stolen colours

Yet another example of how abbrievations can be the bane of medical students’ lives:

A student was following the doctor on his ward rounds.

Doctor: go get the cow!
Student: *wonders if he heard right* err…cow?
Doctor: sigh don’t you know what a cow is?
Student: … hospital where got cow?
Doctor: COW! Computer On Wheels!

The computer on wheels is actually a computer on a stand with wheels that can be wheeled around for viewing scans and ordering drugs, procedures and such. This is an actual incident that happened to a friend’s junior in the hospital that I’m now in.

On Saturday I went with Father to the Fullerton Hotel to attend a seminar on antiplatelet therapy and stroke prevention. I must admit that I was more attracted by the dinner provided after the seminar than the subject of the seminar itself. Well, I did find certain parts of the seminar quite illuminating. The guest speaker from France is an amusing man. One of the speakers is a tutor at the hospital I’m at, so he did recognise me today, heh. Also met two newly-minted HOs there, with “Dr XXX, MCR No. XXX” on their tags! Oh my.

Will not bore you with details on the talk, though the topic was indeed relevant. Dinner was held in one of the ballrooms, all beautifully done up. It was quite a shock when I found out that the drug reps actually meant to entertain us with singing and dancing. Imagine serenading a group of 50+ doctors with KTV songs that my generation sings.

Anyway, on to the food. The names of the dishes were bigger than the size of the servings themselves, but I was adequately satieted. Fortunately, they served me first at my table, so I could quickly snap photos before Father (the last to be served) got his food.

Crispy tiger prawns in feuille de brick / spinach & shimeji mushroom salad. There wasn’t enough of it for me to really have a taste ^^;; but the prawns were indeed crispy.

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I’ve just watched the first episode of Claymore. The story and characters seem interesting enough, though the fight sequences are not good; just flashes of light and blood spurting. Music isn’t notable.

A brief summary of this episode: (no point giving a spoiler warning since it is just the 1st episode)

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YES! I have upgraded my wordpress and my plugins work again! I can now crosspost to LJ again! No more comment spam! I looked at my blog stats and realised that 40% of my visits are from Singapore, and 30% are from US commercial sites. That’s too much spam >.< Strangely, 1% are from Poland and 1% from Japan.

Yesterday was the last Friday of the month i.e. the day where the Starbucks at the hospital has a 50% discount over all food and beverages for staff and students from 3-7pm. The queue started at 2.40pm. I got the new Banana-Java chip shake since Penance said it was really nice. DO NOT TRY IT. The banana means banana essence *crestfallen* and it is too sweet. But I paid for it and had to finish it; got through 80% of it, feeling nauseated after. Also, do not even think of trying the banana/coconut one. It is worse.

That spoilt my dinner at Marche with Asterisk, because I couldn’t quite stomach the idea of eating. Anyway dinner was really fun. Marche at Vivo City is very cramped. I had boring grilled chicken breast and sauteed mushrooms. You must try the sauteed mushrooms.

The sweetbread section is interesting, though. The one above is denser and more filling than it looks, be warned! After that we went out and sat by the water to talk. Am quite excited by all the activity of the next few months.

Since everyone is doing it:

It was initially Calaron, a lion.

Seirei no Moribito episode 3 was absolutely stunning. The action sequences were the best I’ve seen for a long time now; the background music complements the action perfectly. We learned a bit more about the characters this time, what with Balsa hallucinating about her past and Chagum showing so much mettle. Balsa’s an amazing woman; can’t wait for more details about her past to be revealed. There isn’t a clear-cut villain in this story: the king is devastated by having to kill his son for the sake of his empire, and his secret guards love the prince.

My daily schedule for the surgery elective is as follows:

• 7.20am: arrive at the hospital and bemoan the new lack of free parking for medical students.
• 7.30am: join ward rounds/journal club/sit and stone
• 8.30am: the others arrive and we start our programme for the day, be it clerking, filling in survey forms (menial labour bestowed upon us by our tutor), going into the OT, having a tutorial or playing with endoscopes.
• 12.00pm: Lunch at Square2 or Velocity, followed by aimless wandering around the shops. I’ve bought the most so far, including earrings, hair forks, and a handbag.
• 2.00pm: Return to the hospital. Continue programme. (clerking, filling in survey forms, tutorials etc.)

The time at which we leave is variable, from 2pm to 6pm, depending on what’s on. I think Jeremy is quite bored with Square 2 because all the shops are targeted at young working women. And during lunch he cleans his plate in half the time it takes us girls to. (Jem is the only guy in the group, poor thing. ZY turns up from time to time.)

I bought Bailey & Love yesterday and did what most medical students cannot claim to have done: I opened and read it on the same day that I bought it on. Go me.

Have been watching stuff instead of reading up on surgical topics. There is so much new anime coming out, but the most promising one currently seems to be Seirei no Moribito. I’ve just watched the first episode, but the plot seems intriguing and the characters are interesting. It starts off with Balsa, a spear-wielding female bodyguard who saves a prince from drowning. Later, she accepts a commission to take the prince away with her and hide him from assassins; she needs to save eight lives to atone for the eight lives she took, and this will be her eighth. Quite an arresting anime, with lush animation, good background music and action sequences.

Engage Planet: Kissdum also seems to be worth watching. The first episode was quite hard to understand, but I’m looking forward to seeing how things unravel later on.

And er… I have been watching America’s Next Top Model season 8. Jael just got eliminated, darn. She wouldn’t have made it far anyway, she’s too crazy.

Prof L told us to go “watch the sunset at Pierce Reservoir!” So I did, with Father and Brother. Got there a bit too late for the sunset, but it’s nice, quiet and tranquil. Perfect for a family picnic. Singapore does have beautiful spots; but they’re out of the way. Then again, what does “out of the way” mean in tiny Singapore?

Also met up with raydance for tea at the V Tea Room. We tried the mango melt cake, which is sweet, creamy and rather satisfying. Haven’t seen you for ages, woman.

Am very thankful for family and friends.