OTOT

CSFC is coming to an end. When hols come, it's really OTOT (own time own target). How much i make out of the 3-wk break really depends on how actively i initiate outings, plan places to go and plan things to do:) Hopefully i wont waste too much of my precious holiday, cos i have this tendency to waste more time when i have plenty!


Anyway, today is OT day. While scrubbing today, i realise i've totally forgotten what i was taught at TTSH when prof Low told us to attend his OT session.
Photos!


CG 25!


Now that the big group is called cg, i dont know what is the collective term for the 3 of us :)


I noticed the already less crowded hospital today... i think everyone is in a holiday mood already. Anyway, we had enough time to go holland V for spizza lunch!
We had pamela, Tara, Nadia and Zara pizzas! Note that they're cooked in stone oven and they're thin crust pizzas :) I miss Italyy...


The more interesting pizza! I think they call it Calzone in italy! I remember having one in florence... when some of us were q-ing for the museum, some of us went to look for affordable food. I miss Italy soooo much! I wonder if weixiang, wenyang, ningqi and xiaoxuan remembers di matteo at naples. I was telling my CG tt the place reminded me of a prata shop and indeed, italian pizzas are like pratas with toppings :):)
I still rmbr how satisfied i was with my amazingly simple egg pizza! For those who do not know, Pizzas originated from Naples!


This picture doesnt do justice to sushi tei. 2 of us order some don while belley ordered tempura soba. I think i've been to sushi tei 3 times this yr and i havent been disappointed. Perhaps i just like jap food in general. :)
Meeting Jessica at Sushi Tei with christabelle was soo fun :) They prob find me a little hysterical from a long day at the hospital, but i guess it sort of facilitated the hilarious time catching up.
As belley requested, we shall go to kuishinbo some time! :)


Those who love cheesecake should go to cheesecake cafe! It's in the east and qt near my house. Those who want to go, tell me! :)


Lastly some random pics i took of kendrick while he visited and i wanted to test my treo camera.
The 2nd pic shows kendrick with 4 ladybug chocolate on his yellow jersey.
The 3rd is a collection of teddies that belong to the same series in my room! They look like a family dont they? :)

I was already tired before i started typing this post. Now i'm even more tired.. think i am going to sleep :) Gd night!

Read this Story

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books..

I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?

He must really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running towards him.

They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.

His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. "

They really should get lives.

" He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!"

There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.

He said he ha d gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends

He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!

" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.

When we were seniors we began to think about college.

Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.

I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation.

I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak

Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great.

He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.

He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.

Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!"

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.

" Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

"Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.

Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends...

I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.

He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

"Thankfully, I was saved.

My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life.

For better or for worse.

God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.

Look for God in others.


"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

There is no beginning or end.. Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.

~!@#$%^&

OMG...my vitagen got stolen again! I've been assuming the first few times to be accidents. Perhaps someone thought he bought vitagen but actually didnt. It's quite extreme cos i could buy a 5-bottle pack of vitagen and if i dont drink it immediately, only one bottle is left. ~!@#$%^
TODAY, It happened again. Not only is my vitagen gone but my cheese too! I started with 18 slices and there are only 7 left????
Thank goodness i will be moving back home soon. It's unbelievable how inconsiderate some people can be.
Teng soon was suggesting tt i should spike some of my food and make that fellow pay for stealing my food. Sounds like a gd idea. -evil grin-

Revelations & Lessons in Life

Whoa... what a day :) Glad that the long day culminated on a happy note.

I was thinking while showering that there's a list of lessons in life and revelations that i hold so dear and ought to make a list! So here's my attempt...

(1) All Things happen for a Good reason
Christians will all agree with me on this. Isnt it amazing that the God who plans ur life is the same god who created heaven and earth? When u're in a difficult situation, always tell urself to hang in there and the reason for why the event is occuring in ur life will later be revealed. Challenges are meant to help you grow and shape you to become a better and stronger person.

(2) Having an expectation is a powerful propelling force but can also cause unnecessary distress.
I've been harping on this for so many times! Having expectations is a good thing but many of us can probably recall a very bad time when something fails to meet our expectations. I used to think that perhaps the way around this is to have no expectations at all. But i have discovered that the highest 境界 is to have expectations and not let it affect u.
Get on with life. Move on.
Stimes i think of unproductive time spent being upset is like sitting on a rocking chair. It gives u something to do but it really gets u nowhere.

(3) 凡事要看开点
Things are often not as bad as it seems. Always tell urself to hang in there, be rational and be objective.
Emotions often complicate things. It's good to learn to remove it out from the equation :)

(4) People are all different
God created us to be unique to make our world more interesting. haha..
Always remind yourself that what's different may not be wrong. Dont be judgemental and always question why things are done differently or why people behave differently.

(5) Differences can be reconiled with acceptance
An easy way to avoid problems is to blindly accept everything. Of a higher 境界 is to understand and appreciate the quintessence of the differences and then accept their existence.

(6) Whatever happens, stop to think first.
If it involves someone else, always see things thru their perspective
I've failed to do this so many times. Acting rashly is a recipe for disaster! If the consequence for not thinking first has upset someone, be responsible for it.

(7) Always assume the better of a person. Always give others the benefit of doubt.

(8) Helpfulness when not needed, no matter how good the intentions may be could do more damage than good.

(9) 忍一时风平浪静，退一步海波天空
My dad is best at this. I'm still learning :)

That's all i can think of so far.. :)

Acknowledgement 2

Many thanks to kendrick for being there for me.
Nothing can commensurate my gratitude i want to express.

Note to self, u've got to see everything as a blessing in disguise.

sigh

it's not worth it.

Bored too

Hey Weixiang! Hope u dont mind me kopping the same tests u took. I was bored too!

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to good manners and elegance. In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you. You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy. You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage. In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

How true i dont know :)

But the line "No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete" left me thinking :)

Acknowledgement

I hereby acknowledge Kendrick Wong You-ping who successfully queued 1 hr 45 mins for 2 boxes of donuts and giving my family a box :)

This Week

Just got back from dinner with our dearest mentor and i thought i should type this down quickly before i forget. Prof Low was saying that our career choice is pretty much dependent on 3As.
Aptitude
Attitude
Availability
It's quite interesting cos this means that whatever inclinations we have now may not be what we eventually practise. I guess most people know this and most people have heard plenty of personal accounts on this. For me, I've always thought that i'm more of a Medicine person, cos i like spending time by the bedside and really getting to know the patient and then help him slowly fix his problem. But lately, i'm seeing more reasons why surgeons have chosen to be surgeons. Example. This orthopaedics surgeon was saying tt he chose to do what he's doing cos it is in his field that he can restore his patient's ability to walk with his intervention. Sounds great doesn't it? I've come to realise recently that i stimes have a lot of patience but i can be extremely intolerant to inefficiency at times. I still rmbr what my anat prof use to say. Physicians spend so much time fine tuning this and that but surgeons just go in a fix the problem. In a way, what surgeons do are more efficient ya?
This week thought me sth and that is to keep an open mind. I may have a liking for Oncology after working at National Cancer Centre for 7 mths, but Oncology is pretty much the Only exposure i've gotten.
I really feel a lot for patients with cancer and i really want to do something for them!
Today after seeing another uncle with Parkinson's disease, the whole exposure kinda struck a cord in me. It's a feeling likened to be an awakening interest. Hmm.. maybe i will visit the uncle again tmr and see what i can do for him :)

Another interesting quote from my mentor...
Physicians know everything but cannot do anything
Surgeons dont know anything but do everything
Pathologists know everything and do everything, but a day too late

Anyway, i thought i should post a photo cos i realise tt my entries have been rather wordy lately :)


A photo i left out from my entry of my KE room. Gab brought us these Koala back from his Australian trip for us :)

Before i forget, this week is also special cos it's my first wk with my Treo! Although the setting up was quite troublesome and getting used to it will prob take some more time, i'm quite sure i'll love it anyway.

Ambidextrous

Learning how to tie surgical knots today reminded me again that i'm born left-handed. It's quite interesting cos i only discovered that i've been using my fork and spoon wrong way around when i had my first English formal dinner at cambridge. I still rmbr being confused when i saw the cutlery nicely displayed on the wrong side of the plate in my opinion. HAHA.. I took 17 years to discover that!

Anyway, my parents trained me to write with my right hand cos they felt that the world was made for right handers. True i must say... i heard the scissors is quite uncomfortable to use for left handed pple! BUT i wished my parents made sure that i retained my ability to write with my left hand! How cool would it be if i could write with both hands and i can change hand when one hand gets tired when i'm halfway thru an essay!

Sigh.. honestly, now that i'm a convert, i think my brain circuitry is a bit confused. I had this natural inclination to tie my knots today with my left hand and some time ago when i got to sew up a hernia, i had to pause to think of which is the hand should i use to hold the thread and the needle! Gosh.

To medical students, if i'm borned a left hander but i've been writing with my right hand most of my life, does it mean tt i prob still have 2 Broca's and Wernicke speech area?

On an excited note before i end, my phone is coming TOMORROW! I really cant wait! But i find it a bit anti-climax that i have to charge my phone overnight... ...

Oh, i must share this interesting Treo-related incident today :) I was having trouble with my nokia phone contacting wenhui and sam when i looked up and saw a taxi with a treo advert on it. It was sooo funny and made me smile too. It was like god telling me,"It's ok, dont get angry with your nokia, Treo will be arriving tmr!"

Counting Down...

Today's Wednesday and my Treo will be arriving on Friday!
It's painful to know that i cant see my Treo till i get back late after tuition and class dinner though :(
Nevertheless, i'm so relieved and happy to have made my decision :)

On Expectations (again)

I've been taught again that the atitude of having zero expectation is extremely useful in preventing disappointment. It works rather simply... if you have no expectation, you will have no disappointment. If you have high expectations, and people fail to meet ur expectation, you'll inevitably be upset. When you have no expectations, anything that turns out good is a bonus and the surprise will often make you happy! :)
Perhaps of a higher 境界 is to have expectations and yet not let the unmatching outcome affect you. Who knows which is better?

If Only

If only today was a more productive day, maybe i would be happier with a new room and all. Who wouldnt feel accomplished for moving everything in one room to another on her own?

But..

I've been tormented by this lower backache since morning just after i moved my printer together with wooden chest of drawers. Did i carry too much or did i carry the things with a bad posture or did the pain come from a wk of sleepless nights?

The pain is near equivalent of the ache i had when i had viral fever. I can barely walk without pain and i cant find a comfortable position to do my readings.

If only i have the discipline and state of mind to do my readings now, i would prob end my day feeling proud of myself.

I think what i need now is rest.
不知眼泪为谁而流。

Ambivalence?

I couldnt think of a better word to describe what i felt last night and this morning, yet it is not quite accurate still cos i actually felt more than 2 emotions and they are not exactly opposite. haha..

Moving for B302 to D302...
(1) I spent my last night at B302 ystdy which has been my room at KE VII Hall for whole 2 years! You can imagine how sad i was, to think that i like my room so much that i worked so hard in year one to earn sufficient points to secure the room for another year!
(2) Despite being mentally prepared that moving will be damn troublesome and super tiring, i still felt very frustrated this morning when i shifted my things to my new room. This is what i did...

I have the right to complain, don't i?

Here are some pictures :)

|B302 by Night|


|B302 by Day!|


|B302 EMPTY!!|


|Looking ard B302 for the last time|

B302 is really convinient cos it's not too far from the dinning hall, squash courts, NUH and bus stop. I usually walk to sch, but if you look at the map, if i were to walk to NUH, i would have to overcome ten thousand flights of staircase.

|D302 EMPTY this Morning!|


|After 4 hours|

People like my mom didnt understand why i took so long to move my stuff. I shall explain...
I had to
(1) Clean the new room
(2) Pack my things in my old room
(3) Move things one by one from B block to D block which are separated by almost endless flight of staircases. You can imagine... down 3 levels of B block... walk thru C Block and then up 3 levels of D Block.
Yes, KE has no lift. I'm already thankful that the admin didnt give me a room at the 8th floor -PHEW-

|Compare and Contrast|

If you have been observant enough, the orientation of my new room is the exact mirror image of B302. I hope i can get used to it :)

The rooms offer different views too! Now people from pgp can see me!

Compared to B302,
Apart from the fact that it is relatively far from NUH in terms of effort to climb all the stairs, if u look at the map again, D block is right next to the road!

I think only gab can sympathise with me cos we're both light sleepers. Y'know when i was living in B302, the noise of the first Bus at 7.15 was sufficient to wake me up. I cant imagine how much louder it'll be now i'm so much closer to the road. Guess i'll find out on monday.
It's not only buses. I'm sure i'd be woken by all sorts of vehicles at night. I've been woken up by rain every night for the past wk. I really dont want to be deprived of sleep anymore!:(

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

To end my post on a happy note, i finally got to try donuts from donut factory!
It's fluffier than the usual donuts and they offer very fancy flavours!
I give it 8/10. They are worth queuing 1+hrs but certainly not 5!

Cafe del Mar

Haa.. obviously i'm still dreaming of my PDA phone cos i havent been blogging as often. Seriously, There's been so many occasions over the past few days that i'd have an urge to blog to share my thoughts and more importantly to help myself remember.
Amongst the so many things that gave me interesting thoughts, i think i can only remember ONE. Isn't it sad? The ONE wonderful thought i had was to combine a bakery and flower shop when i retire (haha.. or when i have the capital). I cant really put into words but i'm thinking more of a lifestyle shop where people can have a gd cup of tea + a gd piece of pastry or a gd slice of cake and then leave my shop with some flowers to end the perfect visit.
I dont think i've ever blog much about flowers but i thought that just like a cup of gd tea/coffee and/or a gd dessert, fresh flowers have just about the same ability to make people happy :)
I thought abt all these when i saw a flower shop with extremely pretty interior design and beautiful flowers greeting all those who walk past the shop. At the same moment, i also thought that gardening can probably be my second retirement project!
Not sure if i've told anyone, but i spent a great bulk of my childhood helping and watching my grandma in her garden. I used to collect seeds of all sorts and try to grow them! I also rmbr how i used to keep the catepillars my grandma discarded that were destroying her plants and watch them thru their life cycles in a glass bottle. It's awesome i tell you! How many kids this day still get to do this? Interestingly, i also kept all kinds of funny things, from tadpoles to beetles, snails and even earthworms. This probably sounds gross to some of u. haha

ANYWAY, back to the title of this entry...
Jeffery's Birthday was held at Cafe del Mar at sentosa on Mon. I heard he paid for everything out from his savings. RESPECT. There were several versions of how to calculate the cost of the party but the least was 5k+. SO, now u know why the bday Boy has my respect!

Photo taken with my problematic phone which wenhui thinks it's residual functions dont qualify it to be a phone anymore...


Around Cafe del Mar
Sunset at Cafe del Mar
I recommend these 2 links. You'll understand why i think Cafe del mar is quite an awesome place to chill!

Lastly, i chanced upon another PDA phone when i went down to singtel to enquire abt my palm treo which is now out of stock.

O2 XDA Zinc

This phone is more powerful, faster and has a better camera.

But of course, it cost more.

Think i should listen to our much worshiped com pro weixiang. He said,"Good things are worth waiting for"

Till then, i shall look forward to my cute treo.