med school mumblings...

Thursday, March 30, 2006

hohum. it's that point in the exam prep where everyone declares over the phone lines or face-to-face that "i haven't finished!" or "i'm so slow!". as with most things, the terms "haven't finished" and "slow" are all relative, and their meanings can range from "i'm only at 99%" or "i've barely turned the first page". so well. i'm somewhere in between that, in the region where i know the big picture but am stumped with the little details that will give me the marks. and the feast on tv isn't helping much. grey's, american idol, and tonight's two-hour whopper of lost. how to finish?!

and i discovered the wonders of window-shopping therapy on tuesday when i popped by the neighbourhood mall. to see swarms of people laughing, chatting and scolding their kids in a shopping complex in the midst of exam prep is quite relaxing, not to mention the peace you get when admiring the clothes on the racks. don't get confused, retail therapy is for post-exam periods, but window-shopping therapy helps to unfry your fried cranium.

"a dream is an answer to a question we haven't yet learnt how to ask." how true.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

and so christina collapses, and i'll be missing the next episode where apparently there's a touching scene between she and burke. ooh, and i've just found out on some grey's website they even have a "i love patrick dempsey!" wristband going for 4.99. cool, but i won't -ever- be caught dead wearing that.

[edit] well, turns out the scene probably only last less than a minute. went to read the transcripts. heh.

and seeing the picture of the centre pompidou in the papers this morning made me think back to last summer when i had the trip of my life. [/edit]

Friday, March 24, 2006

just a little over a week more to the second pros. it's the last lap now, and i'm just trying to remain sane while stuffing my cranium with latin words which are meaningless to me. i think all medical students should be sent for a introductory latin course or something. heh.

but nothing can beat the chemical name, 4-hydroxynonenal. like what joanna had remarked, it sounds like a taunt. nonenal! nonenal! nonenal!

have been staying up to study into the wee hours of the morning, and having to deal with a groggy, unco-operative mind the next morning. ugh. dis eez baaad. but reading dm's blog, well, there's always something a lot worse than what we're experiencing now. -gulps-

Thursday, March 23, 2006

was flipping through the natas supplement today and saw the sections on edinburgh and berlin. boy would i love to got back to those cities. especially berlin. it's a place which grows on you. it's funny, it's sad, it's strong. but underneath all that steely prussian demeanor, there's the will to survive, to be more united. it's a fantastic place. if i could speak fluent german i would have considered going there for my elective. heh.

but well, all that is pipe dreams anyway. perhaps the world cup has made europe a more popular destination, or maybe fuel costs have gone up considerably, but this summer, all the airlines have priced their tickets at a thousand dollars and above. last year, i flew return to paris for, get this, eight hundred over bucks by malaysian airlines and the service was good. now the average price is about four hundred dollars more. missy A, there goes our romantic vienna vacation. -sighs-

Sunday, March 19, 2006

life in medicine is really different from the rest is it? i only fully realised it last night at a friend's birthday party when i met with long lost acquaintances from secondary school. not surprisingly a sure fire way that gets a conversation started is army (for the guys) or university life (for the girls). however, we don't have projects, we don't have papers to be handed in by midnight to professors, and we don't have hall life (well, for most of us anyway). and the furthest anyone has ventured asking me about med is how to fake a diarrhoea episode to get MCs from their GPs, and what specialty i have decided on. muaha.

but of course, when you find people with similar interests other than school, anything goes, which was what happened last night too. heh.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

when drug trials go wrong. it's all very sad, because most of these people were probably doing it to pay the bills, and now they're fighting for their lives.

and i've discovered that the pots question no one seemed to know the answer to was diverticulolitis. oh well. that must have been the killer question for the year.

Monday, March 13, 2006

what madness. thursday's microbiology was terrible, and patho on friday was no better. out of eight pots, i'm not sure of two. and both have resulted in heated debates over what the organs and the lesions are. in addition, our theory paper tested stuff on genetics. i don't mean the genetics component about fragile x and the like, but things like "this diesase is related to carriers of such and such a gene" etc, and hyperthryoidism is twice as common in females than in males. i never thought such info would be tested! sure i knew (as everyone did) that women get it more, but by what proportion, that was a fact i never expected to have been tested. also the hla genes etc etc. ugh!

after the paper i was suddenly became very hungry and very drained. according to our seniors, pots was not meant to be like this. -groan- whatever the case, i hope my grades will turn out fine. now i need to gather every brain neuron to try and focus on the upcoming pros. just a bit more!

gosh, nearly fell asleep while typing that bit.

anyways, went for some free dance trial lessons at a dance studio in the central district. attended the lyrical jazz and latin jazz lessons. great fun. i suppose knowing i didn't have to pay for it, and that there won't be a ca or pros on it really upped the enthusiasm factor. and for the record, i can't ever do salsa or latin dance to save my life. i must have looked extraordinarily silly doing all those moves. lyrical is more for me. heh. the class was a good mix of people, though there were two girls who were obviously clueless about dancing. it's possible to tell because they came to class in tight skirts and heels. so for most of the stretching exercises and steps requiring kicks, they could only stand and watch. poor things.

may the madness begin again!

Monday, March 06, 2006

one good thing about having a study break is that you get to catch the oscars 'live'. so no, felicity huffman did not win for transamerica, but lee ang won best director for brokeback. he ended his thank-you speech with,"xie xie ni men de guan xin!" to everyone in taiwan, hk and china (how about singapore?). jon stewart was a hoot as the host of this year's awards. he should be doing more movies himself in addition to poking fun at angelina jolie and dick cheney. this guy is just so so likeable. anyway, one part i like best was when he started the show with," good evening ladies and gentlemen...and felicity." hilarious.

a bit sad that jake gyllenhaal and felicity huffman didn't win in their respective categories. but at least lee ang won. he and sandra oh are the new wave of asian americans who'll probably permeate the american consciousness with their work.

oh well. that was a bit of relaxation from schistosomes and hydatidiform moles. it's back to work folks.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

horror of horrors - i think i might be down with the flu. must have gotten it from my dad. having a bit of a runny nose and my throat is starting to feel scratchy. nooo, this can't be happening!

Friday, March 03, 2006

wasted almost the entire afternoon surfing the net, watching american idol (not kevin! whew) and reading bridget jone's diary. much more interesting than genetics and microbiology at this moment. am just finding all sorts of ways to not look at my notes. grr.

part one over, now on to part two. the weather has been awfully hot these past few days. terrible. feel like a stick of melting ice-cream.

wondering why some people just don't get it. ugh.