Remembrance

It was with shock that i read the news that a junior of mine just passed away from cancer.

I remembered him fondly as one of the juniors i had truly taken to, had liked him for his "real-ness", his unpretentious-ness, his easy-going nature, his cute chubby yet extremely likeable face. In council, there are always the nominal hip-cool-funky crowd who loves attention, and the real "background" workers who did their job in all earnestness and are contented to stay out of the limelight. He strikes me as just this kind of person.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I was extremely close to him, and indeed, I have not seen my juniors for the greater part of 5 years since graduating from JC. But it just seems like yesterday when I stood outside the council room, laughing, joking and biding him goodbye. I never did know that would be the last I may ever see of him again.

I cannot even begin to imagine what he must have gone through, and the grief his family must be dealing with now.

We live our lives in such a way that death seems a very far and abstract, even alien notion. True, I have had my loved ones passing on before, but yet this had always been associated with old age and a well-spent life. To think of someone younger than me passing on, at this age of 22, is shocking and unacceptable. Especially when he was someone I knew, liked, respected.

I would remember you always, David. Be at peace.

reality

i can't believe its less than 5 months to MBBS!

where has all the time gone?

i don't feel ready at all. not one single bit.

i can't imagine how i am supposed to cram general med, paeds med, misc med (ten thousands of these), gen surg, ortho surg, obs and gynae blah blah blah into these few months.

*headache*

hai.

as i wonder around in the hospitals these days, i am sometimes overcome by this huge urge to grab my unsuspecting juniors (whom i do not know) and tell them to study hard. don't feel lost and exhausted like i did in year 3 and not study as hard as i should have.

ahhhh regrets. too late for that!

i am so going to lock myself up at home and mug. my social calendar should read like this: celebrations for bestest friends, xmas, my birthday, chinese new year. hmm which means i should have about 5 days off until my exams.

and time to find a surgeon to stitch up the holes on my brain. it's leaking terribly.



ortho revision posting is over, but why do i feel as though i know less than 10% of what i am supposed to know??? Luckily i had the most wonderful and inspirational tutor, else i may not even feel like studying for ortho. i think doing ortho posting at the prev hospital has killed ALL my interest in ortho. dr gabriel liu has managed to revive some of my interest (no mean feat. my lack of interest was so ingrained). i realised having a nice pro-teaching tutor really makes a whole world of difference. i should work hard.

time for my date with apley.

star awards

i didn't realise i miss acting so much.

was roped in to be a small fry in the video segment of the annual m1 to m5 playhouse competition, and boy did it turn out to be a uproariously fun assignment!

i was Medical Student Two, and my fellow meddies were xtine and wes. it's really great to act alongside people you have known for a long time and is familiar with, and even more fun when like-minded people with the same weird sense of humour get together! i absolutely love the spontaneity with which we improvised on our "exam-fevered" crazed med students look!

xtine: had a haircomb artistically stuck into her hair, held down with a pin which altogether created a very nerdy don't-know-what-i-am-doing-to-my-hair-and-i-don't-care-anyway effect! the stylist is soooooo very creative! *takes a deep bow* heh

wes: messed up his own gelled hair with much help fr xtine, and stuck a syringe behind his ear. looks like a more tame version of the crazed meddies

me: scrunched up my hair messily and tied a measuring tape around my head! (on retrospect i wonder how dirty the tape is.... eeeeeuuuuuugh did its owner wash it and sterilise it after measuring patient's leg length!?!? argh. i don't particularly wish for a pimple galore!)

and then we proceeded to complete our crazed looks with multiple contraptions hung all over us (prooctoscope, PR gel, gloves, goniometer, tendon tapper, stethescope, measuring tapes, tuning forks.... you name it we have it!)

the most fun came when we tackled an unsuspecting passer-by (played by weeming), lassoed him (wheeee!) and proceeded to perform all sorts of unethical and unspeakable actions on him...
haha it think wee ming must have been really scared witless when we whipped out the proctoscope and forced him into a left lateral position!!! teehee.

although filming took almost 4 hours despite the short scenes we had, it was probably something i would look back on with much fondness. our last playhouse! and we shall no longer be part of the competition next year... the years do pass v fast indeed.