Saturday, March 13, 2004

I am sooooo not studying sigh. Whatever. I think I have complained enough about my academic stagnation on this blog to have people rolling their eyes and going, "Not again... He doesn't need to complain, does he? Argh". So I shall not belabor the lack of mugging drive. Bleah. I won't go into more confusing reflections today because I am feeling rather drained after an afternoon of shopping at Orchard with my mother. Just an assortment of random comments then. Kind of like a weekly digest, since I'm really quite lazy to blog all the time.

My carcinogenic apoplexy-inducing younger brother is away on a school camp so I am currently living in a world of limitless bliss and contentment. At least until tomorrow evening when he does return. Another reason for my happiness is that he has been banned from using the computer for a week due to his absolutely dismal results thus I can hog the computer all I want. Which is not necessarily a good thing because I seem to have underestimated the time-wasting quality of cable surfing. Just on Thursday I spent 5 hours surfing and I was wondering what I did with all that time when I left the computer. That is pretty frightening. I think the worst thing is hopping from one blog to another and deciding to read four months' worth of archives at every blog. It is a curiously addictive activity. Perhaps it has something to do with the voyeuristic feeling of peering into someone's recent past and how certain common events of that past inspire your personal recollections of those events.

Shall I talk about Tuesday's spots? So far I have been rather politically correct in telling everyone that there's no use in our discussing it since it is already over. I sometimes find it curious how I can really gain momentum when talking about tests and exams that I can end up drowning other people in my blabber. Could it be that I find these tests an exciting experience that I cannot wait to share with my friends? Unfortunately I seem to be the only one who is so excited. Not that I want to be swollen-headed here, but truthfully I suppose one only thinks a test was fun if one did well in it. No one would want to be reminded of one's own incorrect answers, that is very true. I need to exercise more self-restraint in not being so hyper-excited after exams; it is not something that makes one gain more friends.

Since we are on the subject of Spots, I might just comment that on the morning before Spots I was hit by a delayed reaction to The Cat in the Hat that I watched on Saturday and I started thinking in rhymes, which made studying rather difficult. Anyway I came up with this barbed poem that is quite amusing to me but might not be so to others (quite far from dear old Dr Seuss' style, really) thus I abandoned the thought of posting it on my blog. One can only test the patience of others so far. Anyway I have forgotten a large part of it already. I realise that the wave of rhyming was kind of like a blast of sudden artistic inspiration; the next day I could hardly spontaneously generate rhyming couplets with compatible meters anymore. I regret not writing the poem down.

No thanks to Jonathan Chia, my curiosity got the better of me and I actually did a search on the Harlequin Foetus that he told me about the day of the Genetics CA. I must admit it is quite a fascinating autosomal recessive disease because I would think that it is really the kind of thing you would never imagine could happen. Here's a summary: "Harlequin ichthyosis, the most severe form of congenital ichthyosis, is characterized by a profound thickening of the keratin layer in fetal skin. The neonate who is affected is born with a massive horny shell of dense platelike scale and contraction abnormalities of the eyes, the ears, the mouth, and the appendages. This armor limits movement and compromises the protective skin barrier, leaving the newborn susceptible to metabolic abnormalities and infection. The term harlequin derives from the newborn's facial expression and the triangular and diamond-shaped pattern of hyperkeratosis. The newborn's mouth is pulled wide open, mimicking a clown's smile. The underlying biochemical and genetic abnormality is not understood" And the pictures are really unpleasant. If you are like me and you want to take a look at what the newborn babies look like, you could visit this site or do a search yourself.

Sometimes I wonder if seeing so many pictures of gross deformations and ghastly injuries kind of desensitises us to the gory side of medicine. Well, I think it has for me. That leads me to ponder if it is a good thing or bad thing. Well, one thing I can say is that when there is a patient lying on a stretcher in the emergency room waiting for our expertise, the last place we should be is bent over a basin vomiting. (Actually that should not be the last. The absolute last place we should be is on a couch sleeping) But I wonder where one finds the balance between professional cool and sometimes even ruthlessness and empathy for the patients' situation. At least I know that we should not be disrespectful of our patients' situations, especially when some patients could be in hospital due to creativity in the wrong ways. Is there a step more to take in empathising with the patient's situation? I suppose I need to learn the ways of the world; I am but an idiot when it comes to interpersonal relations.

I just did the course feedback on Thursday. No surprises, but I put rather negative responses for KDR. I just hope I do not get a black mark for being frank. I keep thinking that we can select one tutor from each track in picking a nominee for the award of teaching excellence so I wrote pages for three tutors before realising that I can only pick one. Blargh. Really tough choice between Profs Raj and Peter Hwang. Prof Ling was kicked out of the running because he doesn't remember anyone from my tutorial group anymore. Prof Peter Hwang got my vote in the end, though I know he'll probably not get the award. I hope he knows someone voted for him, though, because he's a great tutor, truly. I realise that Prof Raj is a really good tutor too, but the difference is that I feel that Prof Hwang has sort of made a greater impact on my life. He made the subject that I used to hate most into something I now know like the back of my hand, and he helped me find the joy in physiology. I should have his picture as my wallpaper or something, the way I worship him. Heh.

I am going oh so mad over downloading anime fansubs. It's another of those forms of liberation I have been experiencing ever since I started on cable. I just finished downloading 10 episodes of Violinist of Hamelin (which is another classic Japanese error of translation since it's about a violinist called Hameln), which I think is pretty good, not on the drawing and animation front, but because of the music. I have always had a weak spot for the violin, and classical pieces played on the violin just puts me in another world. Plus there's a character who plays the piano too (he actually carries the piano on his back which I think is rather hard to believe) and the combination of both instruments is simply magical. I just hope my modem doesn't burst into flame with all the downloading I'm doing.

Wow. I seem to have gone on forever. I'll spare your weary ciliary muscles, then.

Avaris / 3/13/2004 09:12:00 PM

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