Last saturday, despite having an unfinished case writeup to complete, after much persuasion by my church choir friends I finally decided to go along with them for my first ever clubbing experience at St Jame's powerhouse. I've all along felt that clubbing wasn't really my idea of entertainment, but I thought, well there really isn't any harm in trying. If nothing else, at least I'll know what I'm talking about when I say it really isn't my thing.

It was, I'll just say, an eye opener. The place was too crowded, and the music way too loud such that we had to yell into each others' ears in order to communicate. I can just imagine clubbing being added to the list of risk factors for hearing loss. The alcohol wasn't that nice, but I guess you can't expect too much from the complimentary house pours. The lights were flashing and flashing, I would recommend epilepsy be made an absolute contraindication to clubbing. Those lights are bound to induce a grand-mal within 5 seconds in anyone prone to seizures. I also got somewhat uncomfortable with the degree of physical contact involved.

At about 130am, I left the place and nat & cass gave me a lift home. Most of my other church friends stayed till around 3am but I decided to leave earlier as I still had a case writeup to chiong on sunday! I wouldn't exactly say I enjoyed the experience per se, but as I didn't expect to, I wasn't disappointed. I don't regret going either, as my main motive in going was to see what the inside of a club looks like, and certainly it proved to be an eye opener. However I doubt that I'll go clubbing ever again, or at least, not in the near future. It really isn't my cup of tea.

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In other news, kli told me today that she heard that one person from our cg failed the gen med eopt. I have a feeling it's me. hurhur, but there's no point worrying or speculating, I'll wait for the results to be released. I don't know how come the dean's office is taking so long to release the results, it's been almost 2 months since the eopt. Their inefficiency is startling. But, ohwell.

And I'm now already in the 6th week of my gen surg posting, with my eopt next weds.

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I really want to go to taiwan in december, with my jc classmates. Let's hope the planning goes well, and air tickets get cheaper - they're really expensive now!

Today was the end-of-posting test for the gen med people, I had mine at TTSH. I really can't complain as I thought I had quite easy cases. For my long case I had a patient with angina, so it really couldn't have been any easier, and so while I forgot to ask several important questions I thought I did decently on the whole, certainly enough to pass. The short cases, though, were not so good. I got neuro and respi, and while the cases were not exactly very difficult, the lack of time coupled with the exam stress meant that I performed pretty badly. If given a few more minutes for discussion I'm sure I would have been able to do much better, especially for the neuro case. I have quite a strong feeling that I probably failed at least one short case, if not both.

I can't wait for results to be out! The suspense is annoying, not knowing whether I passed or failed. And the MCQ test yesterday was... oh nevermind. Damn now the more I think about it the more likely it seems that i failed the EOPT.

Ohwell, I shan't think about it now, I'm just glad general medicine is over, and I definitely hope general surgery will be much easier. I think I more suited to doing surgery; medicine is for those with a bigger memory space and larger RAM.

After the exam, pradip told us something he did during his short case that was so funny it really made my day. In his presentation for a patient with gout, he went, "This patient presents with features suggestive of a middle aged gentleman...". Thankfully, being pradip, I think he still managed to impress the examiners in the end.

In the evening, the qi jie mei went to kang's house for her birthday party. Thanks kang for inviting us, I really enjoyed myself, and the food was really good! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR FRIEND!!

And now begins one week of a much-needed break, before it's off to AH for gen surg. I really need a rest.

Medicine posting is coming to an end in about 2 weeks, with the upcoming EOPT on 22nd august. Yet I don't feel anywhere near ready enough for the short or long cases. In the few mock tests I've had during tutorials, I've been on the borderline, perhaps able to pass but too darn near the failing mark too. As Dr Sitoh aptly put it, whether to pass or to fail me "depends on which side of the bed I wake up on". Yet the OSCE is not the only thing I'm in danger of failing - the MCQ test is another, judging by the insane past year questions. Well, I guess I'll just have to do my best, and see how things go. I was really stressed the last 2 weeks but after a nice long national day weekend, I feel happier! :)

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In other news, my church choir CLVC was invited by the SFX choir to perform as a guest choir at VCH last friday. Though so many of us weren't feeling well the entire week, coughing and having fevers and all, I still think we performed pretty well! Thankfully none of us broke out in a coughing fit while on stage. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to go onstage too, but after taking the procodin + multiple lozenges, and by the grace of God, I was able to temporarily suppress my cough!

It was a very interesting experience, being the first time I'm performing with CLVC. In fact, it's one of the very few times I've performed anything at all, and it'll probably be the only chance I'll ever have of seeing the backstage area of a major concert hall. Hahaha cheap thrill.

It feels absolutely wonderful whenever your friends care enough to do something sweet for you. And it feels twice as good when you totally don't expect it and it comes as a pleasant surprise. Here I'd like to say a great big huge THANK YOU to the people who have made me feel really loved. Firstly, to cass, nat, & family, for the wonderful surprise at their house on my birthday together with several other choir friends. And of course, to dear BSG, for surprising me with the cake at elly's place (so sorry elly for you know what! heheh), I love you guys!

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Medicine posting at NUH has been ok so far. I feel really useless and stupid sometimes, like I'd never ever know enough to be able to pass medical school. I seem to be suffering from chronic tiredness, and many a time it becomes a chore to have to approach patients to talk to them and take their history. Yet despite all this, I'm extremely thankful to have 3 dedicated, patient, friendly and remarkably helpful core tutors who are willing to go the extra mile to guide their students along. Some patients, too, have been a real joy to interact with, being so willing to allow us to examine them, to help us students learn to be good doctors.

I just pray that I'll be given the strength to endure to the end, and that I'll be able to find a renewed passion and love for this path that I've chosen for myself.

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Happy birthday kayleigh ho!! I do hope you enjoyed your special day. May God bless you and keep you always, and may our friendship last.

I just completed the first marathon in my life this morning. The run was flagged off at Changi beach at midnight last night, the beginning of almost 6 hours of sheer endurance and pain. By the 20km mark I was already absolutely exhausted, my muscles were on the verge of cramping, and the remainder of the 42km was just about pressing on despite the pain. The temptation was so great to simply lie down on the floor beside the running path, close my eyes and go to sleep, and it was all I could do to resist the temptation and keep moving. There have been very few instances in my life where I've ever felt so wrecked, and I remember cursing myself for being insane enough to sign up..

Nonetheless, at nearly 6am this morning, I made it! So now I've finally got a marathon shirt, and completed an item on my bucket list. Though my timing of about 5 hrs 40 mins isn't very good, well, I guess I'm satisfied.

And one thing's for sure. NEVER again will I be overcome by such delirium as to sign up for another marathon. Or at least, not in the near future. Hahaha..

Today marks the last day of waking up at 615 in the morning to make my way across the island to CGH, and tomorrow's OSCE will bring to a close 7 weeks of CSFC. These 7 weeks, we've seen and learned so much, acquiring skills that bring us one step closer to our dream of being safe and competent doctors, with some ability to help our patients.

At this point, of course, I must mention a special group of people - our tutors. Tutors come in many forms, in various shapes and sizes. Some are less than pleasant, but thankfully most are nice enough. And then there are the few who simply seem like angels from heaven with their passion to teach, the patience to explain, and the willingness to go the extra mile for the clueless phytoplanktons in their white coats, while at the same time being extremely busy clinicians themselves. A big thank you to these tutors, you have been truly insprational.

Though I'm definitely glad it's holiday time once more, and I can wake up as late as I like, I will certainly miss CGH. I'll miss Dr Ngu and his hilarious ways. I'll miss the trips to Eastpoint for lunch. And I'll most certainly miss the student lounge where we seek refuge in to rest our weary souls, or more like play puzzle fighter and burger rush.

I haven't started studying for OSCE tomorrow! Though I don't know how or what to study, I think perhaps I'd better just go read something, anything. Wish me luck!

I just returned from my 4 day adventure in Malaysia, from last Thursday night to Monday night. It was an expedition organised by Liesel and her friends from TJ odac, and I decided to relive my odac days and join them, along with yeye. It was really quite an interesting group. 5 ex- TJ odacians, along with Ms Ang who used to be their teacher in charge, 2 ex-RJ odacians, and 1 ex-VJ odacian.

Day 1 - Friday

The very first day in Malaysia, we were already astonished by how many things could possibly go wrong. We were supposed to take a Thursday night 10pm bus from the JB Larkin bus terminal to arrive in Tapah early the next morning to begin our climb. At the Woodlands causeway, we realised we were running late and had to rush and dash across the causeway, through the 2 immigration checkpoints, and take a cab to Larkin. We arrived just marginally late, relieved that we had caught the bus, yet we were made to wait for hours. The people from the bus company kept changing their story, from a major traffic jam near KL, to a bus breakdown, until about 3am when we were finally told the truth - apparently some manager from their company ran away with quite a large sum of money, and our long-awaited bus was in essence non-existent. After some haggling, we managed to scramble some seats on a bus headed for KL.

We arrived at KL Puduraya bus terminal on Friday morning, where we managed to buy tickets on a bus that was headed further north for Ipoh and could drop us off along the way at Tapah. However, there was some miscommunication again, or perhaps the bus driver simply forgot, and the next thing we knew, we had overshot Tapah and found ourselves in Ipoh town. Thanks to Ms Ang's negotiating skills, we managed to convince the driver to drop us off at Tapah on his way back to KL, though needless to say it cost us some extra moolah..

The 9 of us linked up with our guide and finally managed to begin our climb at about 3pm Friday, some 7 hours behind the original plan. As a result we had to set up camp at a campsite that was nearer to the base. Thankfully, though, there was a river by our campsite, and we manged to cook and eat our dinner in the dark.

Day 2 - Saturday

The next morning we cooked breakfast, packed up our camp and started our summit climb at about 9am. It was a long tiring climb, with the last water point being about 1.5 hours away from the summit. The guys had to make a 15 min climb down literally treacherous terrain to collect water for the night, and then along with Liesel, lug the almost 40L of water up the rest of the way. We all successfully reached the summit just before dark, and there we set up our tents and cooked our dinner in the freezing cold wind. That night at about 3am, it started storming, and several times, judging by the light and immense sound produced, lightning struck really close to where our tents were, probably hitting the huge metal structure at the summit barely 100m away. The rain continued all night and some water seeped into the tents, and as a result I spent the remainder of the night sitting on the driest spot i could find, drifting in and out of sleep.

Day 3 - Sunday

In the morning, as it was freezing cold outside, we decided to cook breakfast in our tent. After we had packed up everything, we donned our wet backpacks and began the descent. That day, we climbed for almost 11 hours straight with little rest, as we were anxious to get down the mountain and try to arrange our return journey to Singapore (we had bought our return tickets from the same aforementioned company and naturally weren't expecting much). Near the foot, we had to cross a river that we crossed without much difficulty on the first day, but this time due to the storm the river had swelled in strength and volume, and was impossible to cross unaided. This caused us some delay while the guides worked at setting up a rope across the river that we could cling on to while crossing. Due to the length of time it took us to get across the river, night fell and we had to complete the rest of the descent in the dark with our torchlights. We were all extremely relieved when we finally reached the foot.

One of the guides drove us somewhere to bathe, and then gave us a lift to Ipoh town. We arrived in Ipoh near 11pm, and the first bus available would leave for Singapore at 9am the next morning. We had our dinner, and then went to a 24-hr MacDonald's outlet to spend the night

Day 4 - Monday

The bus ride back to Singapore was fortunately rather uneventful, and we spent the entire day on the bus, arriving back in Singapore Beach Rd near 8pm. Of course, that meant that I missed all my lectures for the day, something my mum was not very happy about.. heh.


waiting for the non-existent bus at JB Larkin bus terminal


after many screwups and detours, finally on the bus on the way to Tapah!

The 3 musketeers, Liesel, Wei Kheam and Eng Wei, main organisers of the expedition


Climbing the mountain



Summit!


It was a tough climb, no doubt about that. Certainly one of the most, if not the most challenging mountain I have ever attempted. Yet I am so glad and thankful that I decided to join in this expedition, for it's been such a great experience, and I've made several wonderful new friends with the same love for the outdoors as I have. Many thanks to Eng Wei, Wei Kheam, and Liesel, the main organisers of the trip, and to all those who came along for the expedition and made it such an enjoyable experience for me. And though I had to miss a day's worth of lectures as a result, it was well worth it!

I also learnt a few lessons from this expedition - the first is that when travelling by bus to malaysia, it's worth it to pay a little extra to buy tickets from the more reputable companies like Konsortium. Also, it's always a good idea to have some extra cash on hand, you never know when Murphy might come knocking at your door. And thirdly, knowing some basic Malay certainly helps when you're trying to find your way around in Malaysia. I want to improve my Malay!

Now I just pray that the swine flu will not keep the medical students out of the wards for much longer. We have much to learn!

Also, to all my dear friends, especially those who are feeling down, you are loved :)

Thus starts CSFC. Today was the first full day in the hospital, and it felt like a really really long day. A major reason was because the day started extremely early, with me waking up at 530am to make my way to CGH (and when I reached the CGH bus stop at 630 it was raining very heavily and I had to run through the rain to the hospital). But I must say it was a very fruitful first day. Amidst the chasing after doctors and trying to see and learn while at the same time staying out of the way so as not to be a nuisance, I went for the ward rounds and saw a few interesting cases, had a tutorial on thyroid examination, saw and palpated a breast lump, saw the core biopsy of the lump (using a really nasty-looking tool), and scrubbed in for surgery on a patient with intestinal obstruction, where I got to use the skin stapler which is used to close up the wound.

Many times though, my group members and I felt that some doctors were trying to shake us off and leave them in peace. I guess it's time to thicken my facial epidermis to that resembling rhino hide. I believe it'll be the same when we go to ask patients if we can examine them.

The learning curve is also very very steep, there's so much to learn, so much to read up about, yet so little time and energy..

On a brighter note, today was also ben&jerrys free cone day! mmm I queued with yukit for almost an hour but well my coffee ice cream was worth the wait.

It's the same insane hour tomorrow, gosh. I'd better go to sleep soon. But before that, some stuff to read up first!

Happy Easter friends! Jesus has risen from the dead!

I attended the Easter vigil mass last night with Elly, Vera, and 2 other css friends Max and Daryl at the church of the holy spirit. It was a really long mass, lasting from 7pm to about 1030 pm, but I really enjoyed it. During the mass, there were quite a number of people who were baptised and confirmed, and it filled me with much joy to see so many people being born again into a new life of faith, a new life in the church of Christ.

On Maundy Thursaday, the night Jesus was betrayed, the tablenacle was emptied of the eucharist, and the sanctuary lamp extinguished. The door of the tabernacle stood open throughout Good Friday, revealing the stark emptiness within, evoking an indescribable sense of loss. Thus, I really felt a deep sense of joy and comfort last night to see the tabernacle filled once again with the true presence of Christ, and the sanctuary lamp lit, as if declaring to the world, "Jesus is in the house!"



After the vigil mass, the 5 of us went to Casuarina curry for some roti prata supper, and then we went to Lower Pierce reservoir to simply hang out and chat, and there we were joined by Justin and Pamela. We stayed there till about 230 in the morning before returning home. I had an amazing night, but I paid for it this morning when I had to be in church for choir practice at 830am. Understandably, I was quite a zombie during mass this morning. But still, no regrets, I really had a splendid time last night!

Hallelujah! And happy easter once again friends! =)

PROs are over! My M2 year is well and truly over now, assuming I don't have to do vivas. Since exams ended on tuesday, I've been enjoying myself so much! I spent tues and weds with my OG, blading at ECP, playing guitar hero at hanyang's place, and then eating fried hokkien mee at west coast park and playing at the playgrounds there..

Then last night I met up with BSG!! It was wonderful to be able to meet up again, and I especially liked the fact that even though we haven't seen other for months, we so easily picked up where we left off and updated each other on the goings on in our lives, and we were able to talk so comfortably. It was great catching up with all of you. It reminded me of the good old odac days that I really miss so much. Travelling to different parts of malaysia, trekking up the mountain trail, pitching our tents and cooking our food, bathing in the mt ophir river, clambering up mt kinabalu in the middle of the night.. these are but some of the beautiful memories that I have of odac, and even now, I still love odac so much! so this entry is dedicated to fati, minah, elly, yeye and barney, and all my dear odac friends with whom I have gone through (quite literally) highs and lows!


BSG! I love you guys!





Our resident minah




And below are just some bits and pieces of odac -

we eat together,



We live together,



We bathe together,



We climb mountains together,



And we cross rivers together.




Raffles ODAC XXI








as Mr Low would put it, BRRROOOUAAARGHH!!

My phone alarm started ringing at 9am this morning and in my scramble to silence it, i accidentally dropped it on the floor, where it smashed open and the battery fell out. With my eyes still half-closed, I quickly picked up the pieces and reassembled my phone, whereupon the alarm promptly started ringing again, intent on waking me up. I remember thinking to my sleepy self then -- that's dedication.

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Pentavalent CAs have been over for nearly a week now, and in the past week I've really enjoyed myself, and had a much-needed break from my books. I've watched so many good movies the past few days, and I highly recommend He's just not that into you - I loved the show! I also watched this japanese drama series 1 litre of tears, it's a really sad show (based on a true story) about a 15 year-old girl who finds out she has spinocerebellar degeneration, and the show documents her decline in motor cognitive function, with the accompanying difficulties she faces, till she passes away at the age of 25. Extremely sad show, I gaurantee that everyone who watches it will definitely shed at least a few tears, or perhaps, as amanda put it, literally a litre of tears.

Now, though, it's time to restart the engine and begin preparing for pros at the end of this month. I can't wait for it to be over.

All the best, friends!

Lessons for M2 officially ended this morning with a COFM tutorial and a "magic diediemustgo neuroscience review" by Prof Ong. And I'm just glad it's over. I've been so thoroughly sick of lessons the past couple of weeks, knowing that with each hour of lecture I attend, I will need to spend an additional several hours in the quiet of the study room, ploughing through what was taught. The backlog of things I have to revise, the stacks of lecture notes that lie on my table crying for my attention.. I just want to scream.

So I thank God that the syllabus for M2 is finally done.

6 weeks ago, at the start of M2, we were all thinking, wow just 6 more weeks and this routine as we know it will be over, this familiar routine that we've been repeating, morning after morning, for a year and a half. A ritual of waking up every morning and reporting for the first lecture at 8.30am, zipping out of the LT in between lectures for trips to the toilet or canteen, having lunch at the science canteen, complaining endlessly about its queues and food..

Then, I thought that when the time actually arrived, I would probably feel at least a little sad about it. A feeling of 依依不舍, I suppose, perhaps along with a tinge of melancholy, even a hint of regret. Yet today, surprisingly, that feeling didn't surface at all. I was just relieved and glad to be rid of that LT, that LT which has been home since Aug 2008.

Perhaps I'm just lagging, and the reality just hasn't sunk in yet. Perhaps my emotions are just currently being overshadowed by the stresses of schoolwork. Perhaps those feelings I expected to feel will sink in later.

也或许，追根究底，其实根本没有什么值得我怀念的东西。

And now, it's time to return to insane mugging mode, to make full use of the study breaks and do my best for the CAs and pros.

May God bless us all.

It suddenly just struck me, a random thought, that I'm actually not as independent as I thought I was, or as I would like to be.

I guess, when the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and love is all around, it's easy to get lulled into a false sense of invulnerability.

And I wonder, the people who appear so impervious and independent, are they really so, or do they have their own pillars of strength in other areas of their life? Or perhaps beneath their smiley exteriors, are they like drifters at sea, simply clutching on to any available, though possibly temporary, sources of support to stay afloat?

At least at the moment, I firmly believe that humans were not designed to lead independent, solitary lives.

Life recently has been reduced to quite a microscopic state, with my world revolving around LT29 and hall study room for the large part of my time. Trips to science canteen or PGP for lunch now qualify as the highlights of each day, and I think my life is just about as interesting as that of an amoeba.

PATHOLOGY CA TOMORROW!!

Thank goodness CNY is coming and I'll be able to have a much needed breather for a short few days. Though immediately after that I'll have to resume studying with an even greater fervour, preparing for the 'pentavalent' CAs at the end of February. And then after that mighty exam I'll allow myself another several days of rest, before again preparing for the all-important pros at the end of March. Ah, such is life.

Jiayou my friends, hang in there!!

A year ago, welcoming the year 2008, I wrote about the highlights in my year 2007, saying it was the most unique year of my life. And now, 2008 has come and gone, and it's time to overcome Newton's 1st law once again to write some reflections about the year just past. 2008 has definitely been one of my most eventful years, in large part due to the fact that I spent an entire month overseas in Europe. I have experienced great peaks and tremendous troughs, I have loved and lost, I have experienced the fuzzy warmth of love and friendship, yet I have also experienced more acutely than ever before the cold merciless gloom of naked loneliness. All in all, I wouldn't say that 2008 has been a great year. A much more accurate description would probably be.. eventful.


1) KE7
A great experience for me, KE7 has given me many memories, good and bad alike. I'm so glad I decided to move into hall, for the study sessions leading up to the M1 pros, the night runs and explorations with Wing, the HTHTs and the friends I made, all these remain beautiful memories to me.

2) M1 Pros
We survived. Many thanks to my study buddies, Cel, Wing, Yukit, Perry & Joseph, for the many many hours spent at the PGP study rooms and the E block lounge, studying and discussing questions till the wee hours of the morning, you guys kept me sane and made studying positively fun at times. It was also the night before the last paper that I remember feeling more stressed than I had ever felt before, trying to cram into my grey matter more last minute knowledge about head & neck.

3) Grand Europe tour (19 May - 24 Jun)
The absolute highlight of my 2008 year, and probably also the absolute highlight of my life thus far. It seems so surreal that I actually flew all the way to the other side of the globe and spent 5 weeks there seeing the sights and places that I had previously only heard and dreamt about. Seeing places like the Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, Auschwitz, Venice, the Sistine chapel and Vatican City, Cambridge University and the Loch Ness, cycling in the Austrian countryside, paddling in the Lake Lucerne, canyoning in the Swiss rivers, punting in the River Cam... There were certainly also periods of stress, particularly the morning in Paris where we damn nearly missed our flight to Krakow, and the day in Cambridge where we did miss our bus to Heathrow airport and had to call a cab to catch our flight to Edinburgh. There were also times of tiredness, sadness, and loneliness, but all in all it was 5 weeks of tremendous enjoyment and an experience of a lifetime. Thanks to my Europe buddies Wing, Beatrice, JonTang, Bryon, Limin & Linette. I'll never forget this holiday.

4) Medicamp 08 (7-10 Jul)
It was a very different experience participating in the camp as an OGL rather than as an M1. And though this camp was nowhere near as memorable as my own in 2007,it was great that I  got to know the M1s in Zabeo as well as some M2s better.

5) Race 6 (25-27 Jul)
A unique race organised by NUS ODAC. I took part in this race with Yanyuan Yiwei & Joy, and it was quite an experience running around Singapore, trying to hitch rides from complete strangers, begging for food as east coast park, and sleeping in tents with my teammates.

6) Rag 08 (8 Aug)
I signed up for rag dance very apprehensively, feeling that I wanted to try performing something, as I had never done so before, having no talent in the performing arts. After more than a month of tiring preparation and almost daily dance/stunt training and drilling, dealing with falls and injuries, last minute changes to choreography and problems with costumes, we finally performed on Rag day, and though we didn't win anything, I feel we put up a great show, and I'm really happy I took the leap of faith and signed up for the dance. I have no regrets whatsoever, and performing for Rag 08 was definitely one of the major highlights of the year.

7) Army Half Marathon (23 Aug)
I've never run so much before. 21 km was no joke, and defintely tested the limits of my physical and mental strength. I remember how I had tremendous difficulty in the last 4 km or so, how my right calf kept cramping and I had to use my mental willpower to force myself to keep going, while stopping occasionally to stretch it. And I remember how, just 200m from the finish line, my calf really gave out, and I had to stop and rest for a short while before hobbling the rest of the way to the end. I'm happy with my timing of 2 hrs 5 mins, and next in line, a full marathon!

8) Project Angkor 08 (16-24 Dec)
A follow up of Project Angkor 07, I feel that this year we made a much greater impact than we did last year. We learnt and saw less in the sense of medical knowledge, as we didn't manage to intern at AHC. But we did much more medical education, saw the less-than-ideal conditions at the Siem Reap Provincial Hospital, and spent much time cleaning the hospital, giving out goodies, and playing with the kids there. I believe we really brought much love, joy and laughter to the children at the hospital. Though the company this year was largely different as compared to last year, I nonetheless enjoyed the trip, and have made several new friends.

9) CLVC
I joined my church choir somewhere in March, but only recently have I gotten to know my choir mates a lot better. I'm really glad to have joined this choir, and I'm looking forward to getting to know more friends, my church community.


And now that 2009 has arrived, I really hope that 2009 will be a better year than 2008, in the areas of friendships and relationships, and of course, studies. And in this period of economic gloom, I also really pray that my family will not face any financial difficulty, and I wish the same for all my friends.

All the best too to everyone facing the bacteriology CA on Monday! I actually spent my first day of 2009 at King Albert Park mugging with jasmine. Oh my. And I've wasted enough time, it's back to studying again!

And now, on the eve of my first exam in M2, I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing online.

But I guess, in the midst of all the insane mugging, we all need to take a break once in a while, to ensure we still manage to cling on to our sanity.

I got that much needed rest last weekend, at the Church of St Ignatius, attending the retreat organised by dr victor that was meant for medical students and doctors. Although it was just a week away from the CAs, I'm glad that we all took the leap of faith and stepped away from our books for the weekend. Nearly all the M2 catholics (save for raymond and lynette) turned up, and I daresay none of us regretted it. It was a time to step away from the bustle of medical school life, and dedicate 2 days to God to simply reflect, rest, and be rejuvenated. It certainly put peace in my heart.

God bless all of us, especially the M2s, as we face the first of our many exams tomorrow!

Of course not forgetting Eunice, have a great birthday tomorrow, happy birthday!

Public Health Screening today was quite fun! I swapped around quite a bit and managed to try quite a number of things, starting from ticking health slips and progressing to queue manager, blood glucose, blood pressure, and finally BMI. And while doing BMI, there were two "most-unglam-and-absolutely-malu-moments" by Celeste and Alfred. Honestly I really can't decide which was more atrocious.

Most-unglam-and absolutely-malu moment no.1
(Celeste was calculating a lady's BMI, punching digits in a calculator)
Celeste (under the mistaken impression that she couldn't understand English, said rather loudly): "OBESE!!"
unidentified lady: "ya, obese."

Most-unglam-and absolutely-malu moment no.2
(Alfred was waiting for Kaiqian to read out the measurements of a man's height & weight. Suddenly, this man's phone starts ringing with a rather odd ringtone)
Alfred (mistakenly assuming that the handphone belonged to Kaiqian): "Oh my gosh, what a super lousy ringtone!"
(the man gave several weird looks at Alfred)
Kaiqian and I (too mortified and embarassed to say anything): ???!!!???

Well thankfully, there weren't really any other major hiccups I encountered apart from the man whose finger ended up with 3 puncture holes, for I had to prick him 3 times before I managed to measure his blood glucose successfully.

At the end of the whole screening, when we were getting ready to close the stations and clear up, I decided to test my own blood glucose just for fun. The 1st test gave a reading of 12.0 which mildly alarmed me. The M3s around decided to help me repeat the test and on my 2nd finger prick, it registered a reading of 15.3!! Gosh. Hopefully it's just due to the bubble tea I drank about a half hour before. But to be on the safe side I think I'd better measure it again the next chance I get. For now I think I shan't be paranoid, I guess a fasting blood glucose test isn't really necessary yet.

Only 1 hour of tutorial tomorrow! And I can wake up late :)