psyched about london!

Not sure if it was such a bright idea to do the elective in January. My brain is so damn rusty and all I ever want to do all day long is to have fun, chill out and do all the things I like to do. However, I am super hyped up about London! not that I have yet to visit this city but it just has this vibrant and addictive energy that keeps sucking me back that way.

This trip is probably going to be less touristy, already planned 2 musicals, as well as short dashes to Paris and Manchester. I am quite determined to try the famous macarons from the shop Pierre Hermes. Their website was all in french. goodness me. but the endless pictures of pretty pastries and cakes obviously cheered me up and put me in the right mood. haha. i guess yummy food transcends countries and languages. The Manchester leg of the trip is probably more for the victor who is a in-and-out MAN U FAN. that freaking stadium better have some cool shit if not i will scream my frozen self off.

Of course, I also hope to get a good feel of life in the ICU. spent some time in PICU, trying to see if there are differences to an adult ICU. Just hoping I will not be too moppy after seeing those very ill patients. Plus the gloomy weather London is SO famous for. I hope we will not run into too much of those rainy and dreary days.

BUT for nowwwww... it's only 2 more days to a brand new year!...I was dreading 2008 this time last year but i'm glad it still turned out to be a pretty good one. Phew.

Happy New Year guys.. :)
All the best for 2009!! *cheers*

i'm lovin' it.

After all that exam results saga has calmed down, a group of us gathered at ian's spanky new place for a good old fashioned charcoal bbq last night. lots of delicious food prepared by his family. the night ended with a round of uno stacko, which our poor kristin probably took out like 50% of the thangs.. she was yelling in despair everytime the persons next to her drew a 'reverse'. haha..

Things on the London front is getting more and more promising. We have arranged most of the things that we have to - trains, accom, transport, musicals, manchester... oh goodness. it's going to be a wonderful trip! I really love the atmosphere in London, even though my mum thinks it's grimmy and gloomy with too many dark skinned people around. So glad I stuck to my choice to do my elective in London. Yay!

Pics..at some stage. they are all over FB though.

the verdict

Dear NGP,

You are the 5th NGP I have collected under my belt. I always made sure I never took you for granted because you can be so easy and so difficult to grasp. You never fail to bring me so much joy and relief at the end of each school year. This year in particular, getting you meant so much more. I am free to go on my external elective to London, free to be a 6th year learning new skills on the wards in preparation to be a (hopefully) great doctor.

You remind me of accomplishment, no matter how insignificant. Even when other students from other universities laugh at us for only getting you, NGP, as the mark on our transcripts. You never fail to make me think that all that hours sloughing during svot, all that time running after consultants in the hospitals.. it all pays off. somehow.

You are also my last NGP. In time, I will move on. Moving on to something more complicated but hopefully more exciting and rewarding.

So long NGP, thanks for always showing up on the access adelaide screen every year.

Till then,
Daphne

NGP = Non-graded Pass.

YAY and WEEP

I'm glad I don't have to study for quite a few months!...

But I thought I made many stupid mistakes in the osces.. and mcqs.

T.T sobs.

Oh and another exam related joke.

doctor: ok, so now you know it's a cancer. what will you do for the patient?
student: hmm firstly i would like to know where the cancer is located...
doctor: it's on the back.

student flips the question sheet over to the back.

and then a split second later... realised that the doctor meant it was on the PATIENT'S BACK.

writing things down now.

2 funny quotes. just for the meddies out there.

1. When performing a cranial nerve examination

Getting to Trigeminal Nerve (CN V)

Student: "Ok Sir, I need you to clench your jaw for me so that I can feel your muscles of masturbation."

NB: not me! and it's meant to be mastication.

and getting to Facial Nerve (CN VII)

Student: "Ok now, I need you to give me a big smile. That's it. Very good. Ok so I'm looking at the labial folds and checking for asymmetry."

NB: sometimes shortening phrases totally changes its meaning.

doooomed

I'm not sure how to describe what I'm feeling.

Imagine going through truckloads of notes...
And then, whilst sitting down to practise mcq question.. still unable to do so many of them without referring to resources!....

*hangs self in shame*

oh well, if I don't do make it I guess I only have myself to blame for not starting earlier. I can so hear my mother going.."see lah, told you to study harder.."

T.T

last minute dash.

where am I?

Stuck beneath a sea of notes, books and all the aids meant to help me PASS the exams.

It's less than a week away before it all starts.

The stress!

I hope it all turns out well.

The price I pay for being a medical student..

According to Up2date, if I get a basal cell carcinoma... it's all really my own fault.


Lifestyle factors — Smoking increases the risk of SCC [30], and may also be associated with an increased risk of BCC [14,31]. This was shown in a case-control study performed in 333 disease-discordant twin pairs in which there was an increased risk of BCC in smokers and in females compared to males [31]. Other lifestyle factors that were possibly associated with increased risk included higher education and coffee consumption. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Sigh.

jogging an old memory

It's really bizarre how patients pop back into my mind when I revise for the exams. The scarier part is the fact that the patients that I recall tend to be the ones who are ermm, deceased.

Anyhow, the patient in focus tonight is this 50 odd years old man who presented with projectile vomiting and weight loss to the ED. I learnt tons from his illness as it turned out he had advanced gastric cancer.

It was the first time I
1. felt a succussion splash
2. palpated a Virchow's node
3. observed a total gastrectomy.
4. had to take an extremely complete history and examination as I was going to present him at the Surgical sessions.
5. had a patient die on me. (he died a few days after my surgical presentation)

I remembered after the gastrectomy, the surgical registrar was trying to suture back the midline laparotomy wound cautiously and carefully, through loose skin that had suffered the unduly fate of 30kg loss. The only distraction on the abdominal skin was this huge myraid of tatoos. She commented, "well, he's not going to have much to look forward to anymore, the least I could do is to make sure his tatoo matches back up and aligns."

Anyhow, now whenever I revise gastric cancer.. this poor chap pops back into my head.

I hope he's happy wherever he is.

i wished it was the holidays already.

I have done work.
But like nothing's sticking!.......

I'm so damn bored. help.

O&G = OVER & GONE!

I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am that today's exam was like 50% repeated questions. PHEW. We had 6 stations and I only fumbled in one of them.

and that one station.

I.. had the same examiner from Wednesday.

OMG. the humiliation! I thought I would never have to see or speak to him ever again.
The first thing he said to me was..

"ok Daphne, let's see what you know."

Daphne's mind: nothing much, since you are examining me.

A series of tiny ultrasound scans with some grey dots and white dots.
o.O Obviously I wouldn't know what it is.

The questions were not too bad but I kept having this vibe that he still think I'm a dumb twerp or something. sigh. looks like first impressions really stick huh.

Anyhows, we have a wonderful dinner at FARINA!
A very long list of cocktails to choose from and the tapas were delicious... *drools*
I had a fruity girly one, and one that can knock the ghost out of anyone i'd reckon.
wheeee.

I'm so glad o&g is over.

OVER AND GONE.

the rubbish test called a viva.

The O&G viva must have been one of the most traumatising exam experience I have ever had in my ENTIRE schooling life.

Thankfully I passed, others were not so lucky.
Yes I admit that there were some student factors that I could improve on for future examinations but I have MANY MANY grievances towards the setup, patient choice and examiner choice for the viva.

1. My stupid patient's main problem was NOT related to obstetrics OR gynaecology.
She was under-going freaking chemotherapy for a large B cell lymphoma and was thus taken OFF hormone replacement therapy. So when I asked her why she was here, she was in her own words

"oh, just wondering if I could get restarted on that HRT"

Where was I supposed to go from there?
I assessed her suitability for HRT (heart disease, liver disease, breast cancer etc etc)
and asked her if she previously had side effects from HRT.. etc etc.

And after I presented the case to the examiner, his first comment was

"why did you not palpate for ALL the lymph nodes in her body, especially since you knew she has lymphoma?"

GAWD. In my defence, I did palpate those in her neck and axilla cause I freaking examined her breasts. But seriously, A full body workup for her?

The day before, most of the students got obstetrics patients with REAL obstetrics problems.

2. Stupid Examiners
Please choose examiners that are not L-field, extremists who do not believe in the SA Perinatal Guidelines. I mean, why else do people develop guidelines then?

Whilst being quizzed on cord prolapse..
I mentioned ALL the damn measures in the guidelines.

Examiner frowned, and said "where did you learn that from? Your patient's baby is dead"
Me: perinatal guidelines
Examiner: Do not believe everything you read young girl.

Also, please choose examiners who have a patent and working auditory pathway.

I had to repeat my surgical procedure for a Bartholin's abscess like 500 TIMES. (and PS: everyone knows how loud i speak)

Examiner: so what is the name of the procedure?
Me: Marsupialisation
Examiner: so you have incision, excision, what else?
Me: Marsupialisation..
.
.
.
.
.
I WAS GETTING FREAKING ANNOYED
Examiner: ok, one last chance, it has something to do with Australia's favourite animal.
Me: MARSUPIALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.
Examiner: YES! you got it. good.

FREAKING hell.

gahh.

heatwave...approaching?

You see, I come from the land afar called SINGAPORE.
Singapore is humid, sticky, warm with some months going bonkers where it rains NON stop and umbrellas are useless creations.

So you know, I'm not that unfeeling towards bad weather.

BUT seriously, the HEAT in adelaide can fry flies! and dry out eyeballs.
oh gawd.
if we have to go through with the heat wave again this summer, i will perish. along with the other thousands of fried flies.

We usually have our exams in mid november when it can be warm and summery again. BUT this year it is at the END of november.

say hello to heat.

oh gawd i hate this.
grrrrrr.

the thing called yoville.

since i spent so much of my time moving furniture around.
i might as well show the world how my virtual apartment looks like huh.
i'm pretty happy with the living room
but the bedroom.. hmm i like the cozy sofa corner. but i need to do something about the bed. looks wrong.
oh wells.

i feel like it's super swot already.

I realised I am going to be cooped up at home for like what, the next 6 weeks? GAWD.

O&G is coming along slowly but surely.
Lots of crap to cover.

No more weird baking.
Don't think we are getting the funky duster.
Even Yoville seems abit boring already.

I need a new distraction!.. ok one that you can (hopefully) do for like 10 minutes in between studying just to chill the brain out. Any recommendations? lol.

Sian ahhhh.

When can i go home?!
Can't wait for all this to be over.

weird stuff.

i realised that when i get stressed with studying, i turn to rather alternative methods of therapy.

1. getting super duper obsessed with cleaning.

check this out!

i dunno what draws me to this stupid duster but I
1. really wanna get it! comes in 3 sizes and all that jazz.
2. really like that creepy green colour
3. really wanna touch its seemingly 'soft' and 'whirly' bits..

gawd. help me please.

2. baking stuff that i normally wouldn't even eat.
made a whole pan of cheesecake brownies, which if you think about it, it's just a personification of the fact that I couldn't even decide whether i wanted to bake cheesecake or brownie.. so just do both!...

thankfully the encouraging bf took a piece and ate it all up really quickly. and..

he went "oh yummy, this is really really good!.."...
me: "oh really? i can feed it to others?"
he, 5 secs later. "oh by the way, what do you call this thing you baked?"

-.-"

3. super Yoville addict.
It's this stupid game on facebook that you have to work at the factory (!!) only once every 6 hours to earn some sad amount of coins. which i blow it all on furniture every day. to decorate my APARTMENT. oh, should i choose the red shaggy rug or the blue one?..
sigh.


HOW?!...
O&G sucks.
driving me mad! help!

bugger.

5 more weeks of O&G left! not sure to cry or rejoice. I'm only starting to get the hang of things in this obscure and diverse field of medicine/surgery. Just had a full day of tutorials that included running to and fro 3 different venues. My feet hurts from all that power walking man. Plus I'm still a bit queasy from the rapid ingestion of my pasta lunch. *ugh*

Anyhow, Paeds results are out! and I'm so relieved and also surprised by the actual percentages when Juanita (the nice clinical officer at WCH) replied my email. I crossing my fingers that I haven't tripled her workload because I just told a whole group of people that she would tell you the percentages if you bothered to email her. opppsie.

It's probably going to be a quiet friday night. Hopefully we will make it to the movies because I'm dying to watch wall-E!! I'm also gonna make dishes and rice for dinner. What I have up my sleeves.....

1. Ginger, Mirin and Soy Sauce Salmon
2. Sausage omelette
3. Choy Sum and Tofu Stir Fry

Yea I know, sounds boring right.

What to dooooooo.

Ok time for a bit of a granny snooze. Hur.

the long and short about labour.

having been rostered onto 2 long days worth of labour ward duties and a morning of c-sections, labour is seriously under-estimated. All the movies and drama series portray labour as something that is relatively short and always commencing with the exxagerated POPPING of the waters. On screen, the baby always comes out perfect and clean and the mother looking so neat and happy.

Well folks, in real life, you get a blue baby with a crunched up face covered in white slime. Midwives have to clean your baby before they look presentable to you. You would have had on average 5 hours of painful and regular contractions prior to the baby even being out of you. This is usually associated with a change of mood, hair getting dishevelled and lots of swearing and screaming before the pain medications are administered.

All you people opting to have caesarean sections for convenience, fear of a long and painful labour process or simply the fashion of the time.. are also WRONG. You always get a big scar, you have more blood loss, recovery takes longer. It's a safe and life-saving alternative but people should stop saying they WANT caesars.

At least it doesn't (thankfully) take away any of the joy and tears that comes rolling down your faces when you see your baby for the first time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that labour is just the beginning of a long road of parenting. It's not pretty and it's not glamourous. You have to do it only because you want to.

Yes.... and i will save the rant about midwives for another day.

long time no blog

busy with the new rotation.. keeping me on my toes.

anyhow, time is running out! sitting for the BIG exams very soon!

RANT OF THE WEEEK::::


and i'm so pissed. with person that
1. eats bread and leaves crumbs (that amount to a piece of bread) on the table
2. cuts fruits on the kitchen top without a chopping board/uses plates as chopping board. (mankind invented chopping boards FOR a reason)
3. moves stuff around the house without asking for permission. (not your stuff, don't touch!!)
4. thinks that others want to use their things and hence keep it in their room! (am i the only one who thinks keeping kitchen utensils and garlic is just so damn weird?)
5. doesn' recognise/realise that the house is SOOO much cleaner and is blatantly contributing to dirt. (stop shedding hair/skin/dirt/wat have you)


why why why why why!!!!
ain't the above just you know.. COMMON SENSE??? and basic courtesy????

some people just never learn. or realise.



PS: DISCLAIMER: not my household. me housemates are perfect :)

why do we need true friends?

1. spend time drinking alcohol and laughing your heads off at sexual and explicit jokes.
2. so that we can sing unpretentiously in our loud and tone-deaf voices.
3. someone to turn to when the world is upside down, inside out and all the wrong ways around.
4. the ability to reminiscent about the common past together.
5. alibi for all the times you need to hang out late and be sneaky with XXX.
6. feel slightly wanted? nothing beats logging onto msn and having people scattered in different continents saying hi to you. hur
7. people actually looking to you for advice - relationship problems, online shopping - what to buy what to choose?
8. being appreciated for who you really are, and not what you want to be. less the need for impression.

i can't think of any more at the moment.

babies are eating my brains out.
and their very pregnant mothers too.

gahhhhs

the wheel of time just keeps turning and turning.

my well rested, full of afternoon naps weekend is OVER.
all i can say is, i'm glad i took time off to do abit of silly things.

like how we spent friday evening shopping! and me buying a few new tops from country road. i love that place man. we went off to belgian beer garden for dinner - lots of mussels! and pomme frites (which are just fancy potato chips) and accompanied by delicious stella beers! oh, the examiner from the paediatric osce was sitting at the next table. so paiseh. >.< lucky he was happily drinking his beer too. hah!

this was followed by 10 hours of sleep. and 3 hours nap. and FINALLY dragging my ass down to play baddy. oh sometimes i forget how much fun i get playing that game. it was really good, had some pro shots and broke a sweat. yay :)

and.. we had some shitass spicy nasi bryani from Rana's Tandoori! Which we washed down with a bottle of Corona each, so satisfying to eat spicy stuff in winter :)

Sunday, we continued our quest for food. We rode all the way to Hahndorf, a quaint little place in the hills 20 minutes from the city. Immediately dashed to the infamous POT BELLY PIES SHOP (which christine, quinnie and a few of our friends were unlucky enough not to have tasted coz it sold out the day they were there) We shared a steak and mushroom pie at the shop - saucy, savoury and alot of meaty chunks! I approve, even though I'm not a fan of pies. We bought 6 pies to take away and distribute to me household :)

Anyhow, my weekend is long over. It's nearly the end of Tuesday now, and I am still trying to grasp the idea of O&G. It's difficult especially if you did Paediatrics first. Abit topsy-turvy now. Oh wells, at least they are really nice about teaching and I have learnt heaps in the span of just 2 days.

Looking forward to more :) 9 weeks of babies and women! come on!!!...

people like to play tricks.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN MY STATIONERY KIT!
A 6 YRS OLD NEOPRINT!
ALL OF US LOOKING WEIRD AND ANGRY
AND HONG GETTING COVERED BY A HUGEASS FLOWER. HUR.

---------------------------------------------------------------

just had a taste of the surgical osce exam.
which went quite well, except for the QUINSY.

oh man, ENT surgeons sure like to kid.

anyhow, have to mug for med! and psych! woo hoo!

looking forward to the weekend!
sleeping in
shopping
eating indian takeaways with friends!
going to the hills to find a pie shop
playing baddy

WOO HOO.
come on come on!


now im worried.
what will i do post-BARRIER exam?

try bungee jumping?
o.0

winter's still here!!!

Alrighty.

Observed Case was alright. I passed!.. see, such low standards. hah. seriously, crawling and walking 14 mths old babies shouldn't be allowed to be exam specimens. they run around and you have to catch them, pacify them, make them breath so you can listen to their chest.

too much work man!

Got my assessment form signed off today.

"A Keen Student." -- eh, consultant... you sure not? Yah I guess was at times, but mostly I was just trying to NOT look disinterested. Murmurs get boring after listening to 20 similar "long systolic murmur, loudest at Left sternal edge.."

I saw a couple of malnourished babies in heart failure. and they look so tiny, starving almost. you can see the outline of their enlarged liver when they breathe in and out deeply. it's quite heart-wrenching. (pun NOT intended k) And they are in respiratory distress.. and it seems so hard for them to catch their breath.. poor lil things.

Anyhow, I was in the nursery today with the doc for some consults. He was telling me how I should visit the nursery often, "just to get an idea of what NOT to name your future kids." Seriously, the list of weird names is very long.

Some examples (sorry if that's your name or what you wanna call your kid..but i'm pretty traditional when it comes to names)

1. Jamain (variation of germaine? Not toooo bad)
2. Kyetrel (nurse commented mum mixed 3 names up to form this unique name)
3. Jaeda (likened to a jeidi?)
4. Qathy (HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE IT?!)
5. Leilani
6. Fade (?????????)

I'm not sure... but am I the only one who think these names are weird?!

Sigh. What a world we live in.

week 4 blues..

I'm not sure why but I'm feeling really down and unmotivated. Maybe it is a combination of bad dreary winter chills, boring rotation and just plain boredom. It is really difficult to come home everyday after a long (maybe boring or useless) day and do your eating and showering things and just sit down and study. Things just get so pointless sometimes.

When will this all end?

Is there ever a light at the end of this long dark tunnel?

It seems like just as when I am about to finish crossing one hurdle, another one is on its way into my life. I keep stalling and going "wait until XXXX is done and then i can XXXXX".. Maybe I should just care less and do what I want to do RIGHT now. Stop thinking that my life is just mainly about studies and med and passing 5th year exams.

Afterall, my life is proving to be an endless road of sitting for exams, getting drilled by someone more senior and always always having to think of others before myself.

Thinking about all this crap is making me sad.

I shall go and continue revising paediatric ophthalmology (which SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS!!!!) I hate eyes. Only very grateful that I can see. that's about it.

Sidetracking now, people get abit appalled and disturbed whenever I say in a very affirmative voice that "I CANNOT STAND PAEDIATRICS." Are people meant to like kids? Are we meant to think paeds is a nice field? Oh gawd. And I hate people who go goo-goo and gaa-gaa at patients during a sort of serious clinical examination in front of a consultant. Goodness me, just GET ON with the exam. You only have 7 minutes to do it and you just spent 30seconds stroking the little baby's little hands. And he/she (hard to tell gender at young age sorry folks) is probably going to scratch the hell out of you because he/she has claws. LONG untrimmed fingernails are the future ammunition in our fight against terrorism. It has been around for age, proven safe, proven very lethal.

Hence, I keep my distance from babies. They are so unpredictable! They smell funny and they can't tell you how they feel. Argh. and they breathe so fast and their heartbeats like it's running on estacy.

Retrospectively, I think I have come to realise why I thought PICU was so great. It was the ICU part of things, not the P part of things. ahhhhhhhhhh.

what a life females have.

It's funny how male doctors are so sought after by the female species..The girls think they are intellectual, rich, funny, professional, caring.. etc etc etc.

Whereas female doctors are thought to be competitive, arrogant and too good and too smart.

Seriously guys.

Les Miserables - Come to Me

[Fantine is lying in a hospital bed, deliriously dreaming of her daughter Cosette]

[FANTINE]
Cosette, it's turned so cold
Cosette, it's past your bedtime
You've played the day away
And soon it will be night.

Come to me, Cosette, the light is fading
Don't you see the evening star appearing?
Come to me, and rest against my shoulder
How fast the minutes fly away and every minute colder.

Hurry near, another day is dying
Don't you hear, the winter wind is crying?
There's a darkness which comes without a warning
But I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning.

[Valjean enters]

[VALJEAN]
Oh, Fantine, our time is running out
But Fantine, I swear this on my life

[FANTINE]
Look, M'sieur, where all the children play

[VALJEAN]
Be at peace, be at peace evermore.

[FANTINE]
My Cosette...

[VALJEAN]
Shall live in my protection

[FANTINE]
Take her now

[VALJEAN]
Your child will want for nothing

[FANTINE]
Good M'sieur, you come from God in Heaven.

[VALJEAN]
And none shall ever harm Cosette
As long as I am living.

[FANTINE]
Take my hand. The night grows ever colder.

[VALJEAN]
Then I will keep you warm.

[FANTINE]
Take my child. I give her to your keeping.

[VALJEAN]
Take shelter from the storm

[FANTINE]
For God's sake, please stay till I am sleeping
And tell Cosette I love her
And I'll see her when I wake...

what a crappy week.

1. withdrawal and tiredness from a jammed pack 2 day trip to sydney
2. falling sick with sore throat and.. everything else.
3. paed surgery coming to a hault. doesn't seem to be learning anything new.
4. crappy rainy weather
5. realising studying sucks.
6. realising one is lacking in so much knowledge!

eurgh.

oh. but there was one good thing.
i saw the gp on monday.. and it was not cold sores! it was dermatitis..
so i applied some topical steroid cream for a couple of days.. and voila it's all GONE.

the miracle of steroids.
yippeeee.

i'm really looking forward to london.
but i need to PASS the freaking year before i have wild ideas running through my head.

considering watching les miserables?
the sounds from the musical is relli good.

alrighty world
time for rest.

因为....休息是为了走更长远的路。

miserable

Paediatrics thus far:

1. learning how to pacify and make it things seem a tad 'nicer' for kids.
2. scrubbing in on hernia repairs. and realising the general paediatric surgery list consists of a combination of hernia repairs, penile issues, excision of lump and bumps, testicular issues, removal of foreign body.
3. having a surgeon explain to you in a passionate and sincere manner why he thinks surgery is SO DAMN FANTASTIC. (i'm not entirely convinced yet)
4. playing 20 questions with surgeons. (oh goodness.. the humiliation)

besides that, i have FREAKING COLD SORES. they hurt and sting and make me look like i'm diseased. no one wanna play with me. >< i've been conscientiously applying the acyclovir cream and i'm hoping it will GO AWAY VERY SOON!... sigh.

the holidays progress..

and it's almost the end of the 2nd week of the holidays! how dreadful!

it's been a whirlwind of meeting up with friends, catching up with family and just slacking and being me. my study notes have been sitting in one corner waiting for me to read them. but it's so distracting to be at home.. and not have fun!...

more discipline is required!

and.. is 24 the magic age where people start quizzing you about marriage? Everyone i swear, from my demented and very cute granny to my friends and ..even vic's DAD. oh my goodness. The pressure is on.. the weird thing is, vic and i don't seem to care so much about it as much as everyone else's is. This is bewildering.

i just wanna pass 5th year!..the rest can wait. I seriously cannot wait for this year to be over.

going to be a packed weekend! yippe! plus shopping with mum and lotte.. woo hoo. enough blabbering. off to.. play :)

Saved by an antique!

I bruoght my ACC2 notes home to Singapore to file.. as I left the next day following the end of term. Then, I realised there was to be no puncher left at home as mine's in Adelaide with me whilst my sis' puncher is in hall with her.

I went around the house digging for a puncher and then my mummy remembered that there could be an old one lying around. so I found it in my dad's old school desk. Here's his puncher from his schooling days. It's about at least 30years old i reckon.

Rusty but hey, it still works fine!
Made in the days when Czech Republic was still known as Czechoslovakia! (Enlarge the 2nd pic to see the fine print under the name label)

So yes, my life's saved by an antique.

lazy sunday.

this is so unlike me. 2 posts in the span of less than 24 hours.

i have to report that i had time to sleep in, take a short stroll through the sunday market and have lunch at cibo!! yummy sandwichy stuff with coffee. cibo's coffee is pretty lengendary.

anyhow, we went to the east end cellar shop to pick up a few bottles of red for my mummy. decided on a 2 straight up cab sauv - one from coonawara and one from Margareta river, as well as a blend from barossa.

came back to vic's. and nua-ed in bed with my lappie. whilst the poor boy was hard at work, trying to cram in all the details regarding o&g. poor kiddo. hurhur, well it'll be my turn to suffer next sem so i think i better shuddap right about now.

gonna make fried rice for dinner! woo hoo!... it's seriously one of the best one dish meals to do. the other would be stir fried noodles. followed closely by pasta.

the season finales for house n greys are now over. what am i going to watch until the next season starts - if it starts at all? sigh.

Anyhows... that's all for now. no more blogging! coz i need to do my laundry. eeick.

odds and ends..

with regards to the rehab presentation, all i can say that it was over. basically, it was an exercise to determine how well you could

1. follow instructions
2. recite from paper
3. answer questions.

the consultant who was in charge of grading our presentation..was extremely disinterested. At times, we caught him dozing off etc in the middle of a student's presentation! which i think, is extremely rude. the poor RMO and registrar with him had to take over the question asking and all..

His disinterest led to the cancellation of the afternoon tutorial (on osteoporosis.) rendering us forever FREE from the clutches of rehab/geries.

Next week, we proceed to have a GP week. I hope that will be useful. I'm not exactly keen on general practice.. but I think it'll be a worthwhile experience. ie: MUCH better than rehab/geries.


In other aspects, I have become.. hooked on badminton. OH NOOOOO. we played badminton just now.. and it was really really good! at least i dun suck at it anymore.. and can play a pretty decent game.. especially with the coaching from yvonne and alvin :) hoping to have more baddy sessions in sg.. i forsee drenched t shirts and high rehydration fluids in place... Sg is too hot for anything!

It's that vickaroo's bdae soon... (on monday!) but we are only celebrating on friday coz he has o&g exams to prepare for.. oh wells. but there's an ice cream cake! from baskin!..which we are picking up tmr. hurhur.

That's all for now. not sure if anyone is interested to know but yeaps.

PS: i'm looking forward to the holidays!... for days of blue skies, humid weather and good home cooked food are almost within my reach!....

oooh. that wasn't too difficult.

I thought adding a thing on the side of the blog layout would be too much to comprehend.. it's actually really simple! yay.

anyhow. rehab presentation in less than 2.5 hours.

*runs off to prepare.

such a surreal feeling

rehab writeup is DONE DONE DONE!

*jumps around like crazy person*

all i have to do is to present and talk about my patient for 10 minutes on friday. come on daphne that cannot be too difficult!

i can't wait to go back to sg!!!!

hooked on baddy!

just got home from badminton :)

have been playing it pretty regularly the past year.. it's really cool! and the past few weeks we have been playing with yvonne and alvin, both extremely good players. learnt alot of new strategies and strokes from them. this badminton thing is going really well.

maybe next year i will join the C div girls. heh. but i'm not sure if i want to partner vic in mixed doubles. he keeps scolding me as it is. argh. i can't wait for next year! more time to do stuff i wanna do.. maybe work one or two days a week for extra pocket money to fund my graduation trip..

anyhow back to rehab.

so so depressing :(

You can seriously find ANYTHING on youtube

Look what I found on youtube!

An extremely old theme song from an SBC (later called TCS..and now called mediacorp) drama titled 出人头地 (Which apparently translates to "the finishing line') I'm pretty sure I was barely 6 or 7 years old when it aired on the telly but this stupid song has haunted me from time to time! I always wondered where the heck I heard it now.. Now youtube has provided me with some closure to an almost life long mystery.

Check out how young the actors and actresses were! And check out how fashionable they are. hurhur. I think if you can get past the creepy hairdos and clothes.. you would come to appreciate how meaningful the lyrics are. Oh, plus how handsome and lean Li Nanxing used to be. I remembered my older cousin (who is 7 years older) reading the weekly magazine and cutting out his pictures whenever he was featured.

Ahhh.. such good times.


... I miss home a great deal.

i hate rehab!!!

been stuck in my room trying to finish my stupid rehab writeup.. it's proving to be a futile experience. firstly it's my own fault that i have forgotten quite abit about the patient, despite having made notes.. (so i have to make a trip back to hampstead) and 2ndly.. rehab just sucks.

it's so painful.

anyhow, on a happier note, i had dinner with tiffy + new bf, hans and victor. it was really fun to catch up over yummy greek food and great wine. den we walked over to hans' den and chilled out even more. drank tea, camwhored and laughed!

i wished that everyday is like that.

oh maybe minus all that horrible rain. i hate rain.

it's only less than 2 weeks to home! feel so happy. :)

i'm still alive.

Trust me, I still am :)

Been a crazy few weeks. Presentations, assignments and tutorials. I have no friggin' idea how I am going to be a doctor who works long hours and am still capable of using clinical reasoning.

At the end of a long day, I am nothing near reason.


Anyhow i think i have moved on, risen to some challenges and hopefully become a better human being for all of that. I'm just hoping I would stop ranting to my poor friends..

2 more weeks to singapore!

WOOOPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :)

hong & chin: drinks drinks drinks! beach beach beach!.. drowned kitty? :)

Moon River..

Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way

Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end, waitin' 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me

(moon river, wider than a mile)
(I'm crossin' you in style some day)
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way

Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after that same rainbow's end, waitin' 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me

i feel like bliss and happiness..

Victor surprised me today by doing the grocery shopping at central market.. all by himself! We were supposed to go together after my tutorial (which was from 2-3pm). He even went as far as walking me out of the house.. and then pretending to go to Rundle Street (for god knows what).

Anyhow, the fridge is full of yummy goodies from Central Market, including my favourite baked cheese cake from the little pastry shop.. whose name I can never remember. I have food to last me a week!

So now, instead of having to drag my lazy and tired self to the market (after a whole day of standing on my feet observing the anaesthetist.. plus an hour long of geries) I get to sit down, use the computer and enjoy my yummy cheese cake!

Mmmmm. the perks of being in a relationship :) thanks vickaroooooo!

moleskine

I have one!... whilst other people's moleskines hold great ideas, beautiful sketches and stuff that would be made into moving stories and movies...

Mine's mainly as a paper reminder to my slightly forgetful brain. Hehe.
The first entry would probably reflect what I have to do today, and would go something like:

Things to do:
Summary session for this Friday
Anaesthesia PBL for next week
Invites for party
?Rehab Writeup


Oooo. This is going to be so fun.

things that caught my eyes.. help!

so very geeky.
so very cute!

the molecular structure of caffeine is represented in this cool pendant. the solid metal round are carbon (C) and the hollow metal rounds are oxygen (O). Big orange circles are nitrogen (N) and small orange bits are hydrogen (H).
Perfect for a
caffeine addict! (me)
























This ebony and pearly earrings are just perfect for the dinner out with some great friends! or with a special someone!

Classy without being too overwhelming.



























ahhh. nice spacious summery bag.

good for all the crap that a medical student should be carrying! notebook, stethoscope, hospital ID, stationery, notes, etc etc.

























simple and sweet earrings!
for everyday wear!

and i like the mix of green and teal. plus the teeny flowers... whee!



ok end of my online window shopping.
back to rehab writeup! :(

last work day of the week! woo hoo!

It's ANZAC day tomorrow man. Even though I don't particularly celebrate it but I guess it's still great to have a public holiday anytime man. I did however, wake up early once in 2nd year I think to watch the dawn service on the telly. Anyhow, I think it's a more symbolic and meaningful holiday than say Adelaide Cup?

Spent the entire Wednesday at Hampstead Rehab. Was not especially productive but I guess at least I saw a few things. My patient, whom I am following up for my rehabilitation write up, is really nice. I think stroke is indeed a bad way to be living with a disability. My poor patient may be extremely mobile but the problems with his speech is causing him much anguish and frustration. I'm hoping he gets much improved in the following weeks of rehab since he has already shown a significant amount of improvement to date.

Anyhow, the thing with Hampstead was.. it left me so damn tired. I came home and just felt spaced out despite attempting to re-charge with a can of redbull. ugh. Oh well... but 9 hours of sleep is OH SO GOOD. (swoons) heh heh

Ok dokes, back to falls. -.-

the making of a great day

you only appreciate a great day..

1. when you spent the day before stuck with a bad migraine + nausea + vomitting + photophobia and you had to curl up in bed sick like anything from the migraine.
2. because u are feeling well rested from a 10 hour long deep sleep.
3. as soon as you wake up, you want to DO something and LIVE!
4. after u clean the bathroom until it sparkles.. every single damn thing inside the bathroom is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN.
5. when you realise the next 6 weeks.. u are stuck in a silly rotation called ACC2. so seize the weekend!
6. when you can sit in a cafe for as long as u like, sipping away at the coffee.
7. when you have a great sit down dinner with your close mates!

powdered coins anyone?

mEi~mEi says:
hahahahahhah~! oki oki

mEi~mEi says:
66.10~!

mEi~mEi says:
right?

zickzen says:
eh.

zickzen says:
66.093339

mEi~mEi says:
yahlorh~ 66.10 ma?

zickzen says:
i want 9.3339 cents exact okie

zickzen says:
lol

mEi~mEi says:
HAHAHHAHAH

mEi~mEi says:
OKAY

zickzen says:
good stuff

zickzen says:
:)

mEi~mEi says:
i'll break the coins into pieces

mEi~mEi says:
rotfl

no incision appendicectomy?

(click on pic to link)

i think most of you have heard news about it before.. but this is a pretty cool article anyhow. (if you are interested)

happy happy 32 months!!

from quaint little barossa valley...

round the other side of the world to bustling London..

wandering around KL..

sipping coffee in a small lane in Melbourne..

to your crazy wine sprees in Perth...

I'm so glad to have you with me.
happy happy many months baby!
here's to even more! :)

*hugs*

what a weekend.

I was corridor marshal-ing at the AMC (Australian Medical Council) clinical examination for foreign trained doctors. It was a full day thing and I earned 160 bucks from it, just from directing people from one place to another. You have no idea how difficult it was to 'follow the red line on the ground to the next station'.

Many stranded and panicky doctors, to say the least.

Lucky Daphne was there to rescue them from the possible plight of getting lost in the middle of a clinical examination. te he he.

During the rest stations, I asked the candidates where they were from originally AND where they are working at the moment. The candidates are from anywhere and everywhere.. India (mostly), China, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Germany, Argentina... so varied. Yet when they sit for an exam, it's uncanny how similar their reaction and behaviour can be.

Getting jumpy when the bell goes off, concentrating hard as one reads the question stuck firmly on the wall, knocking politely on entering the door. Even as a bystander, I could sense how stressful the atmosphere was. Understandably of course, I always feel the same before my dreaded OSCE.

Anyhow, it was quite an interesting day as I get to be in the setting of an examination from a different perspective. I got to read the questions and I wandered from station to station without much stress or anxiety in me. I knew some of the examiners and role players, everyone was chatting endlessly during lunch. It was really good. :)

Hopefully I get to do it again in September as a role player. It would be fun me thinks. :)

ramblings.

i think they should change the system. instead of one semester of MSAs and ACC2 (which is not very busy) and another semester of O&G and Paeds (damn busy).. they should mix and match. like in a proposed semester:

do like an O&G, followed by say 3 MSAs.
next sem do Paeds, and ACC2 and 1 MSA.

makes more sense? so people who are doing O&G and Peads right before the final barrier exam.. don't have to freak out and start studying their other components of the curriculum eons in advance. it's like they have no common sense, those people running the curriculum and designating when our holidays and rotations are meant to me.

anyhow, orthogeries.. is starting to feel abit repetitive.
inclusion criteria: >65 years old, low-trauma fall, sustained fractured NOF (neck of femur ie hip fracture)
other stuff that usually goes along with it: diseases of the heart/kidneys/lungs +/- current infections in the lungs/urinary tract

at least i have been seeing some common signs. heard a few interesting chest sounds.. heart murmurs.. have a patient with possible frontal-lobe dementia (very very interesting)

other than that, i get free coffee almost every day (wheee!) so that a huge plus plus for me. keeps me happy and awake. :)

this is week 10 of school.

9 more weeks to go before I'm home bound! :)


my ortho-geries consultant is SHO NICE.
approachable, friendly, knowledgeable, humorous, .. and best of all..

she gives me one-on-one TUTORIALS!

wah, she's like harrison's come alive..except she is concise and makes things so simple to comprehend. i'm really lucky to have her for 3 weeks.

maybe things really do fall in place if you trust and have a little faith.

no rural gp? well.. here comes a chance for you to meet this great doctor!

things do come together at the end of the day. and i'm really glad it did :)

new found inspiration

looks like im going to be doing orthogeriatrics at RAH for my next MSA. gosh that is going to utterly boring. unless i concentrate on the 'ortho' part of things, but i doubt that there is much opportunity to do that. >.<

at least i'm glad that is settled. can't say that im not sore about not going for rual GP.. but i guess that's life. gotta let go and live.

anyhow, i stayed around till 6.15pm today. did a very thorough admission note for a patient, who is to say the least, rather difficult to extract history from. ugh. spent so long reading through previous admission notes and outpatient notes. at least my RMO thought it was a good job on my part.

so yeap. that kept me slightly pleased at myself. yay for me!

*sniff*

I got a call from Christine Egglestone saying that they were unable to organise for me to do rural GP afterall. I kind of had a hunch about things, seeing how I did not get any information at all regarding the rotation.

Firstly, I'm peeved that it took that THIS long to come tell me that hey, sorry mate, no place for you. It's already Tuesday today and the rotation is due to start next Monday. Secondly, I had a pretty good list of other MSAs that I could have choose from - ID, hematology, forensic pathology and what nots. BUT I CHOSE to do rural GP. just simply because I wanted to! plus all that crap about how good the country is and blah blah blah. So I'm mighty disappointed. If you allow 4 students to sign on for each rotation, shouldn't the rural coordinator be able to accommodate for that number?

Anyhow, after receiving the sad news from Christine, I got an equally sad email from the rural coordinator, Marie Smith.

Hello Daphne

I am so sorry for leaving it this late but i have tried to find a rural placement
for you but most practices already have enough students or the GPs are going on
leave so it hs proven to be very difficult. Christine Eggleston from MLTU will be
finding an urban placement for you as there is plenty of places available. She will
be in contact with you very soon.

regards


Anyhow, I stood by my choice and refused to do a urban GP rotation. So now, Christine is going to try put me up for some rotations at the RAH.

Everything is in limbo at the moment. So so so annoying.

feeling in need of some inspiration?

年轻的心
作词：陈佳明 / 作曲：巫启贤
演唱：裘海正 / 巫启贤 / 伊能静 / 方文琳

你享受和平日出的光辉
映照昨天你的泪水
在和谐的旋律中成长
让我们一齐欢唱
也许今日我们有些困苦
也许明天依然如故
但千万不要畏惧退缩
让时间拨开黑雾
就算身处在艰难和困苦里
也有生存的勇气
只要从头开始把握你的信心
紧握的双手里有你的命运

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务
给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

你享受和平日出的光辉
映照昨天你的泪水
这没有战火的天际
它需要你的延续
这世界会有不安的动荡
这国土也曾有沧桑
在此刻清醒的回顾
你背後不远的历史
只因你我祖先的艰苦
才会有今日的财富
我们历经几代风雨中的奋斗
要相信所有困难就要结束

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

Whenever this old chinese song plays on my itunes when i put the playlist to shuffle.. it gets me all happy and inspirational. It speaks of life and how we should treasure the peace and harmony that we grew up in, brace the challenges of the present with trust and faith and face the future with hope and a big smile on your face!

It does sound rather cheesy. afterall, this song was written in the 80s! sometimes I wonder if I should have been born in the 70s or something. I really like oldies!... lol

melby!

i'm not going to be able to talk on and on about how wonderful melbourne is. most people already figure that out on their own. so i guess i'm just going to post up a couple of pics just for the heck of it. first up! laurent on little collins street. (click pic to check them out). I think it's a great place to hang out and have a slow afternoon. There's this very old-school french feel to the place. decent cakes and coffees... and they have macaroons!
and this is vickaroo. with his cup of latte. there ain't many pics of me because i was in charge of the camera.. so he gets very lazy.

oh chicken and avocado sandwich! yumyum. (vic's)

roast lamb and roast veges sandwich (mine) yumyumyum
and look below! post-sandwich indulges included a strawberry tart.. and a macaroon.

(click on pic for link to moonlight cinemas)

and on one of the days, we went for an outdoor screening of the movie, sweeney todd! it was held in the royal botanic gardens. there were tons of people, probably nearing a thousand or something. everyone brought their mats, sleeping bags, cushions.. we didn't. everyone else brought snacks and drinks.. we didn't. haha we were like total amateurs at it. lucky vic's friend (who invited us for the movie in the first place) prepared some mats and stuff. it was a pretty chilly night and i was clad in SHORTS. the only way i could take my mind off the freezing atmosphere was to really really concentrate very very hard on the movie.

and sweeney todd was pretty neat in my opinion. some of the songs are hilarious! especially 'the worst pies in london' and the one about the magical hair elixir. haha. ok. enough talk for now. look out for the next part of the melb pics!

friday's my fave day!

i ended at 12 because the afternoon off was meant for 'self-directed study'... which didn't really happen. haha! i went to rundle mall, got my electives application forms sent off. ran a few other errands. came home. turned the aircon on full blast. it's still freaking 40 degrees in the day and it does not get much cooler at night.

joined the boys for abit of soccer but got bored so i ran around the oval. the route is pretty nice, alot of trees and stuff around. only problem is i don't really dig running on gravel. the noise irritates me! all that stone grizzling sounds.

anyhow, we went to the northern lights outdoor exhibition just now. really cool! photos will be uploaded when i. feel. like. it.

i'm tired from all that running and walking.

tata

back in adelaide

I did superwoman worthy acts yesterday, waking up at 3.30, flying back to adelaide at 6.00.. and being able to be awake and alive for ward rounds at 9am.

and best of all, lasting till 3.30pm! all this on 2 hours of sleep.

haha and then i got home and totally died on the bed for a very much needed nap.

melbourne was great, shall blog when i get my photos uploaded.

anyhow, gastroenterology seems full on. eeugh. i received my cardiology case report and assessment form in my mail yesterday. let's just say that prof horowitz must have been in a hell of a good mood when he graded my papers. No mean comments scribbled on my work, no big question marks anywhere. heh heh heh.

anyhow, need to sleep.

seeya world.

safe in melby!

it's so much cooler in melbourne; so glad to miss the heat wave going on at the moment in adelaide! apparently sporting events might be cancelled for fear of sportsmen collapsing from heat stroke. o.o that sounds pretty bad man.

anyhow, my last day at cardio was pretty uneventful. did the usual ward round and was really amused by my reg.. who claimed that i looked 'different' and more 'radiant' today compared to the day before. i'm not sure what criteria of difference and radiance he used...

he was oblivious to the fact that i woke up late! (turned the alarm off and went back to bed for a longer than intended length of time) and thus had to rush like speedydoo out of the house. i was still partially asleep whilst washing up and changing.. no idea how he would think i looked 'better' than usual.

but then again men are weird creatures.

and i have to tell you about my friend's brother! he makes mean cocktails! it was one of the better long island teas that i've had in a long while man....

anyhow, long day ahead tmr.

blog soon! takecare world :)

cardiology rox my sox! (not)

It's times like these.. I can finally get why some medical students/junior doctors fall in love with cardiology and would like to pursue it as a career option. It's intense, interesting and positive. You have the opportunity to do procedures - such as catheterizing, EP studies, ablation, blah blah. There are various investigations and imaging modalities that you can employ to aid management of your patients. There are so many drugs (and drug interactions) that you can fiddle around with.

Sorry to interrupt here, but that was not my acclamation of my love for cardiology. it's just an understanding that I've arrived at. and I think it's really cool! :)

With the completion of my case writeup.. I sense the end of the cardiology elective.

Met too many nice folks on this rotation. pretty glad about that! Sometimes I think Medicine is a vicious cycle of learning, teaching and re-learning. All that trading of information is really helpful in formulating your own opinions in the long run.

and for now.. i'm looking forward to melbourneeeeeee!! (double yay)

big night out.

our initially sophisticated and dignified dinner at la tratorria turned into a crazy night. I say it as though I am very surprised by that, but truely, the after dinner drinks were unplanned and totally spontaneous!

We didn't really want to do karaoke (because we would have to play audience to hans' singing lol) and then we didn't really want to adjoin to a pub/bar (because drinks would be too expensive and we cannot be crazy)

So, after rounds of having people volunteer their stash - Alfred and his wines, citrus fruits and mint leaves, Venita and her baileys, Ian and his Jaeger, Sean and his Barcardi Limon.. Hans going off to buy mixers and redbull...Vicky dearest with his expensive grey goose vodka..

WE WERE SET!

I am not going to tell you how crazy the night was because really, you had to be there to experience it. Oh, and you had to have CNS depression as well. Slow reflexes, incoordination and slurred speech make the best combination for losing drinking games. In the zone we say!

Halfway through the night, we decided we would absolutely LURVE the idea of having a group picture with poker cards flying down on us. Alas, time and muscle coordination were not on our side. After something like 10 attempts, we did not even manage ONE single photo that could capture our intended aim.

some blackmail evidence as follows:

birthday girls! Quinnie and I ^^

US again! with the yummy tiramisu from muratti's (victor supplied cake!)

the poses in this pic. ARE.SO.BLOODY.HILARIOUS.

-----------------------------------------------------

Besides, I have to thank everyone who has taken time to send me a message on facebook, text me on my mobile or sent me a little email/note. It has been much appreciated!! :) It kinda feels nice to be remembered. te he he.

Alrighty, and that marks the end of my birthday weekend. It's back to cardiology!

I FEEL SO OLD.

i have reached the point in my life where.. birthdays are starting to ignite feelings of dreadfulness and not excitement. if not for the well wishes flooding in at the moment from well-wishers, i'd be damned!

Going to have a combined birthday dinner with quinnie later this evening! should be good. especially all the girly dressing up and helping one another pretty up. gosh i feel so vain! anyway, Victor has made today pretty special already. Time and time again, he has proven to me the limitations of the male human species.

The script for today's play is aptly titled:

Why men should never live alone in this world

CAST
Daphne (played by Sandra Bullock)
Victor (played by Hugh Grant)

SCRIPTWRITER
Daphne Law

This story is adapted from real life and hopefully bears no resemblance to your life, in this life or the next.

Daphne walks into the shower after a late morning sleep in. She yawns and stretches her arms, embracing the fact that she had a satisfying late saturday sleep in. She was totally looking forward to the idea of having some egg and ham sandwich for lunch, which she would obviously prepare for the two of them. Well, simply because men should not be left alone with cooking utensils, fire or raw food.

However, she stopped in her train of thoughts. The selection of bathing products ain't what she was used to. "What? Pantene for my precious hair? And you expect me to use Johnson and Johnson's shower gel?" Daphne shook her head in disapproval. She reckons if she was going to get serious with this guy, she must start by changing the bathroom products.

Thoughts of luscious and creamy lo'cittane shea butter products were terminated the moment she saw the following product, snugly positioned in between the pantene shampoo and conditioner.

She frowned and felt extremely puzzled. Did men apply moisturisers in the shower room right after they wash their faces? Did the skincare regime for men differ from women?

She continued her shower with this lingering question that she could not find an appropriate answer to. Daphne walked back to the room and promptly asked Victor.

"Do you apply your moisturiser in the shower? Is it better for the skin or something?


"Oh! you mean that that's for moisturising? No wonder it felt funny. It didn't lather up very well you see. I thought it was meant to be a facial wash."

THE END

yay

i was abit of a crazy spendthrift today.

i bought a new blue strippy top.
trimmed my hair.
went to norwood in the evening - got myself a witchery top that i actually saw 2 weeks ago but was too expensive then to buy it. and now its 40bucks off! so i felt that i had to.
oh, and a new adidas sports bra.

and i made a mean dish today! lamb kebabs!! it tasted really good. except the funny thing was.. I forgot we had no bamboo skewers at home, so I had to use toothpicks.

there were AT MOST 2 cubes of meat on each toothpick. it looked like a kid's meal. but it tasted yummililousssss! i think garlic and herbs make most things taste good. oh. add lemon to that list.

i'm not sure if i am looking forward to saturday.
vic made it sound like there is 'something' going on.

hmm i guess i will just wait and see.
at least martini is stuck with me!!!

la clique!

(click on picture for link to laclique's website!)

It's been a really long time since I've watched a fringe performance. The last one was some jazz concert back in 1st year - exactly four years ago can you believe it? This time around, we settled on la clique, after hearing rather eccentric rumours about it.

"This woman can play a flute with her vagina!!"

I guessed we were really curious!

I don't know why but alot of people thought it was an erotic/sexual type of performance. I found it simply hilarious and light hearted most of the time - with some sexual connotations scattered here and there for comic relief. BUT the 'demin guy' which you can see on the ads at many of the bus stops around town.. he was so skillful and smooth! Only one word of advice: do not sit in the first row unless you are prepared to get splashed by water.

Other than that, I really did enjoy myself. Or.. maybe I'm a simpleton who's easily amused.

And that lady, she could play a WHISTLE with her v-jay-jay, not a damn flute. The boys were so disappointed.

please rain.. just a teeny bit?

It's hot hot hot! The walk home was like an instantaneous suntanning session. Very annoying. I had sunblock cream in my bag, but taking into account the fact that it takes 20minutes to kick in I decided to just increase my risk of skin cancer.

Today's common program was on O&G. Screening for ovarian cancer (nonexistent unless you count CA-125), cervical cancer (vaccine and pap smears) as well as breast cancer (mammogram) My level of interest declined as the afternoon went by. Kept myself awake by doodling on my friend's notepad.

Oh I think I need to email the coordinator for the rural GP program. Everyone else I know that is going for rural GP has gotten their letter. BUT I HAVE YET TO SEE ANYTHING! this worries me. a great deal. maybe they forgot about me. boo hoo.

Alrighty. One last day of Cardio! Before the weekend. Which reminds me, should I go in on Sunday to get my patient for the writeup? Or is that way too eager? Shall play it by ear. Hopefully I can get a patient tomorrow or something.

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On a totally random note:

I think I need to do some self-evaluation soon. I can't stand myself sometimes!
Extremely good at procrastinating tasks at hand, Not putting in my 100% in rotations, Not particularly giving and generous to others, Tendency to see the worse side of things.

I've become an old.jaded.cynical person.

Eeeips.

cardio!

i wished my hours spent in the hospital weren't so damn long. I was at the hospital for 11 hours today. I'm not sure about you but that is bloody long. My feet aches and my brain is off to bed. Oh well, I did learn stuff.

Oh oh oh! and I TAUGHT and supervised the 4th year student who was on cardiology with me how to put in gelcos!! (iv catheters) He failed the first 2 times but managed it pretty smoothly on the 3rd try. I must admit the first 2 attempts were on old and wrinkly patients with poor skin elasticity and texture. I was abit apprehensive when he asked if I could put the gelcos instead. My mind was thinking "if I bloody don't get it this, I am going to look so so so dumb." THANKFULLY i got it in, and the 4th year thought i did a sleek job! *giggles to self* Oh well, i know i know. I'm so easily amused.

We also introduced ourselves to Prof (of cardiology) and all he said was "Welcome and I hope you survive this rotation."

So promising.

And during the afternoon unit meeting, angiograms were doing their little dances in front of my eyes. Rexson (4th year student) and I kept questioning each other. Top questions included:

"Is there a stenosis?"

"Where the heck is the lesion?"

and best of all...

"is that the right or left circulation?" -.- you can tell how good we are at cardiology hey.

Alrighty i have to go.

lup dup lup dup...whooooosh!

news!

James Blunt is coming to Australia and New Zealand this April/May! And since Adelaide is one of his stop, I'm going to attend it! :) His voice is pretty unique and I really like his songs! I guess that's enough reasons to attend a concert yoh?

And.. it's friggin' hot today. The flies are not out, presumably because the heat has dehydrated them into little dried flies - uncapable of moving and annoying the hell out of human beings. I praise the heat for that.

I got a free environmentally-friendly-cottonish-material bag from one of the grocer's in central market. The grocer lady must have felt I was super killing the planet, with my compulsive packing of every item into plastic bags. I don't know about you, but I love love love it when the corn is separate from the broccoli, and the mangoes ain't in contact with the grapes. So she gave me a bag, hoping to convert me to a more eco-friendly person. we'll see how that goes.

Gonna play badminton later! Yay. that sounds good to me :)

nearing the end.

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After a rather nerve wrecking case presentation to the very smart and knowledgeable bunch of doctors at PICU on Wednesday, it's nearing the end of my stint at PICU. I presented on this 11 year old boy suffering from disseminated staph. aureus infection (pneumonia, vertebral osteomyelitis, epidural abscess.) I couldn't believe that I could rattle on non stop about epidural abscesses, especially when I realise that I hardly know a thing or two before preparing for the presentation.

Anyhow I followed my plan and baked cookies and banana bread. The cookies were really well-received; my registrar ate 6. She must have either really liked the cookies or the stress of enduring a night shift really got to her. Victor brought a batch of my baked goods for his team and they were well received too! yay. I'm a happy camper.

And then it was assessment time today. Yay I got my first A of the year! Pretty happy about it. Further considering the fact that I managed to thoroughly enjoy my time and learn heaps makes it all the sweeter. And as vic puts it, "that's absolutely awesome."

Yeap.. so now, onward to Cardiology! I feel a run of tachycardia already.