med school mumblings...

Friday, July 29, 2005

-aargh- i've just found out that i have class on the day after national day! -aargh- i thought i would have two days off that week. to top it off, it's a bloody long day, ending at five because of the foundation research thingy.


it's the opening night of OT today! feeling rather excited about it, especially for the performers. it's going to be a great show, what with all the talents in the faculty. i heard even the raffles hotel people are impressed. we seem to have our very own theatre company right here in the yong yoo lin school of medicine. we've got a writer cum director, a team of song writers, a pair of choreographers, sound and lighting designers, wardrobe mistresses, actors who can sing, act and dance and a stage crew who is happy to move gurneys and skeletons and huge, self-constructed screens. it's kinda humbling to know all these people with such wide-ranging talents (other than mugging, clerking and mugging), so i'm grateful to have been a part of it all.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

never realized how being on the backstage crew enables you to meet so many people, and watching the show from the wings gives a whole new perspective. it's amazing how many props can be stored in the wings, and how many people are in various states of undress in between scenes! and working in total darkness is a different experience. goodness knows how many shins and hips i've hit with the chairs i carry. those pushing in the dining tables (actually they're dressed up gurneys) have had more hits than i do. i also found out to my horror yesterday that my markings for the skeleton and drip stand have disappeared. it must be on the soles of someone's shoes now. the tent markings have also been hidden under the completed platform. whoot.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

OT is turning out to be a really exciting experience. it's the first time i'm involved in a performance backstage, so i guess it isn't that stressful as compared to being a performer. of course the stage crew heads are forever concerned about the coordination and timing of the set changes, but for me at least, it's so very different to be working in the cover of darkness, instead of having the lights shine down on you. the seniors are awfully nice and friendly, and serene and nimi who have just joined have been great company (and help!), and to top that off, we all took a trip in the lorry yesterday to bring the props to raffles hotel. driving through shenton way with skeletons grinning at the crowd is a hilarious experience. those on the nuh shuttle stared at them glumly, two cleaners near lau pat sat looked flabbergasted, and an ang moh couple simply laughed.


rehearsal till eleven later, though i must say the play is coming along very fine.

Friday, July 22, 2005

new layout. was thinking that i should wait till school starts before loading the new layout, but i screwed up the old one and i can't stand it looking so terrible.


OT rehearsals tomorrow and the whole of next week. woot. i'm glad that two other people are joining us backstage, so things should be easier.


i can't begin to say how awful i felt when i saw the news last night about the second bombings, and today's about the suicide bomber being shot. i'm thankful there were no fatalities yesterday; it was just over dinner last night that i heard that a jc senior is still in london on internship.


on to happier news, i had a wonderful day meeting up with good friends and talking over cheap japanese food in bedok. we laughed and joked and i got quizzed on anatomy by vic and it all just felt so right. the four of us yesterday have known each other since secondary school, and yet we can get together anytime to share our life experiences. indeed something to be thankful for.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

i don't know what the heck happened to my code, but i'm changing the layout anyway for the new year, so it shouldn't matter. then again, i don't even know when school starts. a fourth year told me it's 5th august. can anyone confirm this?


also, many thanks to everyone who has visited my europe site. i noticed quite a number of hits. heh. thank thee, thank thee!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

zj called me up this morning asking me to go down to rj. and that turned out to be a fateful thing because i got to meet and talk to several teachers, and i got to meet dr william tan. yeah! the paraplegic guy who's a doctor and neuroscientist and who has just travelled through all the continents. he was there to raise money for teenages with cancer, so he was selling autographed posters for five bucks each.


i really don't know what to say. i mean, you see him in the papers, read about how he has traversed antarctica etc, so it's certainly humbling to be standing in front of him, even though he's in a wheelchair. he's got a presence, this aura you can't run away from. we talked to him for a while in the library (which is gorgeous, the only thing i wished we had at mt sinai) and he seemed pleased and interested at our future careers. i've got the poster stuck on the wall above my desk; i hope it'll be give me the necessary inspiration to carry me through second year at least.


it was nice to meet the teachers, even for a short while. and i was pleasantly surprised that some teachers who never taught me before could vaguely remember which batch i was from. talked to mctay over his lunch, then later to dr chan over my lunch. still not convinced about the spaciousness of the school. it's just too freakin' huge. too many corridors. on top of that, they have a limited choice of food. poor young rafflesians who have never tasted ghim moh hawker food. heh.


does anyone know when school starts? it's a very queer feeling not knowing when i've to go back to school.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

i've finally done the main part of my website. visit it here. There are still some parts that i haven't finished but i'll get them done soon.


went for OT prac yesterday. nearly thought i had made a mistake because everyone on the stage crew was an m4. i was the only m2 around. but well, it's all right, they're nice people and in fact, don't behave like seniors, if you know what i mean. they're like m2s who know m4 stuff. heh.


anyhoo, here's some publicity for the performance. it's fifteen bucks if you're a student. details are in the medsoc updates. support us! or rather, support the cast! then maybe you can see me darting around the place on stage right.


mc, you said yesterday i sounded sentimental about london. i went home and chewed over your comment, and i guess i'm really sad it happened because of all the nice people we met in london who helped us (it's all in the website) and the truly cosmopolitan nature of the city. the mayor wasn't kidding when he said that. yeah, guess that's about it.

btw, if anyone has any comments about the site, you can tag it here too instead of emailing.

Friday, July 08, 2005

i was happily ordering my dinner at Ding Tai Fung yesterday evening when i was told about the london blasts. i guess this world we live in has changed. remember a time when we could get on a plane without overzealous body searches? a time when we didn't have announcements on the mrt telling us to report suspicious articles to the police? a time when the idea of armed patrols in the airport was ridiculous?


it was exactly one month to the day that had been my first day of london, and i had passed through all the places bombed except edgware road. king's cross, russell square, aldgate. to see people screaming and others injured and dying right outside the places i had been to is, to put it mildly, very painful. had the g eight summit been held a month earlier, and perhaps things would have been very, very different.


it was in a way fortunate that it is the summer holidays and most of the undergrads are back home safely. there is at least one acquaintance who might be still in london. someone has a sister working there who, when the tube came to a halt, had no choice but to take another mode of transport -- and boarded the bus which later exploded.


there's no turning back is there? terrorism seems to be becoming a part of our lives, and so begins a new chapter in our history.

Monday, July 04, 2005

stacey kent's coming to town august twentieth. can't say how happy i am.


saw war of the worlds last week. second act was terribly long. people were going out to pee. i mean, yeah, it's scary to have all these explosions are martians coming after you, and mind you, dakota fanning is a good actress and screamer, but i still felt something was missing. john william's scoring wasn't as memorable too(think E.T.). i must say the special effects are superb. if there's anything worth your seven , or eight depending on cinema, dollars, it's the f/x. and the movie makes you really terrified of metallic groans, because they mean the tripods are coming. the ending was a tad too abrupt, but it gives us something to chew on. mr spielberg has done well in making yet another summer blockbuster, so maybe he should do a schindler's list next.


there's another review i've got, on jeremy monteiro and the chicago connection, but my monday addiction is on now. gotta go.