med school mumblings...

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Of Kids

now that i'm doing paeds, i've been noticing the kids around me more. the crazy stuff they do, like putting their feet into their mouths, and the things they say, which as the americans put it, are certainly the darnest things.

*was walking back to rock from gallery west this morning, and on the escalator was this family with a preschooler. pastor l - saw the children's chuch tag on the kid and said hi to the family, to which the little boy whispered loudly, "who's that? who's that?" (okay i admit this is a new crea inside joke; pastor l - is one of the tallest and loudest people around, so it's hard for anyone not to know him. heh.)

*just a couple of weeks ago, i was in the lift at dhoby gaut station, and inside were this young boy with his mum and a gentleman on a wheelchair. the ride in the lift is pretty short, but it probably seemed like eternity for the mother after the kiddo said innocently, "ma, the man has no legs..."

*last week the sibling of a patient in the wards was singing very loudly to herself. she forgot the lyrics and so began to sing,"heigh ho a merry oh the tree eats the grass!" after a long day of tutorials and clerking, that was absolutely hilarious.

for a few days last week, the children's hospital was out of pants, so we had wards of little kids running around with only pampers which threatened to drop. that was really adorableness to its max.

and in one of the beds which i was assigned to, was this five month old girl who was abandoned by her mother. she was the loveliest child i had seen in my 6 weeks of paediatrics, and i fell in love with her immediately. each time she smiled and made noises, my spirit was lifted. she's been sent to mcys to be placed in foster care i think, so just as suddenly as she came into my life, she's now gone. sigh. she'll never remember the numerous nurses and medical students who came to carry her and tickle and fawn over her. oh well, hope she gets a good home where she can grow up to be a wonderful, happy person.

[cryptic] stuff needs to keep moving, but there are certain things beyond my control. hmm. oh wells. i need to keep moving myself! [/cryptic]

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Of The Causes Of Euphoria In A Sleep-deprived State

pre-concert

the lead up to the concert was pretty hectic. had to squeeze in practices, memorise scores, come up with the program booklet...all while trying to immerse myself a little deeper into paediatrics. tutorials lasting till 7pm, ward assessments, lectures ran through the week, and it became a little difficult to tell one day from the next.

had a bit o' break on my birthday. ms lion, fish, missA together with jie-ke, p and grandpa (what a pleasant surprise!) had lunch with me at ma maison. got to eat some good food, which included escargots!

after that we rushed off to grand cathay to catch ratatouille. it's a cartoon, and i expected the plot to be appropriately simple, but i was mistaken. beyond that oft-rehashed plot of a someone (in this case a sewer rat called remy) trying to chase his dreams despite the impossible, there are the themes of coming to terms with one's own weaknesses, for example, so it really isn't a kid's movie. on the technical front, the team at pixar has brought animation to new heights once again. the animation was amazing; i especially love the parts where remy's fur gets singed in his mad dash around the kitchen and the massive turbulence of water that sweeps remy into the drains of paris.

the whole atmosphere of the movie reminded me of geroge orwell's down and out in paris and london, in which orwell describes the life of a plongeur, the dishwasher and kitchen assistant personified in the movie as remy's human friend, linguini. wikipedia has an excellent excerpt from the book:

"[A] plongeur is one of the slaves of the modern world. Not that there is any need to whine over him, for he is better off than many manual workers, but still, he is no freer than if he were bought and sold. His work is servile and without art; he is paid just enough to keep him alive; his only holiday is the sack... [they have] been trapped by a routine which makes thought impossible. If plongeurs thought at all, they would long ago have formed a union and gone on strike for better treatment. But they do not think, because they have no leisure for it; their life has made slaves of them."

straight after the movie was dinner with my parents at crystal jade vivocity, and the day rounded up with a delicious chocolate cake (my second one that day!) from breadtalk.

concert

when i met up with the group at 3pm on the day itself, i was greeted with good news - we managed to borrow a sound system from resonance! woo! wireless mikes! poor sushi though had to drive all the way to nus to load his car with the speakers and all, and when he came he had to find parking for it.

this was my first time working with such an elaborate sound system (by my standards!) so it really was an experience. so blessed to have friends from resonance who helped to EQ our mikes in order for us to sound our best that night. if we had relied on the mikes provided...well...the result would not have been the same. heh.

we managed to grab a bite of some sandwiches (the mashed eggs were suspiciously sour, thank goodness none of us had any tummy trouble after that) before we stepped out onto the stage. it was over in a flash - tea for two, blue moon, celebrate, a mile in my shoes, africa...all in an hour or so. was a little shocked when i realised we'd come to our last song, even though we had rehearsed it several times. i was touched by the support given - almost all our tickets were sold out! and of course, not to mention the flowers and cakes and hugs that came after that. it was awesome to have so many friends and family come down to watch me sing. heh. priceless.

post-concert

was on a post-concert high that lasted for about 2 days, and which carried me through night duty on monday (see previous post, in which i forgot to mention i saw an opthalmia neonatorum in a 15do babe whose parents were younger than me). we had a meet up on tuesday at nydc at holland village to exchange photos, calculate our earnings (enough for a good nydc dinner plus the cost of burning the performance video) and say goodbye to sushi and g. joss dug up some old pictures of us in j2 performing at junction 8, and i honestly can't remember much of that event! must be getting old. we're j6 now, and we've managed to meet up once a year despite being dispersed over 3 continents.

was to have rounded off the week with a cg dinner at st james' power station, but due to unforseen circumstances, we ended up at vivocity's carl's junior. not too bad a way to end our western hospital posting though.

i move on to the baby hospital tomorrow, and will be there till mid-october. i'm looking forward to having more down time - that i can have a whole morning to type this post is such a luxury i haven't had for the past month. i'm midway through my fourth year of medical school (if you exclude the elective period) and there's still so much that i don't know. and during thursday's bs, something came up, and now i've got to make a decision which i don't want to make. i also need to finish up the yearbook otherwise it won't make it to print on time.

can't wait for the two week break!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Of Summaries

* just got back from the western hospital's ce. quite a "good" night; managed to see a status epilepticus in a dysmorphic child, a kid in crocs whose toe got stuck in an escalator, and a preschooler coming out of a ketamine-induced stupor. the place is pretty small, and there's even a makeshift consultation area behind the two consultation rooms, but somehow the staff are able to run the place efficiently. marvelous job they do there every day man.

* birthday celebrations this year were great, not like last year's when i was down with a horrendous flu and was bed bound on the day itself. this time, i managed to have my first taste of escargots at ma maison, watch ratatouille, and wolf down lot of chocolate and cream cakes, which is quite a great indulgence considering paeds is supposed to be a tough posting. oh and not forgetting the donuts that my caregroup people got me. heh.

* the concert was a success and a heck a lot of fun. we managed to sell almost all our tickets, and it was great to be performing in front of all our relatives and friends. when i first got my tickets, i wondered how i was going to sell them, but i did! it was a fantastic experience, and is one of the highlights of the year. will blog more about it after the changeover.

* new creation will get a new home in 2011! the full article can be found
here. after ten years at suntec, we'll have something permanent. one of the first things i thought of though was that the air-conditioning there would probably be insanely cold. haha. very irrelevant huh. i'd be working then, and things will be so different (what hospital would i be working in and which department? which ministry would i be involved in long-term?) but some things will always stay the same, ain't that great?

time to start on my write up. eeks.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Of Advertising


if anyone is interested. heh.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Of Random Things

1) read in the forum page a few days back about someone who went on a trip to paris with a tour group, and spent only fifteen minutes at the top of the eiffel tower. makes me glad i went backpacking, so zonc and i got to spend more time there taking in the view of paris as well as hanging around the vicinity just relaxing and having our simple, packed dinner of bread and sardines. heh. not very romantic (it's not like we wanted it to be so haha), but what better way to celebrate seven years of friendship?

the view from the eiffel tower:
and the eiffel tower at night:


2) that old calling has come back. hmm. will post more here when everything is confirmed. for now, i'll just have to drop off an application form and pray about it. but, oh, it's so exciting!

3) mumbler's performing in a concert this sunday. it's a miracle how this whole thing has come together given our crazy schedules and the limited time we've had to practice. but it's finally going to happen in three days' time, and there are so many people, from secondary school, jc, and medicine coming to support me. (btw there are still tickets, so ask me if any of you want to go!) am so blessed. the eight of us have got such varying interests and career paths, yet by virtue of our love for singing, we can just get together for a rollin' good time, anytime!

4) now that we're on the topic, just wanted to say that paeds has taught me to be grateful for all the big and small blessings that have come my way. had to go for medical check ups for the elective application and was poked twice in one week. can't imagine how the little ones, like those in the renal ward, have been constantly poked for years, and yet they still remain so trusting and optimistic. in paeds you see people who can't walk, can't see, can't hear, can't talk and can't understand the world they live in. and then you see those normal kids who come in for minor stuff like hernias and gastroenteritis, and you marvel at their small hands, their impish grins and their innocence. it brings to mind that oft-quoted verse: "assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."(luke 18:17)

which of course brings me back to random thing number two. we'll see what happens with that.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Of Hairspray

of all the movies this year, hairspray is probably one of the best the 2007 has to offer. based on the 1988 screenplay and 2002 broadway musical of the same name, this extremely joyous and easy to follow movie is a must-watch!

it tells the story of a high school girl, tracy turnblad, who lives in a small town and aspires to be a tv star on local television. it's a much rehashed tale, so obviously what makes the film enjoyable is the music and energetic dancing. eye candy and slick dance moves are in the form of james marsden, high school musical's zac effron and elijah kelly, while john travolta dons on a fat suit and cross dresses as mrs turnblad.

the rest of the ensemble cast fairs pretty well too - amanda bynes as tracy's loyal but bimbotic friend penny pingleton, queen latifah as the face of the local negro tv scene, and allison janney as penny's uber-religious mom. michelle pfeiffer is a surprising choice for velma von tussle, the show's resident villain whose goal is to ensure her daughter wins the beauty pageant for the fourth time running. she plays the role with relish, but her voice and lack of theatre training is apparent with the similarity with which she sings and says her lines. still, it's a brave effort, and evil enough, very much like cruella de vil in 101 dalmations, and it works.

christopher walken is awesome in his supporting role as tracy's father. i love his portrayal of a simple man who's content with the small things in life, and his touching rendition of the song (you're) timeless to me. what a revelation is newbie nikki blonsky, who makes her film debut in this movie, and who carries the show with her bubbly personality and spunk. it's a fantastic show, and don't miss it! i've bought the soundtrack and it's worth every cent. my all-time favourites are you can't stop the beat, good morning baltimore and big, blonde and beautiful. the music stays in your head, and makes you want to stick your head into the quiet hdb night and sing:

Good morning Baltimore

Every day's like an open door

Every night is a fantasy

Every sound's like a symphony


And I promise Baltimore

That some day when I take to the floor

The world's gonna wake up and see

Baltimore and me!