper out.
What brought out our inner dumbass?
Janine has been putting tissues down the toilet for 20-odd years. Turns out this is really bad but Janine had no idea. Don’t be a dumbass: if you’re like Janine, stop doing this! More here. We don’t need to create more/bigger “fatberg monsters” in sewers. Yes this is a thing.
2023 SISTER DOCTOR SQUARED AWARDS
David Astle for inviting Sister Doctor Squared onto his ABC Melbourne radio show to talk all things podcast and working together as sisters! Welcome to all the new listeners who joined us after hearing about us on that show! If you missed it, you can hear the interview here. You can follow David here and you can listen to his most excellent radio show here.
Queen Bjork is awarded yet again for another year – this year for coming to Perth, Australia, to perform her stunning Cornicopia tour for thousands of people… but *mostly* for Janine.
Dr Rachel Thompson for having more papers than anyone else covered on the podcast! Hear all about Rachel’s (and Aleena’s) research in episode 24.
Specific pun awards for Rachel Thompson (episode 24), Fung and colleagues (episode 23), and Danielle Carey (episode 25).
Dr Jessica Wade for making over 1,600 Wikipedia bios for women scientists who never received recognition. Absolutely fantastic and important work. More here.
Gina Chick for being a breath of fresh air, light and wisdom. Check out Gina on Alone Australia, on Australian Story and on her Instagram.
Dr Adrian Diery and the Space/Time team for creating the most amazing, independent, Aussie, sci-fi, mind-bender feature film. Follow along for updates here and here.
Huge thanks to Adrian, as always, for mastering episodes this year and being the creative genius behind the Bowie theme music (first introduced in (episode 23). Follow Adrian on Twitter and via his website to see what he’s up to.
Essential tangent: why not check out this engaging study over the Christmas break?!
The effect of having Christmas dinner with in-laws on gut microbiota composition.
What can we all learn from David Bowie?
Janine took notes upon notes while watching the David Bowie feature Moonage Daydream by Brett Morgan. Of particular interest was how Bowie would intentionally put himself in situations that were difficult or dangerous to see how it would affect his writing and work. He wanted to soak up the feeling of being uncomfortable. We can all take something from this: stepping outside of our comfort zones is how we can learn and grow.
Plans for the festive season
Janine – complete a David Bowie cross-stitch; start learning to play the drums; mostly unstructured chill time.
Aleena – head back to library since she has not been banned… yet… plus time with friends and fam.
That’s a wrap
Thank you to everyone for listening in and engaging with us this year! And thank you for all of the coffees via Ko-Fi.
Please rate and review if you haven’t done so yet.
Signing off for another year. Stay square out there.
If you feel so inclined, check out The Inner Square Spotify playlist to hear some rad tunes over the break.
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