The Pensieve

It’s 9 months into HO-ship (gasp, if I were pregnant, I would be close to delivering!) haha, don’t ask me how this odd thought crept into my mind. When I was young I thought being pregnant was a real nuisance, like carrying this horrid lump on your front for soooo long!

Back to the topic at hand though. I feel so rusty… and bored, not much of job satisfaction now. I think the upper echelons are more interested in the no. of implants used (and thus the revenus generated) rather than the actual care of the patient. Referrals are made to ‘cover our asses’ while the good of the patient seems to come in secondary. - at least there’s the law to ensure those who’ve lost their passion for medicine still toe the line! It’s no doubt a disturbing and heart-stopping relevation for some people though.

Funny thing is, I don’t think I’d be advising those intending to apply for medicine school to quit and run as far away in the opposite direction. I think it’s really their personal choice, after I tell them the brutalities and the unpleasant going-ons that we face daily.

Don’t know if I’m sad or happy to know that I am not totally disillusioned yet. Sometimes, I feel that the only thing that’s keeping me working is actually making sure that patient’s get the most well-rounded care I can offer while admitted under my care. Sighz. Luckily there’s still something to hold on to. Or my sanity goes next…

There’re so many kinds of ‘butterflies’ in my stomach. And here’s one of them.

It’s with a sense of dread mixed with anticpation that you arrive at work and head towards the active HO the previous day, scrutinising the degree of dishevelled-ness and how refreshed they looked. Then you pop the ultimate crucial question of:

“How many presents did you leave me in the ED?”

You hold your breath…

After that you roughly check out the bed status in the hospital…

Then you hurry through your morning round, pray that everyone already on your list remains stable and charge thru your changes…

After that you’ve you haven’t yet been swamped by the ED shooting pts up into the just recently vacated beds, you would be doing something like this… sitting around waiting anxiously… and doing what you can to allay those odd feelings of churning…

Wedding bells, wedding bells… It’s kind of sad that we don’t really hear ‘em bells ringing at weddings these days. Just went for my cousin’s wedding at Meritus Mandarin, was quite a big affair, with close to 60 tables all packed with people all dressed up prettily. I was post call that day, and feeling rather zonky, so mostly I just stoned at the table…

I noticed with not great surprise that one of my cousins, who’d announced marriage plans with his gf (whom he has not taken the bother to introduce to ANY of his other relatives) was chatting non stop with her. Usually he’s just so quiet he blends into the furniture. What surprised me was that the lovely girl did not know that he does not take prawns… :-/

And then one of my uncles came to drag me to visit the entire kampong (the children whose parents had lived and worked with my granddad in Hainan). To think that this same man, who used to make my visits hell (because he loved to ridicule my appearance) and make it so awkward for me, apparently now hopes to bask in the glory of me being a doctor. (Him, not me) and it felt like I was some prize horse/dog/pig put thru the steps. Sheesh. I think I just looked bored as hell. Every single one of those old pple I shook hands with, or patted me on my back, just looked like my patients who went for TKR/THR/colectomy…

Then when I finally got back to my table, I spent most of the entire night hoping and praying that no one would collapse from AMI/hypoglycaemia/PE… and none of those cute lil ‘uns running around screaming with their immensely healthy lungs would suffer a greenstick or a HI.

There’s nothing like my profession to give a person a whole new look towards wedding dinners.

Been realising that I haven’t blogged much. I guess it’s cuz there isn’t much happening that I can blog on. Haha too sensitive and not that impt either.

Am right now in the HO room, planned lunch with a friend working nearby. Tomorrow’s my first passive call. *Wonder how it’ll be like* Can you believe it? I have 6 calls all squished into the last 2.5wks. But anything beats my GM HO posting. -_-

Cousin’s getting married this weekend, can’t remember exactly which one, they’re all tying the knots faster than I can discharge my chronic stayers. And before you know it, those little crying lumps will start popping out!

Actually planned to go China this March, but it seems like the scenery wouldn’t be as beautiful. Crap, now change of plans… Any suggestions on where else to go?

Lunch time….

Guy A: Hey you gay rite? Own up lah…

Guy B: No…

Girl: Maybe it’s just a facade?

Guy B: This is so unfair, just because I’m 28 and single, people say I’m gay.

Guy A: Ya lor, and you’re always wearing purple shirts! See like purple again today!

Girl: Maybe metrosexual?

Guy B: Nope EWWW

Guy A: Then must be gay lah! Or else why do you have so many purple shirts?

Guy B: For the last time, I’m telling you I’m not gay! And this is not purple, it’s LILAC!

Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: ****/5

Cate Blanchett dazzles us once more as she reprises her role as Queen Elizabeth. In this sequel, her kingdom faces religious and political persecution from King Philip II (Spain) and the Catholics he claims he represents. Here we see how religion is used as a means of obtaining political power (and its accompanying riches of course).

Apart from her role as the virgin queen, Blanchett shows us how the queen is just as human as we are. From her coquettish stance with her ladies-in-waiting while boating, to the role of teacher to the poor Austrian prince who tries too hard, to the ultimate heartbreak as she finds out how he’s had an affair with her favourite lady-in-waiting, Bess (Abbie Cornish); yet again, we see her strength as she strives to protect her kingdom and people from the Spanish Armada. Most impressive is the scene where she is dressed entirely in white, standing at the cliffs facing the tempestuous seas tossing the Spanish Armada around as it goes up in flames (courtesy of Sir Raleigh (Clive Owen) and his brilliant strategy of using fireships). It looked as if she really had divine intervention!

Another really sad scene was the one where Elizabeth herself, constrained by her royal blood, cannot dance freely with Raleigh, and she gets Bess to dance with him, while she imagines herself to be in his arms…

Samantha Morton, starring as Mary Stuart, Elizabeth’s own cousin who secretly organises a rebellion in an atempt to ursurp the throne, but belatedly realises that she’d become a pawn for the Spanish (who wanted the throne for himself), gave us a beautiful scene of a woman’s whose lifetime dreams are shattered but faces the guillotine with such courage.

And if the acting fails to wow you, the set definitely will! Done up in all the majesty and opulence of a prosperous kingdom, combined with the lovely cinematographia, “Elizabeth - the Golden Age” is truly a worthwhile watch!

Visit the official site!

Wa I miss my ex work place!

And I never thought I’d ever say that, but truth is, I do!

HAHAHA… so much so that I went back to help clerk an angioplasty case today!

Miss the computer system too, but I realised that the one in my current hosp isn’t as bad as the one in the hosp I first started out at.

I’ve been hankering after Waraku for ages, every since I saw the brightly coloured plastic food adoring the shop’s exterior… Passed by a Waraku look-a-like along city link on Saturday, and decided to just have dinner there…

Shokudo (which means ‘cafe’ in Japanese I think) is quite a bright cheery place with yellow tones and a hip crowd. They serve a wide variety of pasta imported from Japan (feels stringer and actually lighter) and their own blend of sauces, a very interesting mix of the East and West.

There have up to 5 different sauce bases - wafu sauce (basically, I think that means any sauce with Japanese style of seasoning), tomato cream, carbonara, pesto and curry. They also have soupy pasta, like the white wine soupy mussel and pasta and this spicy tomato beef pasta thingy… We had the tomato cream with asparagus and grilled chicken and the curry with pork cutlet and spaghetti. Mine wasn’t too bad but the curry combi looked and tasted a bit weird. I think it might be a bit too revolutionary for our tastes. Haha…

The pizza looked awfully thin and very unsatisfying for 12.90. Hehe give it a miss!

The most interesting part was the dessert! It was so pretty and quite yummy! (from the limited spoonfuls I had) We had this green tea ice kacang topped with red beans (it’s looks different from the ones in our kopitiam) and the japanese type of chest nuts. Then there were four mochi around it too. Kawaii!

All in all, it’s a fun place to go for a refreshing taste, but don’t expect fine dining or immaculate waitressing for the price you’re paying.

Prices range btwn 13-16 for pasta / pizza, 4-8 for drinks/sodas and a bit more for the desserts.