The Pensieve

i saw a really heart-warming and sweet scene in the hospital today… this indian man’s family had come to visit… his wife, his daughter and 5 grandchildren. after he finished his bath, he was sitting on one of those comfy seats (with nice arm rests) along the balcony area…

all the grandchildren just flooded the area - two clambered onto the arm rests, one climbed up from the back of the chair and the other two were chattering excitedly to him… the ones on the arm rest were armed with combs and more combs (haha, i dunno where they got their combs from), and were combing their grandpa’s hair. (not that he had a lot left though) the one who’d managed to scramble up the back of the chair was precariously balancing there, peppering his grandpa with powder and rubbing it onto his entire back. i think he put too much powder… next, one of the younger ones gave him his hospital gown to put on… and finally, the youngest’un combed his grandpa’s moustache and beard.

aah, such a rare and touching scene… i really wanted to take a photo of it!

sighz, can’t even blog properly now. my brains are fried.

that’s a total of 40 hours (saying i sleep at 1130 later on… which is not v likely)… on 2 hrs of sleep, 2 teas and nil coffees.

my eyes feel grimy.

have to put off my post on the wonderful book by jasper fforde!

30 hours without sleep and counting!

I think it’s time to get some shut eye while I can…

continue counting later…

Ratings: full marks! ~yay~ *Spoilers ahead*

A subtle yet powerfully moving film by Cristian Carion, Joyeux Noël is about what happened at the battle fronts on Christmas Eve of 1914, WWI. All along the trenches, the French, Scots and Germans decided upon a ceasefire, just for that special night. Despite language and cultural barriers, the weary and home-sicked soldiers exchanged gifts, showed pictures of their loved ones at home, and even attended Mass together. On Christmas day, the ceasefire continued, and the day was spent burying all their dead, more merry-making… Even though the film does not explicitly mention the futility of war, the weariness of the soldiers who know not what they fight for, and the aching pangs of longing for their loved ones, each and every actor in the show does a magnificent job of showing it through their eyes. (especially Diane Kruger and Benno Furmann)

The concept - I believe that what made this film so outstanding from other war films was that it did not require violent soliloquys, major catastrophes or emotionally-shocking scenery to provoke such powerful emotions in the views. That made it very special for me. For example, the director’s decision to begin the film by 2 short scenes… one of Kruger and Furmann’s duet at the opera, and the other of the 2 english brothers who’ve enlisted themselves for the war… It shows us how people, so different in their thoughts and way of life, have ended up at the frontline, willingly or not. So many different people become connected by the war, a war that they did not wish for, a responsibility that with time, came to be fostered upon them, for a cause that they did not truly understand.

Another favourite scene of mine, was when all the letters from the military were opened and read, (you know, they’ve got to prevent any leakage of military secrets, or any loss of morale that might affect the people back at home), and all the snippets of fraternising were read, in a sort of third person… waaaa I was sobbing. sob sob. (You’ve really got to watch the film to FEEL it!)

The film touched slightly on dangerous ground towards the end, where the chief of the church (okay i dunno what you call him), decided that the Father who conducted mass for everyone (inclusive of the Germans) on x’mas eve was NOT FIT to be one of them anymore… Following which, he gave a sermon to the new regiment to replace those ‘who had gone astray with the [previous] Father…’ In that sermon, he likened the Germans to evil, that they, the French, were now charged with the sword (akin to the sword that Jesus came down to Earth with) and that they would kill all the Germans, whether young or old… I couldn’t help feeling a rage, that religion was used as a tool to wage wars. Sighz. Even now it’s still a powerful tool.

The soundtrack was fabulous as well, featuring four main songs… the first is mainly instrumental, which I did not like that much, it was too sad and heavy… Then, there was Ave Maria (haha which was obviously NOT sung by Diane Kruger), Bist Du Bei Mir (if anyone has this song, pls pls pls send me ok? must be the male-female duet version… it’s just so beautiful, it doesn’t matter to me that I don’t understand a single word of it) and finally, there’s one in English/French, Hymne des fraternises which has got a children’s choir in it. I lurve children’s voices… there’s a special quality about them voices…

I have so much more to comment about the film, but it’ll just spoil everything. Just go watch it! I highly encourage it!

I wanna watch the film again! hehe… Shall get the DVD when it’s out!

I chanced upon this site again today, and decided to redo the quiz. After all, I thought I’d changed somewhat ever since the last year. Apparently, no. I haven’t changed that much. Darn!

Rank Specialty Score
1 general surgery 41
2 thoracic surgery 39
3 plastic surgery 39
4 obstetrics/gynecology 39
5 hematology 39
6 neurosurgery 38
7 rheumatology 38
8 nephrology 38
9 infectious disease 38
10 allergy & immunology 38
11 nuclear med 38
12 ophthalmology 38
13 pathology 38
14 occupational med 38

Try it!
I think even those who are non-medical should try too! You never know what you’d get! ;)

What are the common causes of post-op fever?
The 5 ‘W’s - Wind, water, walking, wound, womb and wonder drugs!
Doesn’t this remind you of Captain Planet’s ‘earth, fire, wind, water, hot’? haha…

Wind
Pneumonia , due to immobility & inadequate lung expansion post-op, because of pain, and infection (”Splinting” may enter into this because of restricted mobility, but I cannot find splinting as a direct cause of post-op comps.)
Atelectasis (can occur without pneumonia - a condition in which all or part of a lung becomes airless and contracts. Often seen in ventilated patients )

Water
Usually refers to urinary tract infections, very common when urinary catheter in situ

Walking
Refers to restricted mobilty. DVT is a common complication, often treated prophylactically with heparin/ compression stockings

Wound
The most common site for post-op infections

Wonder drugs
Some drugs can cause fever; also consider MRSA, an increasing common hospital-acquired infection caused by over-use of antibiotics.

Womb
In obstetrics and gynaecology this would be the primary site for infection, and comes above drugs.

I’ve heard so much about ‘HOUSE’, but I dun have cable!!! sob sob. WHO HAS THE DVDS???

Last Saturday, for the first time, laoshi and I had a really good talk about art… mainly about surrealism and comparing certain works of art. He said that my sketchings bore the marks of a surrealist influence. (eh… hmmm…) And suggested that if I progressed all the way to oil painting (haha… going to take years…) then I should go towards surrealism.

Anyway, he decided to show me this picture, and highlighted the minute details of the ‘Praying Hands’. It’s so very life-like that one could even use it to study the anatomy of veins on a hand.

He also told me the story behind these pair of hands…

Albrecht Dürer was from a poor German family with 18 children. 18! Imagine that. He and one of his brothers had always wanted to learn art, but the family could not afford to send them to the Academy at Nuremberg. Between them, they decided that one would work at the coalmines to put the other through four years at the academy. After four years, the one would sell his artwork or even work in the coalmines to pay for the other’s art education. A coin was tossed, and Albrecht Dürer went off to Nuremberg.

Four years later, Albrecht had become a sensation at the Academy, his works bringing in more money than those of his professors. He returned to make good the promise to his brother. Sadly, this was his brother’s gut-wrenching reply, “No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look … look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother … for me it is too late.”

In order to pay homage to his brother’s sacrifice, Albrecht painstakingly drew his brother’s abused hands, with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward.

This highlighted to me the importance of being familiar with art history (and not just art history but all kinds of topics, especially philosophy, religion and culture) in order to be able to produce a good work of art.

genre: fiction, based on law (u know, the typical john grisham books)
rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

This is the second or third John Grisham book I’ve read so far. I’m not a Grisham fan usually, but I chanced upon this book in the library that day while hunting for something lighter to read. It’s not as good as the other book of his that I’ve read. (heck, I don’t even remember the title! hehe)

On a separate note, I wouldn’t mind reading another one of his books, anyone has a suggestion on which one is good?

Synopsis
The novel is set in 1970s’ town of Clanton, in Mississippi. It’s a small town with under ten thousand inhabitants, and where racial prejudice still persevered. A 23-year-old college drop-out, Willie Traynor, buys over the local paper and transforms a news office that is facing bankruptcy into a popular paper worth millions. All this was done possible by coverage of a brutal murder and rape done by Danny Padgitt, a member of the fiercely reclusive, pirate-like, cold-blooded Padgitts. Despite all odds and corruption, and following a highly-charge trial, Danny Padgitt was sentenced to life imprisonment by the jury. Before being hauled off to serve his sentence, Danny had threatened to ‘get’ every single member of the jury if they found him guilty. However, what they did not forestall was that the life sentence in Mississippi was only ten years, after which, Danny was set free on parole… and the gruesome murders of the jury began…

Review
Appropriately, this book was divided into three parts, the first centred on the trial of Danny Padgitt, and the last focussed on the murders following Padgitt’s release. In my view, Grisham added a part two in order to show the transition of time, to emphasise the passing of years. However, much of it was unnecessarily played-up and there were too many sub-plots and sub-sub-plots that I was unable to really focus. This question repeatedly crossed my mind, ‘What does the author want me to think about? What is the subject matter here?’ I could understand and appreciate the sub-plots of racism, shown from the story of the only black female juror, Callie Ruffin; I could understand the ennui Willie felt after 10 years of running the newspaper almost single-handedly. But I could not fathom the other tiny bits and pieces of stories about others, worse, when they did not seem to link up.

With regards to Willie Traynor, I did not feel that Grisham had allowed the character sufficient development. There was a lot of discussion about ‘ennui’, about his lack of spiritual enrichment in the story, but there was absolutely no closure about the matter.

The novel ended rather abruptly, there was no proper closure as to whether Danny Padgitt did indeed make good his threat. Perhaps this is how things could happen in real-life, but I think it’s hardly appropriate for a fictional story.