Bumper Weekend

finally, mumbler got the weekend she's been waiting for. after many false starts the past few weeks, she finally had back to back action this time round.

friday: chill out time for the nus cluster at munchie monkeys. great fellowship and fantastic praise and worship. can't say the same for the food though.

saturday: whole day family day, with a bit of swimming thrown in.

sunday: combined service where the first part of the preaching was enough to feed on. long lunch at tampines with dear z-, before heading to great world city to watch wall-e finally. rushed back just in time to watch the f1 race, and to see massa attempt to refill and drive at the same time. heh.

i also had the honour of watching paul anka in concert on monday. even though i knew i'd be busy, i was quite keen to go because how often do you get a chance to see the man who wrote "my way" perform live? it's not hard to be awe as you watch the guy who worked with buddy holly, who wrote songs for tom jones and frank sinatra, who has had an amazing fifty year career, sing and charm the crowd with a medley of familiar tunes. i don't think he'll come back to singapore anytime soon (paul newman passed away on friday; needless to say my mom was heartbroken), so i'm glad i got the chance.

a review of wall-e will be up when i've the time this week. meanwhile i leave with you one of my favourite scenes from the bbc's 1995 adaptation of p&p (which is the version to watch by the way, not the silly, hyped up, completely un-austen, historically inaccurate and wuthering heights-like keira knightley-matthew mcfadden one!!). this is where darcy (colin firth) proposes to elizabeth (jennifer ehle). she rejects him, and he reels, not just from the rejection, but also from the reasons for lizzy's refusal. it is a turning point in their relationship, as lizzy later finds out that her accusations were based on biased opinions, and darcy learns "how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased."



don't you just love jane austen?

Mutterings

some random thoughts again, where mumbler:

• suddenly wishes we were all spineless so that she needn't mug so much for ortho
• is happy to have spend her birthday week with her friends and family, and eating lots of delicious cakes
• is shocked at the turn of events on wall street
• would like nothing more than to drop her books and take the next flight out to join her friend in the lake district
• knows she hasn't been in a talkative mood lately but still wants to sing like she did last year at the young musician's society (yms)
  
• is frankly quite disgusted at the accounts she's been hearing about the difference between her medical school and the new kid on the block, duke, because if these stories are true, then all she can say is, it's all about the money baby - and it's too bad we're the ones who aren't paying
  
• needs more sleep!

that's all for now. will blog again when thoughts are more coherent.

Some Thoughts

right now on our class yahoo groups, is a discussion regarding an american board exam that the admin is suggesting we take. lots of interesting points of view, and it seems like those wanting to take the exam are in the minority. which is good, in mumbler's opinion, because no one likes to take exams, even if they're free. and to sit for a totally different sort of exam (no matter how the admin tries to tweak the questions it'll still have a taste of american right?) a few weeks before the final mb is pure madness. after, maybe, but definitely not before. i really doubt any mot would readily sign up for a usmle step 3 just before sitting for his mrcp! am hoping nothing happens because otherwise, mumbler will be tearing her hair out by the time march comes.

coincidentally in the papers lately, several letters have been written about the intake of medical students. year in and year out, various parents have commented on how 'heng' they've been to have the money to send their kids overseas because the our school apparently denies entry to some of the 'best' students (ie their own kids). i shan't comment on it since my opinion is obviously going to be biased since i'm in the system, plus the fact that my parents could never have afforded to pay for my medical education overseas, but i'll just say that when it comes to starting work as a house officer, it really doesn't matter which school you come from. what matters is that you can work fast and work smart, something which i hope to learn.

but what i wanted to comment on was this letter published today, in which the writer asked that since the ministry says we're short of doctors, why don't we have more places in nus? i should think that the answer is simple - a lack of resources. our lecture halls are full (the latest batch is 260 strong!), the wards are cramped with medical students, and some of our labs have been closed. just today our id tutor wanted us to clerk a patient, but he vehemently rejected us, because the duke students had gotten to him first (and it seems that they clerk alone, so imagine how many people have talked to him already). more locally-trained doctors is always a good thing (knowledge of local health system, dialects, diseases, etc) but until the financial and logistical constraints can be dealt with, it is unlikely that the class size will increase much more.

and talking about admin, sometimes, some of them really get my goat. yesterday a few of us received text messages threatening us with something if a specific paperwork wasn't done. again, mumbler regrets that this blog is too public, because this bit of paperwork has nothing to do with us, yet we are being held responsible for it, so preferably, mumbler would like to insert a rant about idiotic admin staff here. but i must say, in case i get shot down, that there are excellent admin staff that have helped me and my classmates inmeasureably and i concede they don't get much thanks from us. oh well.

and my frivolity was extended by one day today. haha.

For Now

while mumbler is in her avenue q craze, here's a snippet from the opening scene: