a post to distract me from studying..

surfing online and look what interesting things i found!...

starring from tod's: i like the buckle look. and the colour. woo hoo! classic look.

from chloe: look! so white, so pristine.. with key&lock too! chunky look. heh heh.

from fendi: recall what i said about the buckle? neutral colour (but probably wouldnt go well with the asian skin tone)

last but not least.. JIMMYCHOOS! ahhhh! for that gala-ball/executive dinner/charity ball that i will never go for.
otherwise, nice to oogle at :)

alright. end of oogle session.
go and study everyone!!!..

Question at hand -->
what does everyone do to keep themselves sane during the intensely stressful SWOT period? blog surfing? blogging? running? eating? sleeping? watching TV? playing games?

would lurve to hear from you :)

@.@

hmmm. After re-reading my latest entry and noticing the comments from my friends - I realised I might have kind of over-reacted to a small matter. Call me sour-grapes or whatever you want, I think I have the right to vent.

Guess life can be extremely unfair.. and extremely out of your own control.

Oh well, even if said med student gets A in one miserable rotation, his/her medical career is probably not going to be affected by it. If he/she continues to be that incompetent, surely fellow doctors would notice it. It's just a matter of time.

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

and I want to bake! any good recipes anyone?

vents of frustration

how.. tell me how one can retain knowledge about things?

i swear i distinctly remembered the holistic management of COPD and asthma. However, as I read through my old (like from 2nd year med) notes, I freaked out at how much at

1) how much I seemed like I used to know.
2) how LITTLE I know at the moment.

This is NOT GOOD! NOT GOOD AT ALL!

and.. I found out that the way consultants/registrars have been dishing out the As have been WAY crazy. How can an idiot who cannot even interpret an X-ray of a wrist fracture be allowed to be considered an A student...???!?!... especially since A = above expected for a 4th year student.

WHICH PART OF MISDIAGNOSING AN X-RAY IS ABOVE EXPECTATIONS?!

argh.

i shall retreat.

and return to the old dusty notes.

the things med students do..

to keep themselves entertained can be oh-so-silly!

i got vic's (bigger) leg hung loose. and i was trying to see how many knee reflexes i could elicit at one stretch. so his poor leg was like overwhelmed with sensory input!.. jerking on and on and on. he was trying his best to contract his muscles, clench his jaw and whatsoever to try stop the reflex from occurring. Whilst I, Miss Sadistic, happily strike the hammer on his patellar tendon repeatedly. I was laughing myself silly. I was on a ball...!

oh..the things we do to keep ourselves happy (and insane)

don't worry guys. vic had a go at my legs too.
seems like my legs are less responsive than his... te he he

a bad saturday

was feeling pretty crap the whole of yesterday.

well it sort of started on fri night.. with a mild headache.
didn't think much of it, ate 2 panadols to counter it :/

woke up on saturday morning. with a headache. felt kinda crap.
thought that maybe if i had something to drink and eat (and throw in another 2 panadols) i should be fine.
went out for the wine tasting.

BAD IDEA!!!!...
the wine selection was fantastic but i was in no shape to even try like 10% of the 200+ types that they had on offer. the event was either held under a tent or inside a shed. both of which is bad if the weather was hot (which was the case yesterday). plus all that people squeezed together like sardines in a can... my headache pain scale pretty much skyrocketed.

decided to go home (alone) and sleep. vic stayed on with his booze buddy alfred.. and they each bought like a dozen bottles of wine. (nothing surprising)

i woke up. still headachy. took a cold bath and finally got some relief.
ate some porridge... and then the headache came back!.............. ()#$*)(*%$)(*%

i caved in. i went back to bed.

but i'm better today.
well i hope i will be!!..

shooeeesss.

pretty shoes!
i can't resist!
go and study daphne!!!!......


PS: i'm just really bored. drugs don't rock my sox

crazy weather.

it was 29degree yesterday. and it's going to be 31degs on thurs!.. gosh.

radiation oncology is so slack!... i could get used to this pace of life. heh. just plenty of planning in the CT simulator suite.. supervise administration of treatment.. consults with patients in clinics..it's mostly a 9-5 job. you still get proper patient contact. you are still a specialist in a field.

and something i didnt really know.. is that for all solid tumours (ie: minus the leukemias and lymphomas and a few other cancers) - 50% are cured by surgery, 48% by radiation and 2% by chemotherapy. and in alot of palliative cases, radiation can provide good symptomatic control, especially for pain. so it's not really doom and gloom :)

possible consideration as a future career? oh i dunno.. lemme deal with the damn exams first..whee!...

a snob?

victor calls me a snob.

times where i snub people.
times when i don't really include everyone into dinners/gatherings/etc
times when i come home exasperated from the day's events.

i call myself selective.

it's not like i'm rude to people i'd rather not talk to. i still say hi, do the small talk business and generally still capable to engage in a relatively benign and interesting conversation. but i do not see the need to be NICE to everyone, to help every soul, to bring out the best in every single human being. i choose who i want to hang out with, i choose who i share my jokes with, and i even choose who i superpoke on facebook.

i used to be the sort of person who was loud and nice to everyone in high school, then i realised that it was really stupid. you must be joking if you'd send christmas cards out to everyone you considered a friend. and it's ridiculous to make sure every single one of your so-called friends get a souvenir from you when you return from your little trip overseas.

as one grows older (and hopefully wiser), you just get better at reading people. on the basis of first impressions, i would now be able to tell if

a) i like you somewhat.
b) i like you and would like to be your friend. and we will be so cool together.
c) i don't like you one bit.

i know i know, it's very sad that i label people, put them into boxes and objectify their existence. but you know what? life is complicated enough as it is. all i need is a group of close friends that i can relate to and be myself. and for the rest of the world, i attempt to handle it the best i can in the way i know best.

i really need to study hard

victor the boyfriend is currently sitting NEXT to me, studiously scribbling away at his notebook, internalising all the different types of micro-organisms that God has provided this planet.

now, you might want to know what I am doing.

I was facebooking, then i was reading crappy news then now i am blogging!
what efficient use of time. there is just this weird inertia crap hindering me. i can't see it but i certainly can feel its powers. eeeick.

we went to watch the kingdom last night (another distraction... -.-") it was a pretty okie movie except the fact that the cinematography revolves around the camera shaking whenever an actor/actress starts running or shooting with weapons. i felt like i was sitting on a rocky ferry boat more than anything else. otherwise, the kingdom has excellently portray the americans as a heroic, we-save-all-in-need population of people. there were interesting plots at times but it was mostly really predictable. oh well. we should have known better i guess.

alrighty. i shall attempt to read something.
that victor chia is a studious piece of person.
he is freaking me out!!!....

warm sunday nights

the nights are getting warmer!.. the fan needs to be dusted and taken out from the storeroom already! the last day of neurology went by without much drama, if you don't count waking up late as drama. hahaha. i woke up a full hour late! because the night before i was all dosed up on red bull half studying, half watching re-runs of grey's anatomy. so dear old a/prof brophy went through my case write up with me, thankfully it was full of ticks and nods and "ahh yes, good point you made here"..

and i bought a new book shelf from ikea!.. oh dear old ikea. i love your cheap and student budget-friendly budgets :) it measures 80cm wide and 2metres tall!.. i'm gonna put all my files and books on it. it should be enough space.. and the old shelf is going downstairs to be a shoe rack. many have commented about the fact that quinnie, jess and i own enough shoes to start a shoe shop.. eeeips. they are sort of right. oh well.. we are girls what!!!..

and so, its just 3 more weeks to SWOT. 3 weeks of radiation oncology. 3 weeks of trying to study for the finals...!!!... >.<

breathe in, breathe out

3 weeks is a really short time. my stint in neuro/neurosurg is almost over! tomorrow is friday and it's the last day!.. just finished the case writeup. neurosurgeons are a succinct lot. the head of department (who's going to assess the writeup) insisted on keeping the 2 page maximum criteria. he said, "if you write more than 2 pages you automatically fail the rotation". what a contrast to the physicians and the psychiatrists! they LOVE flowerly and cool description of every damn thing, whether relevant or not to the patient's current problems. alright, they are usually relevant but it can be such a pain addressing issues surrounding a patient's ability to take care of him/herself. can this patient go home? nursing home placement in question? maybe meals on wheels?

i got my MSAs (cool abbreviation for electives that we can sorta choose) for next year. I said sorta because they gave me a damn long freaking list making it seem like we have tons of choices. but they subject us to randomisation and so you do not always get what you want. I got Pediatrics ICU [poor sick little kids], cardiology [lup dup lup dup.. lup dup dup dup..swoosh!], gastro and hepatology [sick tummies and livers] and rural General Practice [epitome of pap smears apparently lol]. i'm pretty happy with my electives! :) going to be doing rural GP with christine and jebbs. that should be fun!.. and from what i heard from seniors, the rural GPs would bring the students out on the weekends for some good ol' fashion fun - think crabbing, cycling, picnics... etc.

another weekend is almost here. eeeips!!!...

it's a cold friday morning

i realised that i love putting days/weather conditions as my blog titles. oh well. am sitting in vic's living room and the view from here is really quite dampening. gloomy grey clouds, strong-willed wind coupled with spattering drops of rain.

absolutely terrible weather.


and to think that i'll have to walk to the hospital in 10 mins in such weather. *gosh!!*....


played badminton last evening with only 3 people. sometimes single, mostly ian and i were trying new tricks on poor victor. he was really really tired. heh...

and i made pasta sauce from scratch using the latest recipe from Orangette (check out my links) and it was a success!.. what i meant was i modified the recipe by the addition of tuna flakes and chicken pieces and i left the onions in there too.. tasted really yummy. but i don't think i will make it that often. the quantity of butter called for scares the hell out of me.

the long weekend is almost here! I can smell it!... I can feel it!...but for now, i have a gruesome friday to endure.

7.30 ward rounds
9.00 neuro OPD
after lunch - back to wards for more torture.

i foresee ending at like.. 4?

i can't wait.

pies!

this is a pig. pig parcel.
in fact, it has more than just pig. there's chicken, bacon and mushrooms.
all happily rolled up together :)

whilst this is a poultry pie.
filled with chicks, vegs and mushroom - all snug together in a creamy base.

the fate of the pig pie.

the yummy bakery we got it from!

all gone!... YAY

the aftermath

having friends over at your house is an addictive thing.
you know you'd love to have them, and you know you kinda shouldn't at the back of your mind.

why so?

you'd realised u will let loose with them.. not study for a whole week.. and even end up spending alot of money (or munny should i say? lol) eating out. >.<

not goood!

but at the same time, friendship is like a drug man.
you keep wanting more :)
oh well, it was time well spent...

on another note,
HOUSE IS ALMOST OUT!.....
and this year, channel 10 is showing house season 4 one week after USA airs it!... HOW COOL IS THAT?.... californiacation and life (new dramas) likewise. eeeips.

i'm so looking forward to grey's anatomy.
cold turkey for the past 4 months!...

ting ting ting!

**scroll down to start from the first part of the trip.
tis' in reverse order.. sorry mate!

excessive caffeine consumption

my dear boy consumed at least 3 cups of coffee daily over the weekend.
WHY? WHY this sudden surge in caffeine intake?
well.. it all boiled down to the fact that we had a NESPRESSO machine in our hotel room. i have to say that this machine was extremely user-friendly, easy to clean, no spills/waste anywhere, and you can have a different blend of coffee everytime! (each colour in the box corresponds to a different flavour coffee blend)

but i am not as easily taken in by advertisement and bright shiny equipment as victor is. he spent the weekend awake, watching random TV channels whilst i slept like a pig every single night. lol...

so yes. this is the tale of the coffee machine.

the big night out!

because we are lazy to set up the self-timer function


Saturday night was spent in Apellation, a restaurant on-site with our accomodation. we tried it 2 years ago and it was so good, we had to eat there again this time around :)

sorry but we didn't take any pics during the meal itself. it's just kinda corny to take pics in a posh place! lol so it suffice to say that the food was really yummy. we also polished off a bottle of shiraz viognier -- locally produced; 'the vineyard is just down the road!"...

we spent a long time talking (and talking and talking) even though the food came out pretty quickly. we took a moment to gaze at the star-lit sky. i'm not sure if this is a rural thing but i reckon there are more stars in rural locations. te hehe.

we went back to the room, lit candles, attempted to dance but ended up laughing instead. i kinda spoilt the evening coz i developed a major headache (alcohol was the culprit!) so i was lying down with a cold towel over my poor little head. ughh.

but was a great night! yay!

saturday part 2

And then.. we went to salter's for lunch. salter's is the restaurant at the saltram winery.
so whilst i waited for my food, victor scooted off for (more) wine tastings.
we went to 3 winers before lunch.. and i think i drank enough wine for a morning.

view from our table at lunch.

lavenders! At Bethany Wines

MORE lavenders! oh they smell so good.
even better than loccitane or crabtree+evelyn combined ok.
fresh! lavendery! crisp! all natural!

this is victor.
all hyped for more wine tasting.

oh the view.
THE VIEW!
all so hilly and green and pretty and lavendery

the next morning (saturday!)

we woke up really early because everyone we spoke to on friday, kept on asking us the same 1 question.
"are you going for the farmer's market tomorrow?"

and we were like o.O

"what market is this we're talking about?"

so apparently there's this really cool market thing every saturday.
we had to check it out....

firstly - the morning view! (hasn't changed from friday afternoon te he he)

a row of vines - young, budding, tender green vines.
full of promise for the next vintage!

oh look! we found the right place :)

and we had to have this market special breakfast roll because 50% of the people at the market were ingesting this one special roll. (and boy was it good!)
for 5.50 - you have this huge ass roll with egg, big pieces of bacon, onions and the best part -- FREE FLOW SAUCES AND RELISHES!...
we tried the tomato and capsicium relish. total put-u-in-heaven food.

now...where now brown cow? so many things so little time.

cheap local flowers.

old man tending his fruit & veg stalls

inside the tent - chocolates, cheeses, sauces, dried fruits, milk.
and a funny looking scarecrow! :)

CAREME = yum yum yum!
one of the best pastries i've tasted in adelaide..
the danishes were buttery and flakey and yummy
and the pies (one whole post later on) were sooo good.

pics pics pics!

im trying to do this in a chronological order.. so be patient!! :)

driver for the trip... ting ting ting!.. victor chia
"so happy to be of service my lady.."

upon arrival... greeted with a GREAT ROOM! :)

sitting area

freaking king sized bed.
check out the weird 'sausage' decorative pillows. lol

this is bok choy, sitting on the sofa, enjoy the complimentary homemade cookie
(which was yummy by the way)

our private courtyard
and the view!
THE VIEW!
THE VIEW!

hello world!

hello world.

im back! ....

after the mad rush stuffing info in my head for the psych viva.. i rushed back home, packed all my stuff.. and went off to barossa for the weekend.

so now i have to unpack. do my laundry. and stop using (fluff)friends on facebook.

will be right back with photosss!! :)

eeick. 2 more days!

ok i'm deluding myself. it's more like 1.5days to the dreaded psych vivas.
all the information is just swimming in my head. eeeick.


the 'hairspray' soundtrack has been on repeat on the itunes so much so that it's getting abit too overwhelming. time for some soothing and melodious songs.

and when it comes to facebook... *shakes head*...
i HAD to adopt one of those damn (fluff)pets!
now im obsessed with collecting munnies, betting on races, feeding my pet, petting other friends' pets... argh.

ok back to benzoooos. i feel depressed and sedated just thinking about it. >.<

hairspray!

i have been listening to the hairspray soundtrack.
get it if you haven't!
i especially love 'good morning baltimore' and 'i can hear the bells'

i swear good music motivates me to study harder and stay at my desk for a longer period.

but halfway through my mugging, what had to distract me other than the FACEBOOK? sigh, now that more people are using facebook, i get karate chopped, high-fiveed and hugged and cuddled like 10 times a day. throw in the daily wall messages and the pervasive pattern of poking.. you end up with an extremely distracted daphne.

oh facebook. why do you have to exist?

the studying is getting along slow but ok. thankfully i finished the case writeups on wednesday. and that's due on monday! this is something that doesn't happen. i am usually the girl who stays up late the night before the assignment is due, typing frantically at the keyboard wishing God had given me more time.

heh. i am so proud of my self-discipline... only hoping now that it will lasts till friday....

and then i will be off to BAROSSSSA. te he he he!

friday.... hurry!!!!

case writeups.

in the midst of finishing the freaking case writeups.
i am running out of ways to describe a psychotic patient's delusions and complex belief system.
i think that the ability to pen down people's thoughts in a flowery and airyfairy way is a prerequisite to be a psychiatrist.



ugh.

it's already tues!!!.................

nothing much is gonna happen till vivas are out of the way.
oh except the international food fiesta this friday.

can we make 90 chunky sushi rolls in one afternoon?
can we cut salmon fillets into teeny slim strips?
can we cook enough rice to feed the city of adelaide?
can we raise up to the avocado challenge?

stay tuned for the outcome....

RANT RANT RANT

*punches invisible person in the face*

i hate being the object of people's bottled-up anger about the world.

a fellow med mate who shall not be named, went all ballistic on me for no real reason.

it's not my fault u didn't turn up for the tutorial 2 weeks ago.
and it's not my fault u didn't ask around what happened during the tute. (and too bad and too sad for you that the tutor was going away)
and it's even more so not my fault that you didn't confirm if tute was happening this week.

all the virtues of a good diligent medical student is lost the moment u flared up at ME.

I was innocently walking through the ED during the supposed tutorial time (because it was cold outside and my jacket was locked up in the CL office)
and you pulled me aside to rant.

I honestly do not care that you have other things on.
I don't give a damn you travelled down all the way in a bus from your suburban house.
And i don't bother if the bus ride took an hour.

HOW common is the phenomenon of tutorial cancellation in the world of clinical years at medical school?

VERY.

why?
1. patients are doctors' first priority. all we pesky little medical students rank way low in the hierarchy.
2. doctors always have things that they need to attend (conferences, private clinics, this and that)
3. that's life in the real world. sometimes no one cares if we get tutes or not.

ooooh. i lurb my chardonnay

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality. You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex. You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular. Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!). Deep down you are: Dependable and modest Your partying style: Understated and polite Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

jokes from the psychiatry world

my psychiatry registrar at glenside thinks he is bloody funny.

just a bit of background, the horses in australia are currently down with some flu outbreak. and apparently there is some horse racing thing soon so the horse industry is getting worried.

psych reg:

poor horses!

students, nurses, anyone else in the room:
yeah, it's so terrible!

psych reg:

well especially since it's difficult for horses to take tissue paper out of the box since they have such big hoofs.

students, nurses, anyone else in the room:
-.-" *bee buzzes by...*

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
and about a minute later.

psych reg:

it must be a nuisance having a "horse" voice.

rest of us:

*OUCH* STOP IT ALREADY!

25 degreeeess!

it was a HOT day. had to bring on the sunnies, short sleeved tops and sandals. it was such a lovely day but i had to spend it indoors or stuck on someone's sofa the entire day. i went with the ACIS (acute crisis intervention services) team today and did home visits to patients living in the eastern adelaide area. (my home inclusive!!)

yesterday martini, vic and i went swimming at the aquatic centre. apparently the water is extremely chlorinated because they can only change 10% of the water in the pool everyday due to water restrictions. South Australia has been pretty rain deprived and we are still practising water restrictions - ie: no watering plants with hose, no hosing down the car, no sprinklers and stuff.. but i swam 26 laps. felt SO good to swim. and we even used the heated jacuzzi and steam room as well. so i guess it was 5 bucks well spent. sigh i know i know, it cost only SGD1.50 to swim in the public pools in sg. argh. >.<

it's already week 4 of psychiatry. argh. 2 weeks to the vivassss!

teenagers - my chemical romance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw

i am totally digging this new MCR (my chemical romance) song.
the weather is getting warm.

i am happy!! :)

i have been egged!

T.S of chicken egg. Magnification 1x

Rocked up for patient interview today at the rah at 9am.
bloody hell, doc did not appear, even though we hanged around for an hour.

ian and i decided to leave because there just wasn't much point in staying in the nurses station doing nothing. besides, there were only 3 of us today. the rest of the group evaporated into nothingness and thus did not attend. we headed to the etc cafe for breakkie.. vic joined us (he had a very very slack day too). and then mel called me to say that the doctor is 10 mins away. -.-" (that was like 10.30am already) ian and i were like... ponder ponder... den.. "NAH...."

because eggs for brekkie is more important than interviewing psychiatric patients anytime mate.

which reminds me.
i had eggs florentine (2 poached eggs)
ian had smoked salmon with scrambled eggs (5 eggs involved)
vic had baked omelette (5 eggs involved)

cholesterol levels must have skyrocketed since.

die hard!

just got back from watching die hard 4! felt it was quite a good show, considering it was a spontaneous decision to watch it. we were in the area getting post-dinner ice cream from baskin robbins and i suggested watching a movie since it's cheap(er) tuesdays.

went to brentwood, which is the ICU for psychiatric patients. i'm not sure if it is because i was so sleepy, but i felt that the patients at brentwood do no differ too much from the patients at cleland house (just a normal psychiatry ward facility). how do u distinguish the crazy from the crazier? must be difficult.

sunny days ahead :)

according to the weather folks, we are going to have a really nice and sunny week ahead of us! 21-23 degrees cloudless days on tues and wed! YAY! bye bye trenchcoat. bye bye scarves. HELLO sandals! hello sunnies! :)

with regards to my stupid flu, it's finally resolving. i'm really glad coz i managed to play quite abit of badminton yesterday and didn't die or something.

week 3 psychiatry. WOO! it feels like it's been going on forever and ever man... *ughh* didn't have that sort of feeling in ACC... -.-"

oh well. time to rock up to c3 (mental health ward in the hospital) and have lotsa FUN (bold and large font fun) with dr kopowitzz... king of soft speech. have a great week guys!

Picture of the day: "strong wind, take care!"

We saw this bloody hilarious sign on our drive to Kangaroo Island in Year 2 Med. We found it so funny we made a mental note to take pictures with it on the ride back from Cape Jervis. and the best thing was - it was really really windy on the way back! Hans nearly flew away!

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


rotfl. actually Jinquan was holding his legs up for that effect.
It took us something like 10 unsuccessful attempts before getting our KONICA moment
now all i hope for is that ham boy wouldn't run after me with a sharp object. TE HE HE.

my story :)

The story of Daphne is an example of an etiological myth, one that is strongly explanatory of why certain things in their culture were a certain way.

There are many examples of Greek myths that explain why certain religious rituals were performed, why some peoples may be named what they are, or even why varying objects, plants and animals were symbols of their gods.

The gods were known for punishing mortals for offending them, but occasionally they punished each other. The gods were a vengeful folk, and they did not take kindly to being insulted, by mortal or god. Apollo made the mistake of insulting one of his fellow immortal.

Apollo was a great archer, but sometimes he was a little full of himself. One day he caught sight of Eros, the son of Aphrodite. Eros was also an archer, and his arrows were responsible for instilling the twists and turns of love and lust in a person's heart. Apollo teased young Eros, putting down his abilities as an archer, claiming that one so small could make no difference with his arrows.

Angry at this insult, Eros shot two arrows, one tipped in gold, one blunted and tipped with lead. The arrow dipped in gold had the power to create insatiable lust in a person, while the other created absolute abhorrence towards all things romantic and passionate. The unfortunate soul who was struck with that arrow would have no desire to love anyone. The arrow dipped in gold struck Apollo, but the arrow dipped in lead struck fair Daphne.

Daphne was the daughter of the river god Peneus. Apollo chased down the maiden, desperate for her love, but she wanted nothing to do with him, and she ran from him endlessly. Soon, she grew weary in her running and that Apollo would ultimately catch her. Fearful, she called out to her father for help. As all gods of water posses the ability of transformation, Peneus transformed his daughter into a laurel tree. Suddenly her legs took root, and her arms grew into long and slender branches.

Apollo reached the laurel tree, and, still enamored with Daphne, held the tree in a special place in his heart. He claimed the tree the as his special tree, and adorned himself with some of it's leaves. And that is why the laurel was, and still is, a symbol of the god Apollo.

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

and so that's the story of daphne :)

feng shui :/

poor jess :( she has been so sick! nausea and vomitting.. diarrhoea and abdominal pain. we brought her into the ED just now. waited about 1.5 hours to see a doc who told us that she got gastroenteritis, as though we couldn't figure that out ourselves. gave her fluids and IV maxalon. she seems slightly better. at least more hydrated. anyway its 3am now and that's the story of why im still online at this hour.

I CANNOT SLEEP.

we were talking quite abit in the ED and we really think this year has been a bad luck year for so many of our friends. let me do a little list

Martini - 'moving appendix' which turned out to be a rupture cyst
Ian - ankle fracture thus handicapped for several weeks
Hans - 4th MCP fracture thus cannot punch people.
Chris - appendicitis
Alfred - gastroenteritis....

O.O SEE!

we need to change our feng shui already.

surprise!

just got home from christine's SURPRISE party.
gosh, she got kinda teary when she saw her apartment filled to the brim with people she knows :)
but it's fun to know a surprise worked. hee.
we were suffocating. apartment for 4... was occupied by like 30+ people.


the cookies we baked were a success!! :) ^5 martini girl!
we got good feedback from the crowd. yay us!

glenside tmr.
gosh i want this rotation to be over soon!! :<

*runs off to bed

junkies

been loading up on vitamin c.
hopefully that will help me fight the infection!

anyway we are going to bake cooookies tmr!
oatmeal and chocolate (again) but this time with martini girl :)

and new tagboard..using an old configuration (thus the msgs from 2005)
feel free to leave msgs!..

and now. it's the time of the year where we experience renting blues.
apparently the rent IS going to increase. argh. why!??!
not sure of the future plans yet... but yeah i like living with martini girl and jess.
even when we have 2 rabbits in the living room. te he he. maybe i should get my own pet? hmmm. vic reckons i will torture it and leave it to die and decompose. -.-" so annoying.

anyway we attended this drug&alcohol clinic this afternoon. and we had the pleasure of speaking to this patient who was on a detox program for heroin. this patient was only 18 years old! and he started drugs when he was 15... but i guess the point is not how much drugs he has taken but rather the fact that he is determined to quit, go get an apprenticeship in building, and start a new life.

sometimes i think people always focus on the fact that they are junkies (drug addicts) and never really provide them the opportunity to prove themselves otherwise. a drug addict's life is really quite pitiful and sad. a large proportion of them suffer from anxiety disorders and depression. they often go hungry and lonely. they never really have the chance to build real relationships with other people. there is no stability in their daily routine. so i think clinics like the one i attended today are a very positive thing for them. go clinics! :)

anyway. it's late. i should stop rambling.
good night world.

feeling down and out

been feeling croak since last night. sore throat, productive cough (blood tinged!!) and headache. i feel hot and cold and just really really tired. i have officially caught the martini bug. a virulent strain of influenza something something that just puts med students house bound for a couple of days.

i was supposed to do the patient interview session today. but my dear Mr soft-spoken consultant psychiatrist did most of the work. it was a simple schizophrenia case.. argh. i couldn't even follow what the patient was talking about half the time simply because my brain was just malfunctioning. argh. oh well. but then again he was talking about the universe on one leg and the world on the other leg when he plays soccer. and how Pele uses telepathy to make him talented in soccer. hmm. but maybe i wasn't hearing right. *shrugs*

and the best thing? we were supposed to go see a patient with frontal lobe problem but he died over the weekend. that's right guys, the psych team takes that l-o-n-g to get around to finishing their consults. patients actually die waiting. how distressing is that!

so after getting over the 'shock' that patient number 1 died, we very swiftly shifted our attention to patient number 2. he was, according to the referral form, considered a 'treatment resistant schizophrenic.'

i was imagining the worst. catatonic patient who is devoid of insight and judgement, and probably exhibiting signs of extra pyramidal side effects like dystonia/akathisia/blah blah blah from the antipsychotic meds. but no. my patient could engage in a really decent conversation, minus insight and alot of other stuff.. but mostly there if u know what i mean. in fact, i think i was probably on par with him in terms of performance in an interview. argh

anyway the point here is..

i am sick.
i need rest
and i should stop talking about psychiatry.

and vicky bought me the truffle Parmesan!!!!............... all 400grams of it. i'm going to turn into one of those smelly old woman who eats cheese and knits or something.

and i had su chuen's muffins.
which were a better pick me up than the stupid sushi from sushi train on grenfell street.
err especially if i don't think about the fact that i might have consumed unhealthy levels of aluminum today. te he he.

more pics

veni - joanne - ian - me - kerri anne

alvin and veni - dancing away

irene - me

minnie - me - joanne

lazy sunday

very unproductive day.
most Sundays, i can boast of how i played badminton, or gone to the farmer's market or even did all my laundry. but today, today is the epitome of slackness.

i have not left the house yet.
no proper meals yet.
no studying done yet.

just reading books, being online and sipping tea :)

and i just finished the last glass of the dessert wine that we opened 2 days ago.
*yummm*

and last night.. last night was great. the thing that totally blew me over was the freaking cheese platter. it was omg-ly yummy. now i'm trying to look for the truffle Parmesan i had. no links yet. dammit.

a week gone!

it's already saturday.

i survived a week of psychiatry. the psych peeps decided that this called for a mini celebration. seriously, one week and im starting to go all kuku already. thus we made our way down to chocolat, a cafe that served yummy desserts, drinks and gelato. although it must be stressed that cibo's gelato is better, chocolate bean's hot drinks are better. but i guess chocolat is relatively empty in the afternoons and the atmosphere is relaxed and there's heaps of swishy cushions on the seats :)

the slackers who are doing their MSAs now (namely quinnie, vic and su chuen) joined us at the cafe, AFTER spending most of their life prior to it in a starbucks cafe. they were truly on a cafe crawl or sth. heh.

the crappy talk as usual...

and we got back to vic's place. and we freaking napped till 9.30pm at night. O.O so we had 'dinner' at like 10plus. which is like... unbelievably late.

on a completely random note, i just filed all my psychiatry notes from this week. you know those big big big ring files? it is 3/4 full already!!!.... argh. no wonder people always say psychiatry is all talk and no action. guess to talk efficiently you need to read up yeah? heh.

dinner tonight at magill estate. hurhur
but it's at 8.30pm! -.-" looks like my bf's planning skills ain't as superb as mine.
quinnie has already self-appointed herself as my official hair stylist.
i ain't complaining.. :)

hope tonight will turn out great! :) :) :)

heh heh

oooooooh!
LOOK!


FLOWERS!!
(ignore the unglam kitchen backdrop)

happy day to us!

i must say my thanks.
thanks to a hippie bf!
thanks to a 'surrise' flower bunch! (u are truly a typo king)
thanks for tolerating all my idiosyncrasies
thanks for making me laugh (and laughing back at me)
thanks for calling me smelly burger -.-"
thanks to the great times we have had.

and

you should thank me for the following!
1. that i cook for you (yea yea you do the washing but so? suck my toe! all the way to mexico!)
2. that i am nice sweet and much cuter den you.
3. that i bought u sushi cufflinks
4. that i am making you thank me. rotfl

here's to surviving 2 years! (phew!!)
we made it!
and here's to better times!

*big hugssssss!*

------------- end of mushy msg ----------------

it's tuesday already

i am so tired. have had 2 long days in a row. wait, let me correct that. it should be 2 long, boring to hell days. everything in psychiatry occurs in low-motion.

the consultants speak slooooowly and softly.
the ward round goes on for like ever and ever but it doesnt seem like the patients will live happily ever after.

the lecturers are slooow too. and not very funny people.

i'm just hoping things will pick up after tmr. it'd BETTER pick up.
or maybe i just have to go speak to some patients. that should keep me entertained.

and btw, i'm a huge facebook addict. *heeelp!*
all the sheep throwing and graffiti drawing on the wall is distracting me from reading about the mental state examination. which is something i have to read and apply by tonight because i think i will be picked on tmr for the 1st patient interview session.

and tmr's THE DAY!!!!!!.....................YAY!

morale booster.

On msn one random sunday night.

Ray says:
daph

zickzen: says:
yes

Ray says:
u'll make a good doc

zickzen: says:
why?

zickzen: says:
that's really random

Ray says:
cos ur a responsible person

thanks bro :)