:: BïtS 'N' PiëCÉS ::

domenica, ottobre 31, 2004

:: apley day ::

hey, sounds nice right? from now on, my Sundays shall be called Apley Day! i've realised that orthopaedics cannot be boring. i have no right to say it's boring when there's still so much about it that don't know about. How can i say the unknown is boring? today read on those bony infections and it was really yucky. then i read about OA and wow, i found out that listing it under 'degenerative disease' is actually a misnomer! it's as much a destructive process as a constructive process! how else would you get osteophytes forming bony excresences? and a very impt point is that the X-ray is virtually diagnostic since such associated features of OA are very characteristic. there're 5, 1 'destructive' & 4 'constructive' - destruction of articular cartilage, formation of subarticular cysts, osteophyte formation, sclerosing of bone underlying cartilage and capsular fibrosis. urgh ok, think everyone reading's dopified already.

today i heard sth interesting on the radio - how to be popular... and here are four ways to help you on yr way to popularity:
1. always have something nice to everyone you meet
2. know, remember and USE people's name
3. the best way to be interesting is to be interested
4. give away money (hahaha)

i was supposed to be studyin today but i wasted a fair bit of time watching 'the rise of adolf hitler'. actually i thought it was 'the rise and fall of adolf hitler' so i didn't mind... turned out, it was only the 'rise' and it was FOUR hours... omg. i give up. acks!

Dopey @ 7:57 PM | 0 comments

sabato, ottobre 30, 2004

:: saturday ::

for lack of a better name, i've decided to call this entry: S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y.

i've some nice photos to put up, but then i dun want to install either bloggerbot or easygprs. :( my notebook has been hospitalised for observation and for the 'docs' to run some investigations. i'm not satisfied with how the 'doc' treated my comp today. he needs to be sent to year ONE PDCP programme and redo the COFM module!

i'm unsatisfied with the techniques of physical examination in papa apley. :( i'm disappointed that such a thick book does not contain enough info on such a VITAL chapter! i wanted to zap/borrow physical examination in orthopaedics by apley n solomon but it's been reported lost! (like i believe, i'm more inclined to think that some selfish soul 'stole' it). anyway, dunno how. heard fr R that rae is info overload. i shall see how. sigh. i miss talley.

so tired. dun feel like sleeping though. :( maybe i'll game for a while now...

dopey hoots off!

Dopey @ 11:09 PM | 0 comments

venerdì, ottobre 29, 2004

:: chk this out::

click me

muahahaha.... maybe i shld just move my entire blog over!

Dopey @ 9:41 PM | 0 comments

:: things are malfunctioning around me ::

first, i've got no tpt (car) in the morning to CGH, and i ended up waking up at 5.45am today. anyway the stoopid briefing only started at like 8.30?!?! then we had to wait around till 9.30am for a very dua pai (haha) nurse educator to come talk to us about INFECTION CONTROL! out of respect for her extreme cheerfulness and the visible effort she took to make the extremely boring content of lecture interesting, i managed to keep awake, it felt like i was trying to inject botox into my own eyelids... :S in the end, my eyes were soo dry, cuz i kept them open for too long. sadly, it probably looked like i was looking at her with glazed eyes, probably one of the reasons why she didn't ask me any questions... on the other hand, maybe i had 'ignored' her questioning eyes... i think my optic nerves were functioning independently of my brain today! acks, can receive, cannot interpret!

second, cuz of the lack of tpt, i probably have to lug papa apley, take a bus and sit thru the stomach-churning, guts-lurching bus ride to bukit timah shopping centre which is the only place ard here that i know of, that can book bind my three parts of apley. (yes, i've committed the ultimate sin of chopping my books up, and in the process, also shattered HS's heart)

third, my notebk went poof and then blank on thursday night! the provisional diagnosis was short circuit. anyway i had to go read up first... the differential diagnosis was battery malfunction, socket malfunction and wires malfunction. after running some simple investigations, i conclude that the most likely diagnosis is malfunctioning of the battery. :( i'm now using either my dad's notebk or my bro's desktop. :( it feels bad when you have to use other people's things... somehow, the atomsphere is different, and the feel is of something unfamiliar :(

fourth, i managed to contact both my personal tutors today. in fact, i'm very impressed by the effort that CGH put in to organise such a comprehensive and let's not forget, chock-full of activities schedule for our (or more like my, thankfully) short soujourn there. guess what the senior consultant said today: hi my dear girls, how can i help you? ..... oh, you've really come at the right time, i tell u... right for me... but wrong for you! (cackling maddish laughter) cuz, i'm going for a two weeks break... gimme a break manz, i've had only two days' break for? (a year?)... anyway, EW and EO were sorely disappointed cuz WE REALLY LIKE HIM! and he was REALLY GOOD! and the KEENESS TO TEACH US was simply radiating off his face.... yet, by the time he's finally back, it'll be time for our end of posting test! boohooo.... to make matters worse, the other tutor, an associate consultant didn't sound too keen on giving us more than one tutorial a week.
me: [introduction] we were wondering whether you could give us two tutorials a week if possible?
him: well, we'll see, we'll see...
me: ok so, what do you normally prefer your students to do for tutorials? clerk cases? or short cases?
him: you are only year 3 right? first ortho posting? ok... you two just go find your own cases then we'll discuss them.
me: where and what time do we meet you?
him: erm, after the ward round? say about 8.30am, you all tell me where to meet you.
me: ok... [sigh... gone liao la.... ortho wan le...]
i hope he's just tired out by the operation. maybe tutorial will be better! kowtow to the spirit of apley...

the best thing that happened today was a ride fr wenky halfway back home... thanks pal! i really appreciated that! lol... btw, did u notice i got a bit dopey towards the last 10min of the ride?

Dopey @ 9:05 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, ottobre 27, 2004

:: eeek! ::

sat thru another unending set of lectures today, covering an intro to fractures and all the upper limb fractures... i NEVER knew there was THAT MUCH to a # (fracture)... shall attempt to revise a bit now... heard of the rule of TWO's for fractures? i call it 5 TWO'S: 2 views (xray), 2 joints, 2 limbs(children), 2 injuries and 2 occasions. and there's sth called the personality of a fracture too! i call it the 7 sides of a fracture: location, bone, part of bone (prox/mid/distal), type of #, high/low energy, stability and person with the #.

my ass hurts from sitting soooo long in the room! luckily it's not siberian in there too! and there's free-flow coffee and i think some biscuits too, but alas, i don't really like coffee, i think it gives me halithosis. heh... i'm sitting on my ischial tuberosities, any longer and i'll get pressure sores or i might get DVT. ooo.... scary... then plus my right calf has been hurting for a couple of days, initially i thought it was due to the strain tt day while running, now i think it's probably it. but then the possibility of DVT kept coming into my head, esp when it felt a bit warmer that day.. haha and Hoffman's test was positive ok (but then heng, cuz it's unspecific hoho...) i'm NOT aspiring to become h/c II.

today the greatest impact i had was from this picture:

bespelled



this is the Gardner-Wells tongs, which is used in the Gardner-Wells traction, for cervical spine / neck injuries such as fractures, dislocations and maybe subluxation. Anyway it's gross, here's how u use it, in the words (i rephrased a bit) of the surgeon, "you give some local anesthetic such as lignocaine then u place the tips of the nails along the line of the external auditory meatus, xx distance above... not too high because you'll end up skinning the skull off. then you start drilling into the outer tables of the skull bones. when you reach the correct distance, there's a 'ting' sound, so you really have to listen carefully, or else your patient might suddenly end up with astereognosis... it might be very primitive, but surprisingly, the patients can tolerate it quite well." now, to explain the medical jargon... outer tables are just the outer parts of the skull bones. external auditory meatus is the part of your ear that sticks out, and astereognosis is the inability to recognise an object held in the hand when the eyes are closed.

i hope, that i never get any cervical injury!!!!!

Dopey @ 10:19 PM | 0 comments

martedì, ottobre 26, 2004

:: looking better ::

things are looking better now... all thanks to shing! she's really got an amazing memory! i wonder how she dredged up all that nitty gritty info! anyway, so that elusive white envelope was actually handed to Em and Ni has confirmed that it contained the logbks of her sis's cg... and nothing else... which will mean that... it's likely that J's grp's logs were not there to begin with?!?!! i suppose i've done what i could, the matter's out of my hands now. hope they recover their logs soon. phew... i learnt a lesson, next time i'd better pass things to the person directly... and not thru others. i suppose the saying that the best way for things to be done is to do them yourself, strikes really close to heart this time round.

i'm so fatigued now... after 7 hours of non-stop lectures, it's almost like an ortho-thon... tomorrow we'll be doing the same again... and worse, it's about fractures! i never knew they could be that 'interesting' and complicated... been buried in apley whole night today and couldn't even finish reading that chapter on principles of fractures! omg... and guess what, there's a chapter on fractures for EACH of the joints! ahhhhh!

urgh. i realised that i had printed the wrong reading materials for cofm tutorial and thus read through the wrong stuff :( waste of my time... urgh, ended up reading 'to err is human' instead of some 'root analysis' thingy. sigh.

ok, going to koon now. too tired. :S

PS: thanks to h/c (haha) and wenke... (aka chinaboy wenke hoho...) yup, things shouldn't go poof* like this, not in our fac at least. mmmph... u know when i told a friend from another fac in nus, she said, ohh... if it has sth to do with grades or has some bearing on the grades, if it were in my fac, probably someone hid them or threw them away already! wa... so scary...

Dopey @ 11:32 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, ottobre 25, 2004

:: sigh ::

today's the first day of ortho postings, we had a grand total of 7hours of lecture at nuh. it made me quite drugged but then the tutors were really quite good speakers, and despite my hatred for lectures, i enjoyed some of the lectures. unfortunately, something not too great happened too...

two saturdays ago, wynne passed me a huge white A4 sized envelope with all the AH surgery cgs' logbooks. i retrieved my own cg's and passed the other stacks to a person from each of the rest of the group. shing was on my left, delice on my right. shing helped me pass one stack to stephanie. we were originally looking for tongleng to pass the books to but he couldn't be found so i gave up and waited to see who else i could spot. in the end, only cg 30's logbooks were left in the envelope but i couldn't spot any of their group members right then, so i waited. after a while, i spotted one of their group members in one of the front rows so i asked the people sitting in front of me to pass it down to her. i'm sure it's a her, though i cannot remember 100% who it was. anyway, today they just came to tell me that they had not received their logbooks. and yup, i know that J for sure is quite pissed off with me... he actually raised his voice at me lor... NO guy has ever done that to me lor... except my father la... though he kept his temper under control. can't blame him though, i would be very worried and irritated too if i were him. anyway, those around me did not notice me passing the envelope downwards, but i'm sure i didn't bring that envelope out of the lt. right after we had lunch, and i don't remember carrying anything bulky along with me, and my bag was definitely too small to contain this package. right now, i think the best bet is to search the LT again, maybe ask the dean's office or the lost and found department in nus. and also to track down who else had touched the white envelope.

i dunno how much of blame i should take for this incident. what do you think? was it irresponsible for me to pass the logbooks down instead of handing it personally? but i'm sure lots of us have handed notes, books and even money around like this and it hadn't gone missing... i'm feeling very bad... that 7 pple are worrying about their logbooks cuz of this. how? how? how? if it really got lost i dunno what can be done!!!!! and i wonder how long it'll take for them to forget about this incident?!?!?! does this make me a person you can't trust to get things done properly? :(

well, i really tried my hardest to recall who's the initial person i asked to hand the package down (it's not like i don't know the loss of these logbooks is a serious matter... but i really cannot remember...) and who was the final 'destination' but i can't! it's been more than a week, and remembering people's faces/names i definitely not my strong point... sigh...

Dopey @ 10:11 PM | 0 comments

domenica, ottobre 24, 2004

:: end of hols blog ::

it's 3 hours 28 minutes to the end of the one week glorious (it has to be since it's the only break since 4mths) holidays! tomorrow i shall be striking out to CHANGI GENERAL HOSPITAL to look at people's bones and see the pooky x-rays. orthopaedics looks sooo boring! it's so boring i didn't get past the introductory chapter. i'm thinking of sawing the book into two so i've got something to read on (more accurately, drool on) while on the long long train ride home. i think i'm going to be seeing an orthopaedic myself soon, cuz i'm sure i'm going to injure my back accidentally while checking out someone's back/leg/hip. meanwhile, lulu will be tickling screaming tots on their feet and saying kootchy kootchy all day long... and also facing hands-wringing parents, in constant a state of anxiety about their darlings. and she'll probably be swotting genetics and studying the map of all the chromosomes while i try to differentiate a callus from periosteal new bone formation from osteoporotic lesions, osteosclerosis and see cool things like pepper pot skull and perhaps bamboo spine... or maybe we'll all finally get to x-ray hypoC to see if he's really got ankylosing spondylitis...

i'm babbling cuz i'm so bored. i don't want to study/play games/watch tv/sleep. i'm filled with trepidation about my new posting and somehow excited cos i'll probably run into seet when i do the second half of my posting. heh heh... i'll haunt ward 57 and its residence room. lolz...

in this week i have done the following things: met up with scgs pple, met up with lina, bought a bag (very very happy with it), rented about 4 movies and watched one on the big screen, made one penpal from syria, been contacted by someone who dropped in on miguel's forum, did not shop for once! (cuz i spent a bomb on the bag), played many of the games on msn.com, read first chapter of papa apley, went thru my bro's report, done half of my report for cofm, backed up my files, almost crashed my comp upon installing service pack 2, somehow got the yamaha audio device BLOCKED and now have to get new driver from the vendor, looked at rabbits at the pet shop, crapping on msn, singing along with my cds, calling my cofm patient and... generally sleeping at like 3am almost everyday. think i've slacked a lot these hols, but i don't feel guilty about it. cuz if i dun let myself unwind, it's going to be my undoing. time to brace up for the next posting!

a thought just struck me... a friend asked me if i had seen people who were going to pass away in the hospital... and i was thinking about all those people i had spoken to... and how some of them just passed away less than a day after... and i think that talking to these people will teach us how to live life.

Dopey @ 8:51 PM | 0 comments

sabato, ottobre 23, 2004

:: it's the little things that matter ::

today i gave my brother a lecture. i seldom do that... normally i just nag. anyway, i feel that small things that we normally think are inconsequential, will amount to creating a significant impression of ourselves. examples are holding the lift for others, letting others exit from the train before you rush in, holding the door open for others, many little 'small' things... however they all go to show our graciousness and consideration for others. i'm sure that such a simple action would not leave an indelible impression in others' minds, but cumulatively, it helps to form an image of you. and this image would affect how others treat you.

as for myself, i'm extremely appreciative of people who do all these little little things. i have very good impressions of them. in fact, they impress me just as much as a philantrophist would. at times i've been guilty of being inconsiderate, selfish, even purposely mean to others, and i'd promise to myself to do better the next time a similar opportunity presents itself. many times, i've witnessed my friends and the little things they do, and i remember them and try to be able to emulate them. all this, i hope will make myself a better person and bring more comfort to people around me.

eee... just re-read the paragraph i wrote, appears very 'mushy' to me. anyway, i just thought it would be a good topic to blog about since more and more people these days are less considerate towards others. don't know whether it's due to the stress? the fast pace of life? or the decreasing degree of humanity left in us as we use modern forms of technology to communicate? i think it's a combination of all such factors...

Dopey @ 10:52 PM | 0 comments

venerdì, ottobre 22, 2004

:: ruminations ::
does the word ruminating mean the process that the cow takes to digest it's food in the four stomachs? keke... anyway i digress... um... i wish i had time to maintain my website. it's still like 60% done only... and severely lacks pictures... on top of that, i've abandoned it for about a year? then again, it feels weird putting my own pics online... dunno how many weirdos/strangers can see them. eee....
a spot of promotion to do: EW finally got her blog! and she's furiously blogging away! now the rest of my cg (or at least some of them) are looking for a nick for me... hypoC suggested dopey... cuz i can fall asleep wherever and whenever... true... but dopey sounds a bit too benign and cuddly... which is not me! maybe i can be EO aka evil owl... hoot hoot... hahaha AGAG....
borrowed 'so close' at 2bux only! good deal! haha shall watch tomorrow! the long-awaited one week break is almost over! so sad :( sigh... despite the distance, i've heard many people say that the docs there are really good and the place is nice... and eugene keeps singing praises of that place. shall hope for the best! seriously speaking, i enjoy everything to do with medlife, except the tests & exams. sian... haven't even touched pharmaco this wk, how am i going to prepare for the test in dec?!

STRESS!!!

Dopey @ 7:49 PM | 0 comments

just a few days back miguel asked if i wanted to do an interview with him, by some guy flying down from España next week. stoopid... by then ortho would have started already, but i'm quite keen to practise speaking though. so how? on the other hand, i'm also quite worried... what if... what if i just suddenly shut down and don't understand what the spaniard is saying? then die lah... or i might get tongue-tied and end up embarrassing all my spanish teachers... and then 'get sent back to year one'!

sianz... hols almost over. WTH is mu chuan? it's in sg u know... cuz mi hermano got a singing comp there... anyway, since i missed this one, i should try to go for the semis instead! haha... or maybe the finals, he's a sure-in!

got such a horrid headache, as i i were hungover... but then i never touch alcohol! (except when i swab my stethy). last night was fun... lina and i just talked and talked AND talked... over dinner! we out-talked and out-lasted everyone there, only the rain drove us away... and then we went to cartel at PS to continue talking! muahaha... aiyo got home so late... yeah now i'm bursting with gossip! haha... need to let it out soon!

i wanna recommend some places for eating:
dharma's kebabs @ boat quay, take exit H from raffles city mrt. they've got all kinds of kebabs and arab kind of food... the fries are really good too and large servings... quite cheap for dining al fresco at boat quay... dinner from 630pm onwards... dun go too late or else no places!
the french stall @ 100m from exit A of farrer park mrt. non-airconditioned for one, but they really serve authentic food. very nicely served and very refined. it's about 20+ for a full set... they've got very very very mouth-watering and huge desserts... just unfortunate that i can't take haha... but i can drool enough to flood out the place!

Dopey @ 12:22 PM | 0 comments

:: taking lives - a review ::

sheesh this is one gooooood film! it's revived my ambition to become a forensic scientist... u know like angelina jolie in this film... and in the books of kathy reichs and patricia cornwell... hehe but i know that i probably won't end up as that... cuz i dun think i could live a life surrounded by dead people and their photos... my desire to 'make the world a better place' isn't strong enough for me to give up something close to sanity to do such a job. i think it really requires such strength of mind to do it. anyway, haha... i think i'm not too bad myself cuz i just intuitively knew who the murderer was even within the first 15 minutes of the film... heheh so i just waited and waited to see how he would finally reveal himself! :) angelina jolie's so beautiful haha... i like her a lot... the bad guy's really quite twisted... as usual... it's really like those biographies i've read... i guess whoever's the director really did his research!

anyway... damn cool... things inside... though lots of people probably won't agree... the gist of the film is a guy who's gone thru kinda abusive childhood (where his mum favours his twin brother instead of him) and then he takes off at 16 and starts to kill people and take over their lives... well, this isn't the creepiest part of the film, there's just one more creepier thing but i can't say it here, it would just ruin the whole thing! hehe... this is probably the most 'fulfilling' film i've watched these hols! yippeee!

PS: if u want to know, ask me... haha...

Dopey @ 2:12 AM | 0 comments

giovedì, ottobre 21, 2004

:: something to chew upon ::

hmmm i read in a magazine... a guy confessed that he would go online, for eg. like IRC to look for ONS. however, he's actually getting married end of this year... and he maintains that he 'loves' his fiancee dearly... but he's still got needs so he goes looking for ONS... (his fiancee can only have intercourse with him after marriage)... anyway i was thinking. wat a LOUT! CAD! (cabrón, hijo de puta blah blah blah) he says he's got NEEDS... sigh. i wonder if all guys think that way? anyway, for such people, i just want to tell them to think this when having sex with some unknown gal:

1. would you like your fiancee doing the same thing to you? do unto others what you wish to be done unto u.
2. u haven't heard of DIY izzit? or dunno how to do it?
3. do you think that by making her happy would negate all your wrongs?
4. are your needs more important to you or her? if it's your needs, then dun bother getting married. go hire a prostitute, she'll probably take BETTER care of u...
5. (dunno if tt cabrón used protection) but if you get some STDS (good for you, you deserve it!) but what if you passed it on to your wife? does she deserve to be punished for your wrongdoing?
anyway he maintains that he would stop this after marriage... yeah.. for like how long? 3 years? 3 months? or? i don't think this is such an easy habit to kick... like smoking, best to even try...

anyway, i welcome comments about this... pro or against this stand, but i don't want to see any idiots swearing at me without writing something which has some content.

my comments link is finally working!

Dopey @ 1:55 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, ottobre 20, 2004

:: chicago - a review ::

finally, i watched chicago, starring the sizzling hot catherine zeta jones, the equally chilli padi-hot renée zellweger and a sexy (but very old) richard gere. i really would have preferred this to be a musical rather than a movie-broadway mix. the songs are all quite nice, and the dance movements are exquisite. sometimes when i watch these shows... or watch people dancing (especially like tango and salsa) i get a very tiny little wisp of inspiration and desire to dance like they do. muahaha... in other words, to take up dancing lessons... erm but i'm quite paiseh to do that... hehe will put this thought into my long list of KIVs. what i've learnt from chicago is: the power of the media is limitless and that fame is a very very fickle lady.

:: amores perrros - a review ::

also finally, i watched this show... loosely translated, it means 'dog lovers'... erm but there isn't really much about dogs and lovin' going on in the movie... it's about how three stories (that have got dogs in them) and how they are intertwined by a motor accident. this movie won a major award... but i am really not too good at appreciating it. the director shows a myriad of emotions, of how love leads to pain and suffering and from within, a certain sort of enlightenment. the movie's a tad too long... at 2h40min... of nothingmuch going on.
here's a closer take: the first is the story of a teenager (who has a kid) trapped in an abusive marriage. her husband is a burglar and beats her up periodically. meanwhile, her brother-in-law, who takes care of the family dog, loves her and keeps asking her to : vete conmigo (go away with me). in an attempt to raise money, he brings his dog to dogfights... and soon, cofi (the dog) is winning him loads of money (enough to buy a car!). the second story revolves around a man who divorces his wife and abandons his children to be with his mistress, the 'most beautiful model in iberia' (northern spain) at that time. the third is the story of an ex-guerilla, now homeless and drifting in the streets, occasionally 'off-ing' someone off for some money. his only companions are the wild dogs.
ok... then... bam! the accident happened while the brother-in-law was fleeing from a dog fight with his friend, because the opponent had unfairly shot his beloved dog... and he had retaliated by gutting their leader... the model is also involved in the accident... (her dog was in the car too) she becomes seriously injured, and her leg eventually had to amputated! the ex-guerilla's trash cart was a bit smashed up as well. after the ambulance rescued all the people in the accident, he brought cofi home. eventually, the model is discharged and returns to her new home, having to cope with the devastating news... and to top it off, her dog falls into his hole in the parquet... cofi soon recovers and one day, after the ex-guerilla came home, realised that he had killed ALL his other strays!!!!! meanwhile, the brother-in-law discovers that his sister-in-law and abusive husband had taken off with all his money! finally, the ex-guerilla realised how wrong he was in abandoning his family for his 'quest' and calls up to apologise to the daughter he had never spoken to before. and instead of killing the man he was asked to off, he detained him in his home and soon was glad that he didn't kill him, cuz the man who actually claimed that his man was his associate is actually his half-brother...

anyway...

now that everyone's very confused (me included) the credits finally start to roll...

Dopey @ 6:43 PM | 0 comments

martedì, ottobre 19, 2004

:: The hidden curriculum in undergraduate medical education: qualitative study of medical students' perceptions of teaching ::

I read an interesting article on the BMJ and here's an extract of what some of the 36 students in the study said:

Personal encouragement:
Most of the role models mentioned were male doctors (27/46), who were seen particularly valued in relation to their knowledge, professional power, and authority. The female medical role models (19/46) were said to convey more "human" attributes: tolerance, integrity, respectfulness, and support towards students.

Haphazard teaching:
"I mean we've had so many days where we've had, sort of, five different sessions scheduled—and no one turns up! You just think, you know, why bother coming in? So that's irritating. It does happen a lot to everyone. I mean, obviously the people who are teaching have another job—it's not their only job to teach you—but it's when you turn up and they don't get somebody else to do it, or they don't even let you know that they haven't turned up. " --- Year 3 student

Importance of hierarchy:
"I've found my first rotation was very stressful, humiliating, I worked and read because of fear, because of being targeted—and that was just miserable... One time, the consultant came in when I was examining the patient—his registrar was there, his SHO was there and just started asking me questions... I just went blank and didn't know the answers to his questions—and then he got angrier... after things like that... you don't even have the confidence to take blood or anything. " --- Year 3 student

Getting ahead by being competitive:
Half of the students (18/36) reported that competition rather than cooperation is the defining characteristic of medicine...
"You notice that students during the clinical years try to stand out, stabbing each other. " --- Year 3 student

and something else, from one of those 'rapid responders'... which helped me understand what is the said 'hidden curriculum' - "the set of influences that function at the level of organisational structure and culture including, for example, implicit rules to survive the institution such as customs, rituals, and taken for granted aspects..." There are six learning processes of the hidden curriculum of medical education have been identified: loss of idealism, adoption of a "ritualised" professional identity, emotional neutralisation, change of ethical integrity, acceptance of hierarchy, and the learning of less formal aspects of "good doctoring." (as defined by Lempp, and Seale)

anyway, i thought this study was a bit weird... taking only the views of 36 students?!?! i thought the BMJ would receive studies of a better quality.
anyway... the hidden agenda sounds quite scary! loss of idealism? setting everything into a ritual? washing off our emotions? makes it sound like they are making us into robots... lol... and i suspect COFM is simply trying to make us into smiley robots... hmmm as for humiliation... in my short 4mths posting, i can already recount at least 10 such incidents... but 4 stand out most to me...
1. hs and i humiliated by poon, and even 'sent back to year one'! i shall forever ridicule him behind his back... until i'm more 'senior' then him Ha... then i'll do it to the face. muahaha...
2. hs humiliated by nambiar... ok that's one scary one! actually i think he might be trying to be mean to us just to make us have a stronger impression of his teachings... however, this is just creating yet another obstacle to our learning. if a student is so demoralised, he simply will not dare to utter another word in the future. how's learning going to take place like this?
3. the nurse with the russian-sounding name in ward 13 AH. dunno what has made her so bitter about medical students? she even bullies the HOs... wonder if she does it to the MOs as well? this hardly creates an encouraging atmosphere...
4. the weird nurse in SGH who stops medical students from going to the wards, claiming that her 'superior' said we werent' supposed to go to the wards? huh? and then claiming that there were exams when it wasn't even time for any end-of-postings test, any MBBS or any MRCP/MMed or watever... ha... subjecting us to cross-examination of this nature without a good reason, and worse, even having such ridiculous reasons?!?!

regarding competitivenes, i myself was guilty of this in year one. however, after some time i realised that there's really no use... i don't see why i need to get ahead of other people, i just see that what's most important is to do my best and challenge myself. competitiveness generates quite an ugly feeling within people. i know some people who are really competitive and they suck. big time. maybe someone can tell me why they like to be so competitive? and get ahead of others? think abt it... if u had backstabbed others in order to get to the top... you're not going to be staying there long enough to warm your seat cuz no one can lead without followers!

Dopey @ 1:33 PM | 0 comments

:: America's Next Top Model Cycle 2 ::

Great show! Of all the reality series i think i like this best of all... perhaps, i really AM bimbotic deep down in my heart. (no brains) maybe i'll consider bleaching all my hair to attain the marilyn monroe look (without brains and for my case, without beauty as well lolz) anyway, i'm a loyal follower of this series... shocked? gasping for breath? fumoxed? (is there such a word? but nvm pardon the bimbo here...) actually, i never thought much about modelling till this show... it's shown me how tough it can actually be... yap... and how exciting it could actually be too... to see how the camera, together with your own abilities, can transform yourself into simply totally out-of-the-world alternate realities! anyway, i decided to share such 'style and beauty' with u guys... i chose my favourite pictures. of them all, i like shandi best and yoanna second best... and guess what... those two are in the final three! (hehe i peeped at the official site u see...) hehe it goes to show, i've got T.A.S.T.E! lolz...

Y O A N N A . H O U S E


yoanna - body paint & in the skin

Yoanna, the hip funky one with the i've got an attitude look... yet able to be equally versatile and also described as the 'only one of the girls with the classic model look' by xyz (the first supermodel ever, who is now super old and probably boxed and lifted a dozen times)

S H A N D I . S U L L I V A N


shandi - beauty shot, laundry by shelli segal, as nicole kidman

Shandi, my ultimate hot fave! she's the ONLY one of all those girls that doesn't look like the typical model, that doesn't strive to create any flirtacious, bimbotic, sexy look. the one with the quietness, the resolve and the super unique style... when i first saw her, i couldn't really figure out how she got chosen... but after seeing her in the next two episodes, i found her to be very natural, a very real person.

J E N A S C I A . C H A K O S


jenascia - lovely gal, lovely name, simple ravishing as salma hayek.

According to the judges, they find her too short, that first-ever-supermodel kept yakking abt her height.. and she's around 5 foot 2? maybe? yea anyway she sure is short compared to the other gals.. however i don't think that was what gave her the boot, i believe it was the fact that she couldn't exactly get her own style... couldn't really cooperate very well with the photographer... like dunno how to do things in her own way... needs to be led by the hand... nevertheless, i simple ADORE this photoshot of her... also it's her last, before she got booted off the show. and finally, i LURVE her name! so nice!

C A T I E . A N D E R S O N


catie - whom i hate but remember well.

this girl somehow faced the most trials during the competition. first she had her hair all cut up short like this... (she used to have long flowy blonde hair). i used to like this gal, especially when she finally faced her extreme fear of heights to do this shot. in this shot, all the girls were suspended up to 8 storeys (i think) above ground... freaky huh... by just the waist or sth... and then they still have got to look 'intense' or watever for the photo shoot. she was simple quaking in her shoes... and trembling and crying like siao... but she got a really good shot. and i'm quite proud of her! however, i started to dislike her during the next installment... where she actually CRIED when the designer criticised her choice of clothes as 'hooker-like' (lolz, i agree) but well, i think it's impt to be able to take criticism and meanness in this line... if u can't take just this simple criticism, then how are you going to even survive one week in the REAL world? anyway, some of the girls feel that she's just out to make it uncomfortable for everyone or to get sympathy or sth... ha... she was dressed like marilyn monroe in the recent episode. not bad too... but not the best.

credits: photographs were taken from the official site

Dopey @ 1:11 AM | 0 comments

lunedì, ottobre 18, 2004

:: ouijia board - film review ::

today i watched my first korean movie, alone! hehe... it's not very scary, i think in terms of scare factor, 'the ring' beats all! korean movies are very similar to jap horror movies. v low budget type but still scary. unlike hollywood movies that take millions or billions of dollars to produce yet are still not as scary as asian ones... perhaps it's cuz the chinese culture is more closely-related to jap and korean as compared to western, accounting for the ability of just some dark noises, shadows and evil looks sending chills down our spine. anyway this story starts of as a grp of three gals (one of which seems to have some kind of psychic power) being bullied by other gals in their class. so one of them unearths the ouijia board and decides to invoke the spirit of a gal from their school who died horribly... unfortunately, the one leading somehow gets possessed by the vengeful spirit. the spirit helps them 'curse' the 4 girls who constantly humiliate them at school, by making them put plastic bags soaked in kerosene over their heads and then setting themselves on fire, leading to a spate of grisly 'suicides'. meanwhile, a new teacher realises that she is somehow 'not herself' on and off... anyway, as the murders continue, the students start to revive the story of the curse of 'in sook' (the gal who died 30 yrs ago)... eventually, the story unfolds... it turns out that this secluded village hides a 'dirty' secret. 30 years ago, a mother-and-daughter pair had arrived at the village. initially, they were not welcome, until the school principal became 'besotted' with the mother and raped her, on condition that her daughter would be allowed to continue her education at school. now, the weird thing was that her daughter is actually blind, but the mother has really strong psychic powers and when her daughter is at school, she stays home and 'looks' through her daughter's eyes, thus allowing her to live life to the fullest. unfortunately, this somehow drew the school bullies to constantly torment her daughter. eventually, a series of bad turns led the village to mistakenly believe that somehow this mother-daughter pair was responsible for it all. the school teachers and principal cornered the daughter and set her head on fire, thus killing her, while the rest of the mob burned their house down. the mother was caught in the blaze and perished as well, but not before she uttered a curse of death upon all who attempted to leave the village.
shift to the current setting: the mother has actually been reincarnated in the form of the new teacher in school, while the daughter possesses the student. eventually, she exacts revenge on the people who had led the mob against her daughter and herself. she even has sex with a fellow teacher (but he didn't know it cuz he was hypnotised) so that her own daughter could be reborn to her!
there's one extremely gory scene where this reincarnate uses a pair of scissors to stab the principal multiple times... she was just totally slick and covered with blood and gore!!!
muahahaha... it's quite an entertaining show, but not for the faint-hearted. ;)

Dopey @ 8:34 PM | 0 comments

:: Online sales upset rabbit welfare group - from STREATS by K. Singh and C. Lim ::

A rabbit welfare group is up in arms over the proliferation of rabbit-for-sale websites because such promotions would add to the growing problem of rabbits being abandoned in Singapore. "There are already dozens of pet shops selling rabbits and here comes a host of online sellers, some even offering free rabbits with the sale of a cage," said Ms Teeny Teh, 24, president of the House Rabbit Society (Singapore), or HRSS. A check by Streats revealed no fewer than 20 such websites with hundreds of advertisers. Last year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which runs the largest animal shelter here, received more than 1,180 unwanted rabbits, compared to 720 in 2002. About 30 per cent were rabbits found abandoned and some were even exotic breeds, such as $400 lop-eared rabbits and long-furred Angoras which can cost double that. Many had to be put down because they were either sick or injured. Also, space for them was limited. Recounting tales of neglect, Ms Tay told how residents in Tampines discovered two rabbits dumped in a rubbish chute in June. "The plastic bag the rabbits were in was tied and they had very nearly suffocated when they were rescued," she said.
Meanwhile, pet shops said that sales of rabbits are brisk. Mr Roy Lim, 25, who operates a Pasir Ris pet shop, said: "We sell 30 to 50 rabbits a months and they can be from $30 to $700." Other pet shops said that it was common for customers to try to return the rabbits after their children tire of the pets. Explaining why that happens, Ms Teh said: "Rabbits look cute and cuddly and people think they are easy to care for and are perfect pets for children. But rabbits are ground-dwellers and are prety to many predators in the wild. So it is completely unnatural for them to be held far above the ground where they cannnot control their movements. When cuddled, they can become frightened and may scratch or bite, and then the child loses interest."
Anyone who comes across abandoned rabbits, or knows about acts of cruelty to these pets, can call 7000-RABBITS.


me: grrrrrrrrrrr... ... ... i think it's a great idea for kids to learn how to care for another living thing, to develop independence by getting a pet. However parents should also know that such an activity also requires lots of responsibility and commitment. in fact, having any pet is a good way to train a child to develop the said qualities. of cuz it's easier said than done, resulting in the increasing numbers of abandoned pets, ranging from terrapins all the way to dogs. i believe that all potential pet owners should find out everything about the animal that they are planning to keep before making the choice to purchase it. do not buy on impulse! it's not just a dress, that can be chucked away, unseen into your closet (undoubtedly crammed full of previously purchased clothes); it's not just an ornament that can be left undusted on the shelf; it's a living thing that requires constant care and effort, a lot of commitment and responsibility. to put it bluntly, you are the animal's 'god'. you determine how he lives, whether he survives and whether he's happy and comfortable. so i hope that all potential pet owers will consider twice, in fact thrice, before finally accepting this huge responsibility.

Dopey @ 12:04 PM | 0 comments

domenica, ottobre 17, 2004

:: Thru different eyes... ::

I took these photos during dinner with mich n sanz about a month back. That day i had discovered to my utter delight a function known as 'night mode'! coupled with some shaking hehe... i was able to produce totally magical-looking pictures that could fool your mind! (refer to pi 4) muahahaha...

washed...
hmmmm... what i like about this foto is that it's as if it were taken thru wet glass... if it's a bit lighter/brighter i would say it's almost like an attempt to 'wipe the slate clean'... can rep sth like that. unfortunately, this photo was taken in the evening, so it doesn't really conform to this theme. a foto in a wet but clearing sky of a morning would be a better way to represent such an idea. nevertheless, i still like the interplay of colours.

speckled
this just seems to remind me of the vision of a person who's drunk too much. wahaha.. like ambylopia. perhaps, this is what many of us see at boat quay... yi pian yan3 hua1 liao2 luan4. the whole blend of lights, sounds and people... could be something good... but also something kinda bad...

glorious!
my my my! nice right? it's clear and pretty sharp! (for my standards at least, and plus i don't have a tripod) i just lurve the lights, especially the reflections in the water. if only the building on the right wasn't included in the foto, it would look almost heavenly!

what's this?
hahaha wat's this? pple have asked me it i was at sentosa for the foutains or someplace with fireworks display. wrong. this is the boat quay, those lines are from the lights across the waters. :) how exciting photography can actually be!

i believe the photographer has the ability to alters pple's minds and thoughts. this is how powerful the lens are!

Dopey @ 11:13 AM | 0 comments

sabato, ottobre 16, 2004

:: bagged! and more! ::

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... i was soooooo dead today, it looked as if i had done night duty! and i was elegantly sleeping during the lecture. muahaha... my bro's sports project write up was so boring i feel asleep correcting it. lolz... i think it wasn't well written, but i think i only thought that way cuz i'm 4 yrs older than him and cuz after undergoing all the tough training in med, i've somehow grown... more critical of what i read. anyway, he's going to get back his report splashed with tomato sauce...

anyway, i wanna talk abt mi bag. WOOO YEAAAAA! after an agonizing more than three weeks of shopping... i mean on and off and browsing... i've finally found an ideal bag to take over my currently not-durable, tearing inside, auntie bag. ok... maybe this new one will be just as auntie, i shall let HS pass judgment soon. it's big, it's black and it's elegant (i hope). and currently i haven't seen anyone else carrying it. heh heh... initially i mooned & mulled over the projectshop bags but then i dun really like the material though it's super durable. i had my eye on the orange and red one.... and the red one with many tiny little vertical strips. but still... nothing, i repeat NOTHING beats this one! it's fr U.R.S. :) i had been eyeing it for AGES, but it cost too much for me to even dream about at that time, i suspect the price went down a bit... so well now instead of getting sth from projectshop, i might as well add just a bit and get something i really really like. it's also all thanks to JY who recommended me to go to bugis to see the bags. :) and i also realised that the heeren 4th/5th floors have many many cool bags... just that they aren't big enough for posting.

here's a list of what's in my bag when i'm on posting:
i) neuro kit
ii) coat
iii) file + papers
iii) 2 pens, 1 highlighter
iv) one small textbk
v) stethoscope
vi) larnyard wif matric & kopitiam discount cards
vii) wallet, keys, water bottle, sweets, stinky bag of herby things, comb, specs cloth, mp3 player, mobile
so much barang barang! ha be glad i dun have any makeup inside!

it's sooo nice! hahaha... it looks quite durable too... it better be.... anyway i tugged and pulled and ground my teeth on the straps, it didn't fray so i guess should be quite kumar/apley/burkitt-proof. would like to add a picture in, but then i think no need la... URS only has that limited no. of designs of bags... mine is the largest one, it comes in five colours: black, white, grey, green and brown. it also has a smaller version that comes in more colours, such as red, yellow, skyblue. i was very tempted to get the white one, but then, it will probably get dirty real easily and i'd rather be more practical. ;) wanted to get the grey one but eh, bit hard to match with clothes... the brown one looked too much like my other bags.... and the green one... hmmmm not in that mood la... ahaha i sound so bimbotic! lolz...

heard from HS tt there are tests EVERY week for ortho, except week 1! however only wks 4 and 8 tests are counted... it's supposedly alternate weeks of clincal test and mcq test. anyway, given my nature... no matter what test it is, i'll treat it as a proper test. only... sh*t! how can! i thought there's nothing much to bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons... so sianz lor... ortho 8 wks somemore... gonna bore me to death. noticed that i'm only interested in things when i get to see blood. sigh. ortho is pretty bloodless...

today i heard that arwen has found her special someone. i'm very happy for her. and hope to see them soon. sometimes i find that being truly happy for someone, without feeling any pang of jealousy and seeing that person happy is better than being happy myself. what do you all think?

Dopey @ 5:32 PM | 1 comments

venerdì, ottobre 15, 2004

:: feeding frenzy ::

muahahhahaha.... feeding frenzy... nah, make it gaming frenzy instead! wooohooo! i've been surfing msn.com the whole night trying out the various games... and i found one i liked... it's the one where the big fish eat the smaller fish... and other sea creatures and pearls too! it reminds me of my sec 4/1 class tee! so cool.... 'expect the unexpected' right? (anyone who says that it's clich'e or duh watch out, tomorrow i'll wack you with my tendon tapper, it might be the paediatric one but it sure is just as lethal! muahuahuahua!) i rem we had many little fish grouping together to form one gigantic fish and we were gonna eat a big fish... wa.... it's like the one where one stick breaks easily but one bundle is tough to even bend. muahahaha... tom there's a lecture on pain. muahahahaha... evil pple like me die die muz attend it! hiak hiak hiak. then cofm right? tough on evil pple like me to think abt being nice... wa going against my true nature manz...

Dopey @ 10:42 PM | 0 comments

:: the reason why men are from mars and women are from venus ::

cuz basically, we have totally different concepts about 'shuai' or 'handsome' or 'cute'. ha.... take for example... whu, me, reema (i believe) and i also think loads of other normal gals think that this particular person is 'shuai' or 'handsome' or 'cute' but all these guys meaning wenky, bai kar and bai kar's friend... think he's got a kao bei (sorry for the bad word), qian4 bian3 look... the look that guys just hate! ha... actually yah, if i were a guy, i would think that he's got the face of that MO tt purposely doesn't want to give me MC in camp or he's the officer who purposes tekan me. but then, i'm a gal wat. ha! anyway, have to highlight that there's only ONE normal guy... well almost normal (except for the fact that he's a hypoC) ha... wenky says that guy looks quite humsup. hmmm i guess we wouldn't know till we've asked our very own CG's HS. it takes on HS to spot the other! hur hur hur...

hypoC made a pretty funny but lame joke that day on msn. i mentioned that i didn't want to get any too rou4 ma2 kind of cards for toh, just so u know... no misunderstandings from his wife la... then hypoC said: oh, u mean something like 'i'm toh-tally ...'?

bai kar quite mean.... i drew a sign post that said ward xx, ie. toh's ward aka ward of death. it's pretty mean of us la... but bai kar's even meaner! he said the sign post should have been a tombstone instead. tsk tsk... i knew there was one EW (evil woman) in our cg, but i never never knew that there was one EEM (extra-evil man) as well!

sian. just back from school ha... guess what i went to school for? to buy my ortho textbook! woohooo! tunns told me it's got the word apley in it.. like apley's scratch test or sth like that... and when i saw this book by apley and solomon, i was like 'huh, so thin meh?' quite disappointed and almost decided to buy that one and another bk (v good purple one)... then... horrors of horrors! this stack of THICK dark green books loomed into my vision and i saw, it's called 'Apley's System of Orthopaedics and Fractures'! and i was quite satisfied and bought it... i think that's THE book. anyway i might supplement my book with the small purple one cuz it contains really good approach cum illustrations on how to examine a patient for orthopaedics. good summaries of salient conditions as well! anyway... ha... now that i've started everyone's desire to own the same book, and sent u all scurrying to NUS coop for that book (mind u it's quite ex, 69+ with discount) i shall talk abt the remaining stuff i did there.

met up with sanz, val and shing for lunch. dt was supposed to come but then... as usual... she was going to be an hour late, so well, told her no need le... next time then. hmm i ordered sesame chicken claypot rice for lunch to the abject horror of valerie who claimed that the toufu claypot of that particular stall had gave her severe gastroenteritis. then... u know what they have in that food? it's $2.30, first more ex than science. then there's NO meat at all lor! i got two miserable pieces of chicken (with some meat) and the rest were the wings of the chicken. (the part that's skin and bone) and 3 joints (er... the part between the meat of the wing and the bone cum skin part) ok.... so well i mainly ate rice with gravy (gravy was nice though) with the spring onion... (somemore so little spring onion). i was really hungry k... but in the end also didn't eat much. i didn't even finish a quarter of the rice cuz well it was really hard! i almost decided to eat the garlic but then i didn't want them all to suffer from my halithosis. hahahaha...

post-lunch we snuck into the USP comp lab hehe... using val's matric card. however the blasted comps don't even work... so sanz n i decided to go central library! and WOW! it's soooo beautiful now! woohooo! and they have this nice enclosed room with yellow, orange and red sofas and carpeted floor where pple can do their project discussion, sleep or just chitchat with friends... cool right? and so i read my PDCP lectures notes and stuff there... and some of apley's... can u believe apley's has such a LONG errata! i spent quite some time correcting. i'm bitterly disappointed. i believe in proof-reading your own book properly, or at least hiring pple who can be trusted to proofread it well for you before it's published. such an errata seems to me that not enough effort has been put into this project. hehe or else it maybe just be me being my ole' perfectionistic self.

going for a jog jog soon. been feeling that urge for quite a few days le. sometimes as i'm jogging right, i appear to fall asleep or go into trance or sth... don't tell me... i can sleep almost anywhere? even while jogging?!?!?!

Dopey @ 5:52 PM | 0 comments

giovedì, ottobre 14, 2004

:: 'my aim is not to pass you, it's to see whether you can pass' - seet ::

interestingly, as the time for my test drew nearer, i wasn't as nervous as i thought i would be... i didn't have heart rate of 120 bpm. hehehe... anyway, initially i got a patient with myasthenia gravis and truthfully, i was THRILLED! but... but... sigh she had to go for physiotherapy... and a very sour-faced porter took her off in her wheelchair, with this self-satisfied smirk on her face for having deprived me of my exam case. hrmph. so S gave me another case, this time it's a 'bread and butter' type aka S.T.R.O.K.E. sian. ok.. haha not grumbling... anyway the PE was weird lor NOTHING UMN lesion though damn sure shld have... sigh... but he didn't fault me on it la... but continued interrogating me on investigations and management. pengz... and i got stuck at how to differentiate a haemorrage from ischaemic event from history alone. how could i not know!?!?!!??! argh! anyway... next, was ABC's turn to get grilled... then we had the same two short cases, one was a cervical radiculomyelopathy and the other was possibly either lymphoma or RCC.. dunno cuz just kena a mass but didn't take history or check the casefile in the end.

overall, i passed. i'm quite ok with my performance for the stroke though sigh... i think i could have given the investigations in a more orderly way (plus i did a writeup for stroke le... i'm so glad i did it!) but as for short cases, i'm quite disappointed with myself. :( i thought i did better for CSFC than this time round. sigh. i have so much more room for improvement... i have an entire soccer field room to improve... haha.... urgh. and i think S muz find me quite queer or odd or farney... haha cremasteric reflex... to him i think wo qian da lor...

omg.... but having a test with an examiner who is that handsome is really not that bad an experience after all! ha!

Dopey @ 1:58 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, ottobre 13, 2004

:: :( ::

seems like i've got no friends... or else, no one reads my blogs :(

anyway, just barely few more hours to go before bedtime (guess i shan't be able to sleep tonight)... then test tomorrow, beginning at 9.15am sharp! more or less... i shall go hole up in the MO room ard 9am... i guess S will be at the wards by 8.30am. means i could get my case once i arrive at the wards! wooot! sigh... i mainly concentrated on neuro so he'd better test me on those... now dunno what else to study... v sian. v v v sian.

Dopey @ 9:41 PM | 0 comments

:: favour to ask my friends ::

recently i've noticed a problem. when i click on the link 'espanol' on the right column, my spanish blog page appears but it only shows up to my entry in sept 22, and won't show the other entries i made after that significant date... unless i reload the page.

can't figure what's wrong and dunno if it's only me who's experiencing this problem. so er... if any of my frds are free and can just help me do a simple test... i'd be really grateful! and i'll treat coffee to whoever can solve it for me! haha...

just got to click on the link 'espanol' on right column, see if u see ::pruebas:: as the first entry (successful) or 'tengo mucha verguenza...' (unsuccessful) just tag me to let me know.

thanks a million!

now back to baliga! i just lurve this guy!

Dopey @ 2:50 AM | 0 comments

martedì, ottobre 12, 2004

:: Thank you!!! ::


Thank you gifts for Toh and LLH

On the left's the card for LLH, it says: 'It might not have seemed like a very big deal to you, but it was a big deal for me... (inside) 'A very big deal, thanks.' and also (self-penned) 'we'll never forget: the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive...'
i also got a fridge magnet to go along with it, it says: Life is about dreams - teaching is about making them come true.

On the right is for dear Toh, there were other options available but hehe can't choose randomly cuz mrs Toh might just misunderstand lolz...
It says: 'the Best teacher' - life is about dreams, teaching is about making them come true. It comes with a fridge magnet that says: 'i learnt it all from you.' (the good and the bad) keke...

ok, so erm, my tut subgrp, we have to meet LLH at 4pm at her office on Thursday. and i'll arrange with Toh earlier on that day. so we all meet at the MSC say 30min before the earlier appt of the day to sign these cards. :) good luck Reema and Kenneth!

PS: today, S was the facilitator of our MCQ test and right after the test, he asked josh n me if we wanted to take our long case right away! woohoo! scary leh... anyway i'm not very keen cuz i'm not in the right frame of mind and didn't have all my barang barang with me. hmmm if i had them, yeah maybe i'd just say yes on the impulse! haha... he was sooooooo nice! and soooooooooooooooo damn shuai! kenneth said S mi2 si3 ta1 le. ha... i guess he's got a charming smile. josh says he has the type of face that girls like but guys HATE. anyway, glad to be seeing him again on thursday! he said: the test is secondary,what is most important is to learn... wa.... (and may i be posted to neuro NUH soon!) keke... maybe will see him during psychomed posting. oooo....

Dopey @ 8:49 PM | 0 comments

:: what diagnosis? ::

TTH:
Primary criteria:
i) mild to moderate pain (<6/10)
ii) non-throbbing/pulsating
iii) not aggravated by movement
iv) bilateral
Secondary criteria:
i) no vomitting/nausea
ii) phonophobia/photophobia

Migraine:
i) moderate to severe pain (>4/10)
ii) throbbing/pulsating
iii) aggravated by movement
iv) unilateral
Secondary criteria:
i) vomitting and nausea
ii) photophobia and phonophobia

I've got TTH! :( (ie. 2 1' crit, 1 2' crit)

Dopey @ 8:32 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, ottobre 11, 2004

:: waaaaaaaaaaa ::

look! this is what stress can do to a person! i shot from a miserable 2.5 stars to 4.5 stars! i spent hours on the game... i just revise one set then play one level, the revise second set then play next level... lolz...


bespelled

Dopey @ 8:45 PM | 0 comments

domenica, ottobre 10, 2004

:: severe lack of blogs to read ::

Sandra has deleted her blog... something about taking a hiatus... (shucks, first thing i think of when i see the word 'hiatus' is a hernia, then next, the chest x-ray looms into view...)

then, a very entertaining blogger has decided that she wouldn't blog anymore unless someone suggests a boring enough topic for her to write on. chk it out here!

now i dun have any blogs to read except YL's, Wenky's, AG's and kiwi's... but then they all don't update their blogs very often. Wenky's blog is mostly abt him being a control freak of his aquarium. so it gets a bit scary hahaha....

Dopey @ 3:49 PM | 0 comments

sabato, ottobre 09, 2004

:: doing mcqs ::

hey J didn't fall down and sprain my leg. (suan wo right.... smirk...)

today morning went to meet N for brunch. heh heh... nice brunch American kind of breakfast at Delifrance except for those eggs. i think they were scrambled eggs cooked with milk and cheese. uggs! i dun like the cheese sneaking into my egg. heh... took a look into seiyu, gosh their bags are disgusting! ok, the trend just gets worse every time i pop in. haiz i WANT A NEW BAG!!!!!!!!!! heh actually i'll need one very soon. the insides of my current one are splitting at the seams. haiz... see, even my bag can't take the stress of postings yea and the abuse done to it by my evil tendon tapper (though it's only the kid-sized one)

yea, after that popped into two pet shops. one stupid clueless store assistant (who looked like he got slightly spastic gait) told me all their rabbits were 1.5 years old. manz... i not that stupid lor... want to smoke also must smoke properly wat... how can rabbits that are just the size of my palm be only 1.5yrs old, not even the netherland minis-of-the-minis are that small. but they were so cute... then i played with this teeny weeny fellow (not rabbit, hamster or watever) so cute... he didn't want to get off my hand... haha... so warm and small... oooo..... i don't mind those either, except my mother will scream in horror if i do get hamsters. double sigh. and i would be afraid that they would fall down the pipe when i wash their cage (like what happened to my father's friend's kid's hamsters... they had to launch a rescue mission, that's a story for another time though), and also i think, rabbits are smarter than hamsters. hmmm think so?

the next pet shop hahaha gave me a big shock! on the phone, the owner said that they had 4mths to 6mths old dwarves. ok... so go go... yeah i was quite happy cuz price was within my range too... imagine... when i got there i saw this oh-my-god simply HUGE FAT ROUND rabbit scuffling about in the cage.

petshop owner: "there, these are the dwarf rabbits, that one's a dwarf lop.."
me: [mouth open, jaws hanging]
me: [pointing uncertainly at gigantic rabbits] "dwarf? this size is dwarf?!?!"
petshop owner: "yes, in nature they can grow to much bigger size" and waving his hands, he roughly drew out an enormous oval in the air.
me: [shell-shocked] "yah that i know, but these... how old are these DWARVES again?"
petshop owner: "oh, only 6 months, 8months the other two..."
me: [is he kidding me?!?! dwarf?!?!] "and they'll grow bigger?"
petshop owner: "yes a little bigger, and if you overfeed them, fatter."
me: [omg.... omg.... omg... faint...] "er, ok... do you have smaller dwarves?"

faint. pengz. dunno what to say. anyway, if i'm going to buy one, i'm not getting it from him. his rabbits look ungroomed, scuffly, dirty and way too overfed. no nice shiny fluffy fur... they look a bit monstrous to me. yea, even those precious not-for-sale netherland dwarves of his were erm, well... not nice. ha...

let me show you my dream wabbit: i think it's a netherland dwarf. it's dream only, cuz i'm never going to come up with enough money for a bunny like this. it probably costs a couple of hundred bucks. sigh.

stressgraph


Dopey @ 5:20 PM | 1 comments

venerdì, ottobre 08, 2004

:: stress levels ::

in a bid to reduce sympathetic activity in myself (so that i don't suffer from extra photophobia than i NORMALLY already do when i look at wenkeB), i've got here a stress graph!!! *background cheering* (eh, in some cases it would be background tinnitus that sounds like bells...) (heh, wenkeB do u hear get lots of tinnitus these days?)

stressgraph

This is the stress graph. key: Toh and LLH are my tutors at SGH. basically everything else should be self explanatory. i just want to highlight that those red splashes at the peak on day 0 are the specks of blood that i'll be spewing if i end up clerking a patient who is extremely uncooperative or is uncommunicative. yeah... and then it might also end up into pools of blood after the bloodbath where i'm massacred by the tutor...

i heard he likes girls (i bet they've got to be pretty, ha so i got no hope liao, better go pray to talley-o'connor...) hmmm... i'm supposed to say that the person taking test with me is supposed to be a girl (looks as we all know, can be deceiving) anyway, i think that person better go pray to tally-o'connor, kumar&clarke, oxford and baliga... kekeke...

sian. i shld be blogging more tonight.

part II to come...

PS: the lawyer letter thingy is settled, the pple at BBDC told me without hesitation and without trouble to... 'bring yr letter down to the operations side and we'll settle everything'. they sound like experts in this area. oops... it either means... students all lousy or... worse... instructors... ha... better not say or else kena another lawyer's letter!

Dopey @ 6:31 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, ottobre 06, 2004

:: URK!!! ::

urk! i just received a lawyer letter! my first ever! but damm! it's from the guy motorcycle that i grazed while on driving training last year! how can!!! asking me to pay a total of 2270 bux! sheesh.... tot my instructor told me i was under insurance wat! I AM UNDER INSURANCE OK!!! darn, maybe the school didn't pay the money... is it possible that the school paid the money yet tt guy thought it wasn't enough and want me to pay more?!?! can't be wat... damn him, that greedy fool! anyway, if this can't be settled properly, i'm propably gonna spend my next weeks after the test reading on those wat agreements and laws and wat the crap k. cuz i'm NOT GOING TO PAY THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY! it's not my fault anyway ok. stupid. stupid. stupid. sick enough as it is and have stupid letter from the lawyers... urgh. ma fan! ma fan! ma fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dopey @ 9:10 PM | 0 comments

:: i'm having the snuffles ::

been sneezing like a gadzillion times since the whole day! it's really NOT my day today! apart from all that myalgia, headache, rhinorrhea and sneezing and being so fatigued... i'm being bullied by YT (the toddler my mother is babysitting)... first, he has to come to be yelling the whole of today... then he eats so many 'luku' (a certain kind of fruit) that i can't even eat mine in peace cuz i have to find small seedless ones to peel for him. he ate so much k! scary... then he didn't sleep the full 3 hours afternoon nap, waking up and yelling more!!! then.... my mother needed the nailcutter urgently but somehow couldn't find all the three in the house... and we all suspect it was YT who took them and hid them. and he said... he put them in my room! which led to a frantic hunt for the vital clippers in my room! up-ending clouds of dust so that i started sneezing with renewed vigor.... in the end, can't find either. i have a nasty suspicion that he was just crapping...

grrrr..........

sneeze sneeze.... T called in the morning today, but i was still half asleep and the mobile wasn't turned on... zzz finally i got a caller alert sms which i promptly ignored. i thought maybe T wanted to see hypoC to discuss WR or sth so no point returning call. at 630 T called again, to rec a case to see on ourselves. nice of him. he was rather blur and wasn't fully aware YET that he had to give a lecture... actually it's not even a lecture, it's supposed to be discussion of a clerked case! omg i definitely dun wanna sit through a powerpoint show!!! funny i thought by now the timing should be all confirmed? eeps!

sian sian... feeling sicker and sicker by the minute! my neck aches... have i got meningitis?

Dopey @ 9:01 PM | 0 comments

martedì, ottobre 05, 2004

:: stressblog ::

the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!
the eye cannot see what the mind does not perceive!

Dopey @ 11:57 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, ottobre 04, 2004

:: portugués is cool ::

Che Guevara (Gael García Bernal) era um jovem estudante de Medicana que, em 1952, decide viajar pela América do Sul com seu amigo Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). A viagem é realizada em uma moto, que acaba quebrando após 8 meses. Eles então passam a seguir viagem através de caronas e caminhadas, sempre conhecendo novos lugares. Porém, quando chegam a Machu Pichu, a dupla conhece uma colônia de leprosos e passam a questionar a validade do progresso econômico da região, que privilegia apenas uma pequena parte da população.

In 1952, Che Guevara, a young MEDICAL student (and future revolutioary) decides to travel through South America with his friend Alberto Granado. The trip was done via a motocycle, that gets smashed up after 8 months. They then continue their trip through vans and trucks, always discovering new places. when they arrive at Machu Pichu, a leper colony (where they start do their medical residency) , they start to question the value of progress defined by economic progress, since that is of no benefit to many people. --- paraphrased by moi. *my first ever attempt at translation of portuguese!*

yo: ¡¡¡me voy para ver está película después de la prueba!!!

for a more complete synopsis
click here!

Dopey @ 11:19 PM | 0 comments

sabato, ottobre 02, 2004

:: something wrong ::

there's somethign not right on my blog. can anyone spot it? hehe... tagme if u do! ;)

Dopey @ 9:39 PM | 0 comments

:: my zhao1 shi4 during lectures (& tutorials) ::

hi everyone, wanna see how i look like during ANY lecture / tutorial?

chk out my zhao shi
if that link doesn't work, go here, 'right click' and 'save target as' on the link 'demo2.mpg. it's not a big file.

hahaha... enjoy! i'm sure i can find many like-minded pple with this zhao shi too! ;)
PS: wenky, it's grey!

Dopey @ 3:23 PM | 0 comments

talk about embarrassing... zhang dao zhe me da le... and i still fell into the drain today lor.. haiz... initially my ankle still felt quite alive and kickin' but now... it's getting more sore. grrrr.... haiz... my night vision is really not very good, a bit chei meh (like lina)... i need more vitamin A. can't see clearly... haiz and that stupid innocent clump of overgrown grass hiding that sneaky drain... grrr.....

embarrassing manz... luckily it was DARK so pple can't recognise my features.. haha or else... so paiseh!

come to think of it... haizzz

gotta go dig up my good ole ankle guard again.

apparently this year i've been getting into lots of scrapes and contracting strange diseases/conditions... like GE... and dyspepsia... and possible H. pylori infection. what's the world coming to?!?!?!

Dopey @ 12:45 AM | 0 comments

venerdì, ottobre 01, 2004

:: bunny wunny ::


bunny

look at this bunny! i think i'm going to be looking like this bunny for the next week of so. i'm feeling really nervous about the upcoming end-of-posting test. i know nuts! how how howwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!?!?!?!?!!?!!??!?!?!?! v distressed now! aiyooooooooo stress stress STRESS!!!!!
today i was told that my examiner is dr raymond sit/seet/sikh from NUH. however i'm unable to find him amongst those staff that were listed on the NUH site. and then, i checked the SMA registry too and i can't find him there either! what's this? a rogue doc? heh heh... i suspect he's not registered as raymond... shall have to check it out with NUH.
pharmaco and cofm tomorrow, SIANZ lor... i hardly learn anything at pharmaco... at least not enough to warrant the one hour plus journey to and fro. and COFM?!?!??!! manz... i don't even feel like going! but should i or shouldn't i? tomorrow is the briefing on the CHP and how to choose a topic. do you think that's important? hmmmm..... dunno leh... yue xiang yue bu xiang qu xue xiao le.

Dopey @ 9:55 PM | 0 comments

:: pissed ::

i am so DAMN PISSED OFF! with this person with the nick 'sauvignon blanc' on my icq. this person simply PERSISTS on talking about his God in EVERY SINGLE sentence. i can't stand it. he insists that he's not forcing his religion on me, yeah rite... come on... i simply can't stand it. i know many of you reading this blog might be a devout Christian, and maybe you won't like what i say here... so well, dun read it. to the others, this is a blog full of 'angst' maybe a lot like xiaxue's but with lesser sense in it. i highly advise you not to read it. and i highly advise all not to post any comments on my taggie. i'm still trying to cool down.

i cannot stand people who insert, it's all thanks to God that..., if it wasn't for God..., i thank God for all that i have... please... i know He's an important influence in your life. but do you realise that by saying that, you are simply implying (at least to me) that you are just a puppet? a means through which GOD exerts influence in this world? i dunno, heck maybe this is even true... (maybe it's what the bible says) but then, i beg to differ. mainly because i have a different religion. one that teaches us just to do good without expecting rewards, to live life according to the right principles. It doesn't mention our god acting through us, but to me, he's more like a pillar where i can place my faith with. i feel that Buddha is less vindictive (heck i mean, all gods shldn't be, but comparatively, yea i think so), more peaceful, and well... i dun hear him saying that we shall not worship other gods... u know, Buddhism gives me a feeling of freedom in my beliefs, and doing good just because it's good to do so... not like affiliated to my religion, or doing it for someone... also, Do you hear pple saying it's all thanks to Buddha that i... it's all the work of Buddha? well, NO! i'm sorry to say, but pple who KEEP saying their thanks to God simply sound like a simpering idiot to me. i'm sorry, i'll probably be sent to Hell anyway. evil as i am... really, i think action speaks louder than words, and if those pple could save their breath from their continuous praise of their Lord (especially in front of pple like me who are not very religious and also not even of their faith), you could spend that time doing more constructive things...

i especially hate it whe this 'sauvignon blanc' says something like this: God works his wonders through the doctors and through medical science... he makes it sound as if, when i'm a doctor, or when i'm doing whatever i'm doing in my life now, it's as if i'm just nothing. God is working through me. i hate feeling like a puppet, lemme tell you. i believe in myself, in what i do. if God's going to work his miracles, then he doesn't need to choose doctors, he doesn't need to choose anyone. heck i mean, you don't even end up with cancer, cuz God is working his miracle through you. ok... fine... i admit it, i'm uptight and i'm narrow-minded. but that's the way i am. i don't agree with this theory. and i tell him that. and he's like... well you need to know this, everyone has the right to voice their beliefs where ever and whenever they wish to. yah of cuz... and i'm voicing mine as well. so stop putting me down! i am simply not interested in discussing religion with others. maybe i'm not even a buddhist, maybe i'm an atheist... oh u can start to pity me now... yeah, this FOOL who doesn't have a RELIGION, no FAITH, so SKEPTICAL... ooh yeah... go on... i'm loving it better every single moment. at least better than when u rave about God. STOP ENFORCING YOUR RELIGION ON ME!

when i'm not interested, i'm not interested. i don't go back on my words... i'd rather eat my tendon tapper. (sorry i dun wear a cap). i'm so glad that this 'sauvignon blanc' is on my ignore list. it's like a breeze just went through my room. and i'm only grateful to him for one thing... jolting me into a state of alertness and energy so that i can work further on my writeup.

i just got to let this all out.

to all my friends who are Christians/Catholics, i dun mean anything personal to u guys. u guys are normal... and i admire your quiet faith in yr religion, instead of proclaiming it in every sentence.

Dopey @ 1:22 AM | 0 comments

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francesca chiu
2 eyebags & 5 wrinkles
on long-term dormicum drip
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