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Today it snowed lotsa lots. Tons and Tons....plus rain and all.
Blessing in disguise that I was in uni the whole day....either being cooped up in the lecture auditorium or the library or the seminar room for the most boring and
not so effective ( to put it nicely) tutorial with a 5th year.
Man.... I can't wait to be a 5th year.
Then I will have license to stick needles into poor unsuspecting first years and give them bruises and tract marks that make them come under suspicion for drug abuse. Haha....nothing better than to tarnish the perfect record with a couple of sticks of IV drug eh?
Oh and the best part is! If I choose to do this block on medical education and teaching I get to spend 2 wholesome and fun afternoons on MONDAY no less, to torture the 2nd years with my monotonous voice which can turn even the most fascinating subject on diarrhoea into the perfect lullaby.
My....I wonder wat rights of access do with years get to 3rd years? maybe even 4th years?
Wow! I can't wait!
Just finished completing the series Van Hellsing. 13 episodes. No sweat.
Perfect to get rid of the boring drone that has resonated in my head.
I think it's an interesting series, just the right level of artwork, more or less believeable storyline, characters are interesting and well developed.
For 13 episodes that's fantastic.
Oh....and there are NO NO NO!!!! stupid whimpy, squeaky voiced and whiny cutesy girls...
Wait a minute......!
It's the perfect anime!
Cheers!
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Just came home from watching Swan Lake.
One word to describe the performance.
SUPERB.
The sets were excellent and ingenious. They actually stuck 2 swans bottom to bottom in order to create the illusion of a reflection as it drifted across the lake.
the costumes were unbelieveable. So detailed with all the trappings. It was an amazing experience.
the dancing was excellent. No shitty extras like in La Bayadere. All fantastic, attractive ( the guys were all in spandex. hahaa...white no less....heehehee) and the music, what can I say....Tchaikovsky, you rule.
It was music that resonated to the depths of your soul and brought u through the emotional waves that pervade the entire ballet. It was wonderful.
Storyline:
"Swan Lake tells the story of young Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with the Swan Queen Odette, a woman transformed into a bird by an evil sorcerer. Odette explains that she is destined to remain a strange composite creature, until rescued by a man's undying love.
Enthralled by her beauty, The Prince pledges his eternal love - but later, at a party in honor of his 21st birthday, he is tricked by the sorcerer, von Rothbart, into declaring his love for Odile, an evil twin of Odette. Realizing his inadvertent betrayal, the Prince rushes back to the lake. There, he battles Von Rothbart, and destroys his power. The lovers are then reunited. "
Technical demands:
"Swan Lake is one of the more technically demanding ballets, due in part to a remarkable Italian ballerina by the name of Pierina Legnani. When Legnani danced the central dual role of Odette/Odile, she brought to it the ability to perform 32 fouettes in a row. The public was so impressed that from that production on, any ballerina who danced the role had to perform the 32 fouettes. Legnani's name is still cursed by ballerinas the world over.
A fouette is a fast whipping turn on one foot. As you can appreciate it, it's very difficult to stay in place while doing this. But ballerinas don't just hate the 32 fouettes because they're technically demanding. They also resent them because they are, in essence, "a circus piece " In other words, they're strictly for effect; movements with no psychological motivation behind them. And for a ballet like Swan Lake to be a fulfilling experience, the movements have to reveal character; they have to have reason. "
It's true essence:
"Swan Lake remains a favorite among dancers, no doubt because it is one of the few classical ballets that is as consistently challenging technically as it is emotionally.
In a successful production of Swan Lake, there should be no visible distinction between dancing and acting ; the challenges are realized hand in hand. It is this that makes Swan Lake the most impressive, moving, and most enduring of the classic ballets. "
What can I say? Swan Lake is THE ballet that has to be watched in a lifetime.
Oyasumi....
Thursday, November 24, 2005
It's snowing! hooray!
It's been snowing since 11.30 this morning!
I was walking to the bus stop when it started to 'rain'. Well at least I thought it was rain till I realised that i could actually see if kinda clearly and that they were starting to hurt me in the face. Yes....snow and hailstones....bitter sweet concoction.
the best part is that ( or maybe the worst ) it has started to settle!
And the underlying layer is begining to freeze over as well! haha....it's that time of year to slip and slide! YOz!
But it is lovely, watching the snow fall in swirls and deluges outside your window, as u warm up in your room, reading your long forgotten anatomy textbook and clinical examination text
for fear that u will make a bloody fool of yourself in front of the consultant at the following day's ward teaching.
Yes! Everyone! I will be at rheumatology, Wards 7 and 8 ( @ arthritis ridden, stiff jointed patients) for the next 3 weeks. It's our musculoskeletal block now, so we get lectures and ward teaching at the same time, which I think is more organised and equal as opposed to the previous rotation where u would be doomed if u get shit wards with shit tutors. I thank God for letting me have a good ward and good tutors in the first rotation.
YUP!
and I'm filling in this entry after returning home from watching La Bayadere performed by the St Petersburg Ballet Troupe.
The costumes and sets were spectacular. Really elaborate and cool.
the Prima ballerina and principal dancer were fantastic.
The extras were ok, but some were crap.
but all in all it was a good experience, though the storyline was kinda cliche and predictable even
for someone who doesn't know the storyline. But anyway, here's the storyline for you :
"The ballet is set in legendary India. Nikiya, a bayadère or temple dancer, is in love with Solor, a noble warrior. However, the Rajah decides to marry his daughter Gamzatti to Solor; overwhelmed by her beauty, Solor forgets his vows of love to Nikiya. When the Rajah learns of Nikiya and Solor’s love from the High Brahmin (who is also in love with Nikiya), he decides to have the bayadère killed. Gamzatti tries to persuade Nikiya to give up Solor, but she refuses and attacks the princess who then also decides to have the bayadère killed.
Nikiya dances at the betrothal celebrations of Gamzatti and Solor. She is fatefully bitten by a poisonous snake hidden in a basket of flowers sent by the Rajah and Gamzatti.
Solor has an hallucinatory vision of Nikiya in the "Kingdom of the Shades". He tries to grasp her but she disappears. Later, at his wedding ceremony he is again haunted by the vision of Nikiya which he alone can see. The gods, infuriated by the killing of Nikiya, destroy the temple, killing everyone in it. The spirits of Nikiya and Solor are reunited in eternal love."
So what do you think?
Oh yah, and we got free upgrade of our balcony seats! YOOHOO!
Were upgraded to upper circle which was really great because that was the right vantage point.
I love HMT! they are just so fair in all their dealings.
The nicest part of the evening was when we were walking back in the snow. It started swirling all the way down, not as violent as in the morning but gracefully like a piroutting ( dunno if correct spelling) ballerina.
It was lovely, because their lotsa streetlights and the christmas lights are up as well, so as the snow drifts down, it swirls in the light and reflects it.
The best sight is when the snow reflects the city lights onto the clouds in the night sky and they get this auburn haze, and the dark sky actually turns light...
kirei ne....
Now, listening to Le Petit Cosette.
Yeah....it's kinda the right music to set the mood and atmosphere for turning in to bed.
Especially on such a lovely night as this.
I hope it continues to snow forever....
Oyasumi....
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
At the end of another rather long day I suppose....
had 3 lectures this morning, back to back from 9-12noon.
and yes...i spent the rest of the day revising and doing my notes on anorectal conditions.
Yes...not a pretty site, or interesting shit. oops...no pun intended.
man....I'm so glad to be moving on to cardiovascular system come friday.
I've had enough of the Alimentary system. hell! there're just that many stupid jokes
on diarrhoea and constipation that you can make!!
Aargh....honestly, lecturers these days are just so endearing.
tml we get our timetable for the new ward rotation. which will it be?
Orthopaedics? Rheumatology? A&E?
Good stuff about tml:
End at 12noon. start at 10!
Watching St Petersburg Ballet troupe tml! can't remember the title of the ballet right now.
If I'm not wrong it's La Bayadere! It's a new production.
Then on Saturday I'm going to watch Swan Lake.
On Friday, might be going for a kayle...( scottish dance, dun noe precise spelling)
Busy busy busy......
Oyasumi!
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
okay...proper update now.
last night I went all the way back to forresterhill at 6pm to attend this presentation by MSF
( Medicin Sans Frontier). Yes... for those of you who dun noe yet, I intend to join MSF and do a couple of missions for them somewhere in my career. Dun noe when i'll actually be able to be of use to them but yes definitely somewhere in my career.
Anyway, so we were there expecting like interesting how to get involved and
what to do, and stuff like that.
But all we got was like a blah blah blah....I did this and that at some weird sounding country,
by two members of MSF who were originally on mission.
sobz...it was painfully boring.
And it stretched all the way till 8pm! Aargh!
Anyway, that was fine actually as I had been resting at home for most of the day, since I had only one lecture from 9-10am in the morning! WOOHOO!
yup...
so after that I WALKED home with Julie, who lives at Ardmuir too.
haha...yes minasan! I walked...the 40 minute stretch from forresterhill in the cold and dark to ardmuir.
Thankfully i had julie with me so she managed to take me on a short cut back to home sweet home.
On the walk home, we began talking about sexual biasness in the medical field, and i was honestly kinda shocked to hear that it exists in the UK as well. haha naive old me.
Yeah...the more shocking thing was that coursemates of ours also held such archaic views... particularly these two guys from..... the ME. (will not elaborate more)
Apparently at a regent meeting they actually told their regent who was female out front that
they didn't think that women were fit to be doctors or teachers or any professional role.
and on another occasion, they were quoted to say that they thought that stoning women was perfectly fine and that women are basically useless shit on earth.
Wat do I have to say about this?
WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING IN MEDICAL SCHOOL?
HOW THE FUCK DID THEY PASS THE INTERVIEW?
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO TREAT PATIENTS NEXT TIME IF THEY HOLD SUCH BIAS AND DANGEROUS VIEWS AGAINST WOMEN?
Here's a suggestion to all medical schools....
Please ask all applicants their views on women in the medical field and in general
and whilst that question is being posed....hook them up to lie detector machines.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Broken Wingsby Tomoko Tane(Ending Theme for Trinity Blood) I know this will not remain foreverHowever it's beautiful Your eyes,hands and you warm smile They're my treasure It's hard to forget I wish there was a solutionDon't spend your time in confusionI will turn back now and spread My broken wings still strong enough to cross the ocean with My broken wings How far should i go drifting in the windHigher and higher in the light My broken wings still strong enough to cross the ocean with My broken wings How far should i go drifting in the wind Across the sky,just keep on flying keisoku no dekinai itami to keisoku no dekinai jikan no narega subete wo umete shimaou toshitemosoredemo watashi ni wa kanjirarerusora kara ochitekuru no wasora kara ochitekuru no wa ame de wa nakute Did i ever chain you down to my heart 'Cause i was never afraid of you ?No,I couldn't hold you any longer Love is not a toy Let go of me now The time we spend is perpetual Our future is not real I'll leap into the air My broken wings still strong enough to cross the ocean with My broken wings How far should i go drifting in the windHigher and higher in the light My broken wings still strong enough to cross the ocean with My broken wings How far should i go drifting in the wind Across the sky,just keep on flying sora kara ochitekuru no wa are wa ame de wa nakute ...
Friday, November 18, 2005
Just finished hosting my dinner party thingy.
Menu for tonight:
Fried rice
Noodles
Stir Fried Vegetables in Oyster sauce
Minced turkey in lao kan ma bean paste
Diced turkey breast marinated in soysauce, pepper, and herbs
potato salad
Home made garlic bread
Desert of ice cream, caramel cake and chocolate cake.
WOOHOO! managed to provide and feed 12 pple in all...
Invited the first year asian medics, one from Singapore the other from Malaysia
sigh....poor things not mixing around much.
Deeply engrossed in their studying apparently.
but it was good listening to how they were getting on.
Invited my coursemates as well...
wow...after a night of slamming each others accents and a round of pictionary
finally realised what funny characters they actually were.
Haha....and no...there wasn't any booze served at the party.
haha...
well....it's finally ended at the ripe ole time of 12.30 am...
SObz....going to sleep in tml....and then......STUDY!
Cool...
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
I NEED TO STUDY!!!
STOP SLACKING MUSEY!!!!
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
ANyway, I have the formative assessment tomorrow, and frankly speaking, I have no idea what sort of things are going to be tested.
I should be revising stuff and trying to get extra stuff crammed in but somehow, this lazy slump i've fallen in just refuses to remove itself!
Someone, hit or flog some sense into me quick!!!
Yup, so funny thing for today:
This morning, I met Jag (@Jagdeep) at the bustop whilst I was waiting for no.12 to
forresterhill. He's in the same ward group as me.
We were yakking away on the bus and when we got off and were walking towards the lecture theatre, he suddenly asked if I was from Glasgow?
Nani?????????!!!!!!!!!
GLASGOw??????
so i said, no, I was from Singapore.
And then he made this even weirder connection '' Oh! So you've been living in Aberdeen for many years......''
Nanyatte??!!!!!
'' No Jag, I only come here to study."
Geez....must all asians fall into the category where they have to speak weirdly accented or slanged English, and just because u speak fluent English means that you've been living in the UK for some time.
sigh...
oh yah...and he's not ang moh, he's from pakistan or something, but he's lived in Coventry his whole life.
HahaHAHha....kudos to you Jag!
Best part is that this isn't the first time!!That day at Church, Michael this Irish guy from my course asked me where I was ORIGINALLY from....(@ indicating where was I originally from before I came to the UK and stayed for a long time.)
Hey readers out there in Ang moh lands! Ever had such experiences?? Let's discuss!
Jaaa~!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
And so my off day draws to an end...
Can't say it was completely fruitful. but it was nice to take a break.
Just finished downloading the final episode of Trinity Blood!!!!
Hooray! All hail mininova!!!
Man...just counted....did 8 episodes in one day.
Not bad ne!
Goodnight!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
hi everyone!
this is my first WEEKEND POST since I got my broadband...hooray!
Isn't it great now you can listen to my useless rambles throughout the week!
anyway, yesterday was a sugoi lazy day man! NOw begining to regret it thinking of the tons of work and the test and the full patient clerking thing that's going on next week!!!
Ok since everyone is complaining about work, I also better complain of work otherwise i will kena slammed by all the hardworking muggers out there who may start thinking that i'm a closet mugger.....(eeew...the most detestable of all kinds of muggers)
Things to do this weekend:
1) Revise and write up notes from TB for wednesday's triple bonanza lecture on Hepatitis and Chronic Liver disease....( oh joy...!)
2) Revise and write up notes for Friday's lectures on Inflammatory Bowel Disease ( specifically Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis ) ....
Walau.... a whole lot of 'SHIT' to revise....
(P/s: hope you get the pun....if not then just tag me to explain. or u can confirm ur understanding of the pun via the tag too....wah! interactive blogging! )
Major things of academic consequences occuring next week :
1) Informative assesment on clinical skills(@ not counted in final grade for the year)
2) Hand in FULL PATIENT CLERKING on same day as test that's Thursday. ( this one more headache....)
Okie...so that's it lor...
Oh yah last night i watched the Hitchcock version of Rebecca!
Dana was nice enough to buy the Times yesterday, as they were giving out free DVD on
Rebecca, and she gave the DVD to me...so sweet...
( actually i think it's penance for leaving her laundry in the washing machine over night ! Ha!)
it was actually rather interesting though i sorta knew the story after having watched the play at HMT. but i thought it was definitely much better than the play, at least there were proper props and stuff....
yeah...quite surprised that i enjoyed it coz usually i tend to dismiss black and white films as boring and meant for old fogeys....look like i was proven wrong with this.
Hitchcock rules!
jaa ne!
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Hi there!
To all you loyal followers of my blog!
I have changed my blog skin...
hopefully you will have a much more pleasureable and less damaging time reading my blog
Please continue to support the muse!
Cheerio!
P/s: Hope you have not incurred irreparable damage to your eyes!
Jaa!
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
YOZ!!!
Broadband is finally up!!!
Was fiddling with it for like 2.5 hours trying to get my netgear wireless router up and running and now i am finally online!!!
so happy! THANK you GOD!!!
Hopefully this splendid connection will last forever.
so glad so happy so overjoyed!
Life has returned at last!!!
downloading bleach 50 and mushishi 1....haha....just test driving now.
fast man! nothing less than 10kb/s...haha...actually still kinda slow....
but at least i'm now seeing 23-30 kb/s...haha
Jaa ne!
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ohaiyo~!
Has been a rather great weekend.
Last night for bonfire night... aka guy fawkes night.
Went down to the beach for the fireworks display. It was not as long as last year where it went on for about half and hour. this time round it was only about twenty minutes long.
but they had rather interesting fireworks this year. noisy fireworks @ they squealed and howled and whistled as they went up into the sky. hehe quite cute.
And as usual there were they trinkly start like ones, the blue and purple bursts...the rockets.
quite splendid indeed.
went and watched the fireworks with claire ( course mate) and her ex flat mates. On the way back we stopped for fish and chips at the bluebird. Once again i have to reaffirm this but streetside fish and chips beats the hell out of any other fish and chip even if it comes from some 5 star hotel.
The greasy fried batter. The thick chunks of potatoes all drenched in salt and vinegar...that's the greatest. and the huge slab of FRESH HADDOCK.... seriously it's fresh and succulent. even better than the fish u get in the supermarket. And it's huge like a whole fillet off the back of the fish. and all for 3.90 pounds. yeah it's kinda ex if u do the conversion but man is it worth it.
yeah...when i got home, poor angela who had missed he fireworks to wait for her beau David, was sitting on the couch reading Da Vinci Code, but then the best thing happened, the courtyard across our kitchen started putting out their own fireworks. WOW!!! A fireworks display right outside our window...and we could enjoy it in the comfort and warmth of our own living room.
how grand is that?!
yeah..and after that because david had decided not to turn up that evening. we spent the rest of it discussing Da vinci and the stupid americans and on how red heads BURN (literally) under the sun.
haha...
yeah so that's about it. On Friday when I went and clerked a patient, I got this really lovely 91 year old gramps. so cute and friendly...told me great stories of the sea and shipping disasters and his strong and impressive mam who looked after 8 children when their dad died at sea when he was 5.
oh yeah and on an ending note ... I've started to say 'Aye' in response to most things that are said to me...oh no....i'm turning scots. and the other day when i went for a cell group meeting with my friend...the australian pple there said that i was getting a scottish accent.....
dun noe to be glad or distraught about it... haha
cheers!
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Happened to chance upon this interesting analysis on the opening theme of ELfen Lied.
which I think is really meditative and haunting. Zhu if you're reading this, and can find this song...onegai! send it to me thanks!Lilium ( opening theme to ELfen Lied ) Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam,Et lingua eius loquetur indicium. Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,Quoniqum cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae. Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison O quam sancta, quam serena, quam benigna, quam amoena O castitatis lilium First passage is from Psalm 36:30. It is officially: "The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom:and his tongue shall speak judgment" After that comes an excerpt from James 1, "Beatus vir", from the Latin Vulgata edition of the Bible: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life" [, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.] Finally, comes the heavily shortened trope chant "Kyrie Fons Bonitatis" Lord, divine fire, have mercy the original goes: "Kyrie, ignis divine, pectora nostra succende, ut digni pariter proclamare possimus semper, eleison""Lord, divine fire, inflame our hearts, so that together we may worthily proclaim forever: have mercy" Lastly, a modified version of a medieval sequence hymn "Ave Mundi Spes Maria": Oh how holy, how serene, how benign, how delightful the original goes:"Oh, quam sancta, quam serena, quam benigna, quam amoena esse virgo creditur!""Oh how holy, how serene, how benign, how delightful is this maiden who believed!" the last one... adjective form is CASTUS (3, -a -um). Oh lily of chastity Full translation of lyrics: The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom:and his tongue shall speak judgment Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life Lord, divine fire, have mercy Oh how holy, how serene, how benign, how delightful Oh lily of chastity Fascinating...reminds me the Da Vinci Code
ohaiyo minasan~!
end of the week reveiw again. well sort of...
today we had ward rounds and it was super interesting.
We were reviewing the nervous system today and we managed to see a man with
expressive dysphasia i.e he can understand wat's being said to him but he just can't think
of the right words to express himself.
but he was super nice and obliging and it was truly fascinating.
Saw a man who was an alcoholic with a whole list of complaints and stuff. and he even demonstrated rather interesting peripheral neuropathy.
and then....just as we were moving on to the next patient....one of my colleagues suffered a nose bleed and then the emergency bells went off....apparently a patient had gone into arrest...
It was action everywhere, our consultant left us stranded and lost in the middle of the hallway and ran to assist, and following that a whole line of nurses, and junior doctors started running towards the patient followed by defibrillators and BP machines.
and the 5 of us once again realised why we wanted to do medicine... the excitement, the adrenaline rush, the passion.
Well after that as our consultant had to patch the patient up and so we were dismissed. darn!
Ah and yesterday i went for a suturing course organised by OGSTON, the surgical society, which i have now joined since i had such fun yesterday.
I was quite impressed with my self that i was able to suture and stitch up a laceration on a dummy piece of flesh nicely and neatly after the demonstration that was held. And it's the first time i've ever done anything like it. It was cool.
I think i might sign up for the basic surgical course that they are holding in december.
SAturday is Guy Fawkes night! YAY! hopefully the fireworks are as great as last year.
Jaa ne!