Friday, May 20, 2005

Sith happens

It's mad Star Wars fever everywhere! And being a semi-rabid Star Wars fan myself (well I really wouldn't call myself a fan considering how little I actually know about the SW universe as compared to like, Wee Ming, but I always go gaga when the films come out) of course I'm totally excited about it. It's the movie we've all been waiting for forever. This is IT.

I would have loved to watch it the first day it came out. In fact, there was a screening organised by NHG which Medsoc Exco members were invited to, but I couldn't make it because I had several tutorials in CGH all the way until 6 plus and really didn't want to rush down to Suntec by 7 to catch the movie without having proper dinner and all, so I passed it by. I would most probably have found it a bad experience anyway, considering my all-encompassing stupor after an entire day of clinics, which tends to make me fall asleep even if Singapore were getting bombed. That was how I managed to snooze through the first twenty minutes or so of The Intepreter and as a result feel rather shortchanged for not knowing how the first part was like. Today I missed my bus stop because I fell asleep. I've never felt so insanely tired in my life. It's almost as tiring as an afternoon of shelf-reading when I was a librarian in the HML, but of course clinics are a lot more interesting and fun.

The quirky tutors at CGH are really starting to grow on me, and I get this feeling of unwillingness that the posting is coming to its end and that next week is really the last week. So far Dr J's (Haha everyone is doing that to doctor's names on their blogs; is it some privacy clause that doctors are entitled to? Anyway I'll just do the same) tutorials are the most philosophical, what with Tamil proverbs ("What you know is like a handful of sand, what you don't know is like the entire universe.") and other analogies ("Each of us is potentially divine. Like rain, you know? The rain that falls from the sky is pure. It's the same rain here, as in America. But when the raindrop falls on to red sand, it becomes red. When it falls on to black soil, it becomes black. We are changed by our environment.") and basically bizarre comments ("If you ask the patient to jump, he will jump!"). Okay maybe I shouldn't have listed the last one, because people who are patients surely never want their doctor to say that. Dr Jaya is really dedicated to his patients, though, and you can see that.

The most quirky: Dr CTS. Carries Panadol Extra in his shirt pocket, and got really high the other day while we were looking at a patient who had an overdose on Panadol during ward rounds, asking us questions like "How many tablets are there in a box of Panadol?", "How many do you need to take to overdose?", "What's in Panadol Extra that isn't in normal Panadol?" and recounting tales of how he'd take lots of coffee to stay awake and study but end up going to the toilet every 10 minutes, which led to some weird pondering to whether if it might have been better if he catheterised himself. Really amusing. And today he was carrying around a box of Tic-Tac and popping one into his mouth every two seconds. I think he might have finished the whole box during the ward rounds. But he's basically very nice to us baby medical students and gives us lots of advice on what to do in the wards and what books to use.

I love CGH now because all the doctors all seem to be very willing to teach, even the ones who seem lazy and try to take multiple groups at one go to save time, and those that are sarcastic about their teaching. I think they're really very nice to us and I'm surprised that we haven't been screamed at for our lack of any knowledge whatsoever, but probably they're already used to it and have cultivated infinite patience in teaching medical students. Goodness knows I feel like screaming at my own stupidity sometimes. This posting has made me think that maybe CGH wouldn't be such a bad place to serve as a HO after all. Ward rounds are supposed to start at eight, but we go up at nine and see only a consultant and one HO there while the others slowly trickle in. It's a nice and simple life, and while people would call it unambitious, I kind of like this kind of environment. Maybe it's this kind of mindset that makes CGH such a bad hospital in everyone's minds, because all the HCWs there are so laid-back as compared to the larger hospitals.

So much more amusing anecdotes that I could post about clinics, but I need to restrain myself. After all this is getting quite long.


SEED Destiny [spoiler alert]: Episode 30 was a huge tearjerker episode with Shinn returning Stellar to Neo to save her from certain death, which I think was heartrending and very very touching. The sadness level is also stratospheric, if you know what's going to happen in the future episodes, especially 33. Neo was so Mwu-like (erm, but of course, duh) and that made me remember all the good Mwu things from SEED. And Athrun was just sulky because Kira's words woke him up and he's now torn between two sides. Argh, one episode a week is not enough.

Me and Jon Chia have been drawing parallels between SEED and Star Wars like crazy and making up lots of ridiculous plot advancements for SEED Destiny like Lacus having twins, and Shinn going to the Dark Side, etc. It's inevitable, with the sheer amount of similarity between the SEED Destiny plot and Star Wars. And it makes for lots of fun coming up with quirky plot advancements.

Argh next week is practically the last week of e-clinics, and I wish it could be longer. I haven't even taken blood yet! In the meantime I need to go and revise my examination skills. I get so nervous doing physical exam in front of a doctor that my hands shake and I can't percuss at all! Bleh.

Okay I need to say this to end off, so bear with me. May the Force be with you!

Avaris / 5/20/2005 08:32:00 PM

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