No emails = good news

Everyone today has been sitting in front of their computer, watching, waiting to see if they will get an email from the faculty saying they would have to sit supps. Congrats to all those who passed without any drama and good luck in the coming exams for those who have supps.

Many thoughts about next year...none of which I'm confident that I'll do them justice blogging about them. So, nothing else to report =)

And Shea Chuen/Justina's Civic is somewhere on the right side of the picture =)

All these cars may be commonly seen in the Old Deakin Hall carpark...haha

Today was a fruitful day.

Moved people's stuff into storage...very tired at the moment. T_T

But most of all, I have gained two possessions.

First is a wooden cabinet, just a simple shelf with 4 levels. Looks brand new (actually just like Kaiwen's but not as wide)

Second is a fridge, Westinghouse and looks like in pretty good condition. Currently sitting in my kitchen.

Both these items were picked up from halls, dumped in the courtyard by their owners who have either graduated or moved elsewhere. There are two others if anyone's interested, but one smells really bad and the other doesn't look like it's in good condition...haha =P

Well...actually, only one new car. Congratulations to Cheng Khoon on buying his first car! And er...the red Honda Jazz is a courtesy loan car for me because my Civic was in for major service =P

Prior to the exam, I like it to be raining.

Reason is really simple...it means I can concentrate on my studying.

This is because there are no noisy people out in the courtyard sunbaking during the day and there are no drunk people at night.

But I hope it turns sunny again after Monday =P

OSCE today. I still remember when we were first told that we may be switching sites for our OSCEs, I had three thoughts. First was: please don't let me be at the Alfred. Second was: please, even if I'm at the Alfred, don't let me be examined by Catriona. Third was: please, even if I'm at the Alfred and Catriona is one of the examiners, don't let it be a pathology station. *sigh* Alas, it all came true. Imagine my stunned expression when I opened the station door to be greeted by a stern-looking Catriona sitting behind a desk, ready to torture me in order to extract what limited knowledge I have of pathology. >_< To make matters worse, she was angry at something as well (or possibly it's just because she's menopausal...who knows).

And then, to add to the fun, my lower limb neuro station was examined by Professor Storey and my COPD station was examined by an ex-clinical Dean. My goodness...I couldn't have met a bunch of worse examiners. It doesn't seem anyone had good experiences of the OSCE today either, people seemed to run out of time for most of the stations and the station on post-op fever just took everybody by surprise. Anyway, time to leave this all behind. Written exam next Monday and I don't have the feel for studying at the moment. Hopefully it picks up over the weekend...

Today, I opened my Google Reader to find excellent news...Top Gear is back for another season! As far as I know, I'm the only one doing Medicine who also diligently watches this half-serious car show. So, in remembrance of 14 seasons, I thought maybe I should give a little spiel on it...to see if I can bring up their viewer numbers (or...maybe I've just gotten too bored of studying and am just trying to find something else to do)

I've been watching this car show since 2002 when it was just a very small car show. Back then, there were probably no more than 20 odd people at the studio when they were recording but now, the crowds are packed and the hosts have a hard time walking through the crowds to the cars. So who are the hosts? They're three English guys...Jeremy, Richard and James. Jeremy is a tall, slightly overweight imbecile. Seriously, he can be cultured in some ways but totally stupid in others. Of course, all of it could be just for 節目效果 but there is a tendency for him to do stupid things on the show. Richard is a short guy...like really short. He's always getting mocked by the other two for being short. He also happens to be from the country side. Then there's James, also known as Captain Slow. It should be quite obvious why anyone on a car program would be called by such a name. But besides being a slow driver, he's also got many quirks and possibly OCD. So there you go...an unlikely combination for hosts.

Even though Top Gear is meant to be a car program, much of each episode is devoted to some impossibly stupid or ridiculous car-related experiment/race/theory/game that the three undertake. For example, playing soccer with cars or sailing amphibious cars across the English Channel or racing a plane across Europe in the latest super car. I think most people watch this show for the entertainment more than the cars. Either way, somehow they've risen to glory, the audience lap up their show and their budget to perform crazy stunts just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I haven't watched the latest episode yet but I'm expecting something big for the first episode of the new season.


This person in the white jumpsuit and helmet is known as "The Stig". He's supposed to be their test driver, taking the latest cars they reviewed onto their test track to set lap times so they can compare how fast or slow the car is. The public doesn't know who this person is, he's never seen on the show without his helmet and the hosts give no clues. All we know is The Stig sets lap times faster than anyone else...suggesting that he's probably an ex-racer of some sort.

Haiz...enough of this evading...time to get back to studying I guess =(

This man is one of the main characters in Conan, an anime I've been watching since I was in primary school. Many memorable episodes and movies have passed and then after episode 552, they decide to change his voice! That's right...after 552 episodes and 13 movies and numerous other short animation clips, the guy who did the original voice for this character has been replaced. What on earth were the imbeciles on the production team thinking?

It's going to take some time to get adjusted to his new voice...T_T

A McDonalds ad from HK. Very creative, and with a twist at the end...haha




San Miguel ad, from HK as well...also with a twist at the end =P




The screenshot should give you an idea about what this is about...and if you still don't get it, I can tell you that Durex is a condom brand. Children probably shouldn't watch this without parental guidance =P

Friday the 13th

Why is 13 an unlucky number? Why is Friday the 13th an unlucky day but not Tuesday the 13th? Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th...honestly, the peak of superstitious idiocy.

The things humans think of *sigh*

All these belong to a rich guy in France. Makes me believe that there are people in this world who are just too rich. Anyway, some may argue that every boy's dream would have more curves and require a censor on this site in order for me to post about it...but I'll leave that to your imaginations =P All I can say is that if you like cars, this guy's garage would be heaven ^^

Lately, my life is just full of "It's too late..."s. Haha, why? Perhaps I am too lazy. Perhaps the chances just fly by without me noticing. Perhaps I'm too blind to notice them. All I hope now is that I won't get to the exam and say, "It's too late now but I wished I had studied..."

*sigh* Excuse me, suffering from a mild case of pre-exam depression right now. It also depresses me to know that most of my friends are graduating this year whilst I still have another good two years to go...and then I'm going to be trodden on as a junior doctor, working my ass off and trying to make sure I don't kill a patient in the process.

Much to look forward to =)

Yes, my birthday again. I really expected it to be a quiet day of studying, I thought everyone would be so concentrated on their revision that my birthday celebration would have to wait until after November 23rd. It seems I was wrong. Thanks for taking the time off to celebrate my birthday guys! Hope you all enjoyed the break...now, GET BACK TO STUDYING! =P

Good luck to everyone in their upcoming exams!

Tonight, Yeu Sheng and I got a little hungry for a midnight snack whilst studying pathology so we went to the only thing close to us still open at midnight: McDonalds. Only when we got there did we realise that McDonalds is such a popular place for students. At least 5 tables were filled with students who had books and laptops open (and of course their finished McDonalds meal). I figured there must be a reason for this. Here are a couple of possible explanations I came up with:

1) In McDonalds, the lights are bright and there is no bed to distract you (i.e. you don't feel sleepy)

2) The students want to save on electricity bills so they study in McDonalds

3) Studying late at night puts your hormonal balance out of whack and makes you crave junk food

4) The junk food makes your brain work better so students like to have a dose before they knuckle down for the night (unlikely but hey, who knows what's possible)

But anyway, whatever the reason, hopefully those students successfully pass their exams =) Time for me to get back to my studies as well *sigh*



Oh, incidentally my last post was my 100th post for this blog...hooray! ^^

In an email from monash this week regarding the new vaccination for the swine flu. The message talks about "priority groups" being able to arrange appointments with the university health service. Here is the list:

1) Pregnant women or those planning pregnancy
2) Parents and guardians of infants up to six months old
3) People who are severely obese
4) Indigenous Australians
5) Frontline health workers
6) Community care workers
7) People with underlying chronic conditions, including:
a) Heart disease
b) Asthma and other lung diseases
c) Cancer
d) Diabetes
e) Kidney disease
f) Neurological disease
g) Other chronic conditions (talk to your GP)

Just one question: what sort of person would admit they are severely obese? Can just imagine them running into the clinic shouting, "I'm obese! Give me my vaccine!!!"

Some people just look right with a big camera in their hand (i.e. Calvin, Wan Jie). Chean Ying isn't one of those people. Haha, don't take it too hard la...but you are more suited to your Canon =P (and cooking of course ^^)

Finally her turn, MISU's one and only ethics officer. The puppy dog stethoscope cover was bought from ebay by Chau Wang...haha, very cute and suits her perfectly. The idea is that she can use it for paediatrics in 4th year, but I think maybe she'll use it this year already =P Anyway, it was a fun night, all in all it was just a good reason to get together and celebrate. Due to public demand, Yu Wan gave a speech at the end. She talked about her feelings in the morning and her resolutions for the year to come. Last year she said her wish was to grow up and become more mature (she was a bit unhappy that no one remembered =P). This year, it was to develop the strength of the morning sun but still keep the gentleness that she has now (not the exact same words but everyone knows what she said ^^) So there! Everyone make sure you remember for next year hor...haha.

This is what Yeu Sheng cooked for dinner tonight. Taste really really nice =P It's a blessing to have a girlfriend who can cook so well. After eating out so many nights, it's good to have a healthy dinner with lots of greens. Looking forward to the end of year when we've finished all our exams and we can cook at home whenever we want (as opposed to now...we feel dead tired when we get home and mostly just go out to eat, no stamina to cook like Chean Ying, Nooi Hoay and Kaiwen)

This is what happens when you knuckle down for exam study...you don't study. There is always something else that's more interesting. And if there isn't, then you will GO and find something else that is more interesting. In my case, it's this little program: Objectdock Plus. I used to use it but my old computer wasn't good enough to run it smoothly and kept freezing so I uninstalled it. Then, since I got this new computer, I just haven't thought of it...until now. They've improved the interface so it's even better to use now =D Basically, it's a toolbar program that you can install to replace your normal windows start bar...highly customisable and made to look like the one mac uses ^^ It also has a dockbar which I didn't include in the printscreen that acts as your access to the start menu and task bar.

Anyway...time to get back to studying T_T

Haha, the youngest of the Malaysians living in our corridor, also the only non-medical Malaysian, happy birthday! =P The one thing we all realised tonight is that his room has a lot of pins on his wardrobe door...and if you aren't careful when standing up, you'll knock it off and step on it. So sorry for disturbing you, we know that you were watching Heroes =D

The answer is yes. Invariably, almost all people will be mildly vitamin D deficient during the winter months. The ideal time to get your daily dose of vitamin D is between 11am and 3pm. During summer, you need about 20 minutes but in the winter, you may need up to one hour out under the sun to get your daily dose.

With that in mind, I believe that we should introduce a tool to monitor attendance of medical students. If you are not vitamin D deficient, then it must mean that you haven't been coming to the hospital and have been going to the beach instead!

grope [grəʊp]

vb
1. (intr; usually foll by for) to feel or search about uncertainly (for something) with the hands
2. (intr; usually foll by for or after) to search uncertainly or with difficulty (for a solution, answer, etc.)
3. (tr) to find or make (one's way) by groping
4. (tr) Slang to feel or fondle the body of (someone) for sexual gratification

n
the act of groping

So...what is a grope-agram? This is a term that I only learnt of this morning from ward rounds. The consultant was telling us about managing a psych patient from the other Gen Med team (each Gen Med consultant at MMC manages two teams). The patient apparently hasn't been very cooperative and is unwilling to give any details to the managing team. The consultant described her as "combative, angry and aggressive". The husband of the patient, unfortunately, "was also combative, angry and aggressive". So, the managing team had no choice but to call the physician in Cabrini who had managed the patient about two weeks ago. The physician, however, said, "I've already talked to someone yesterday for one hour about this patient. I'm not doing it again!". The physician had in fact talked to the patient's psychiatrist yesterday but that didn't really help the managing team.

So the solution? A grope-agram - CT the whole patient

This is another joke that came out of PBL discussion today. Our tutor had just briefly described a list of potential triggers for seizures and one of our group members asked, "What about flashing lights?" To which our tutor replied, "Ah, you must be referring to the epilepsy you see in the movies. That is a type of epilepsy called photosensitive epilepsy where seizures are triggered by repetitive visual stimuli. It's far less common than the other forms and it's relatively easy for patients to manage because all we have to do is to educate them on avoidance. And if it's unavoidable such as when they are switching TV channels or playing some stupid video game, then they can just close one of their eyes."

So what about pirates? They all have an eye patch so does that mean they have photosensitive epilepsy? Haha, I doubt it but that didn't stop our group from having a good laugh about it =D

For this post to make sense, one should read my previous post.

Today was the last session of PBL (I know! No more PBL! ^^) We've finished all the index cases and all that's left for the remainder of the year is revision, more focusing on neurology since our tutor is a neurologist. 谢天谢地咯. No more painful sessions where our group keeps dragging on about irrelevant topics...haha. I'm sure people will say I am overstating the problems, but here are two facts that will prove that I am telling the truth.

1) Kaiwen and Yeu Sheng also agree with my view.

2) Today's PBL was the perfect example of just how off-topic we can get in our discussion.

Topic for today was seizures. As we all know, seizures may be preceded by an 'aura', which is usually a sensory disturbance experienced prior to a seizure that signifies the beginning of abnormal electrical firing. Our tutor described to us many different possibilities of auras described in patients and one of them was visual hallucinations. He then went on to say that it was likely that many people in medieval times who were caught and burnt by the Christians as witches were suffering from epilepsy. Not to be called racist, he then said to the Muslim students in our group "I'm not sure how the Islamics dealt with epilepsy but I'm sure they did a better job than the Christians because Islamic medicine was much more advanced than the Western counterpart. The Islams were the ones who introduced the modern counting system and brought in the "zero" and the "decimal" from India, which replaced the stupid roman numerals that the Europeans were using with Xs, Ls, Cs and Is.

...T_T

How does one go from talking about seizures to talking about counting systems? How??? It's all very interesting and very fascinating but couldn't it wait until after PBL? Incidentally, we did run out of time because another group had booked the room for a tutorial but thankfully we only had Kaiwen's case presentation left. *sigh*

First day of Gen Med and I met Ethel =) For those who aren't based at MMC, this won't be a big deal. For anyone who has been in Adam Hutchinson's (Cardiology Reg) tutorials, Ethel and Doris are two very special names that we will always remember.

Ethel and Doris are two elderly ladies (sisters) who are the main characters of Adam's stories and everytime they invariably end up dead with some underlying cardiac disease. It also doesn't help that Adam always does comical imitations of an old granny. But anyway, actually meeting someone called Ethel brought a smile to my face today =P

My car has finally driven 40,000km! =) It also means that I'm a bit late for my major service, hehe. Nothing I can do though...no time to go without holidays. Guess I'll just wait for after exams.

4th year placements came out today. Mixed feelings right now. On the one hand, I'm quite happy with the places I got. Mostly MMC (haha, I'm not very adventurous and very content with staying in my niche) except Psych at Box Hill. The bit I'm not very happy with is the faculty has decided to separate me and Yeu Sheng =( Our units are TOTALLY different! She's doing GP and Psych first semester and I'm in second semester! Which means no matter what I try to do, I won't be able to get the same rotations as her. The other thing that pisses me off is that pretty much all my group members are ang mo or ABCs...dunno why but I'm never with any civilized people. Another problem is that Yeu Sheng has one month in Paeds at Frankston. Still trying to figure out how the hell she will get there everyday T_T

But I shouldn't complain too much. We both got MMC for O&G which seems like hot potatoes right now and also looking at the list, there are people who have been placed at Frankston or rural for the whole year against their wishes. Maybe the placements we got are already the lucky ones...

Recently installed Picasa onto my computer, just to see what it's like. Very user-friendly and a lot less complicated than the Photoshop that I'm used to. Here are a couple that me and Yeu Sheng edited:






But the functions are a little limited so can't be as creative. But still look good!

Apparently based on a true story, he was a renowned scientist but also a faithful believer of God. Proof that science and religion don't always have to be on two sides of a fence =)

Those who know me would question why I don't mock such a video. My answer to that is "My scorn is directed at religion and not God."

Yes, daylight savings is this weekend. No mistake about that. Everyone remember to wind their clocks forward tonight!

It's so sad as well, since today is also 中秋节. Must take a look at the round moon in the sky sometime =)

各位，中秋节快乐！

Not much to say in this post. Just congratulations to the new couple from Deakin Hall!



Aww, aren't they cute? Wish them all the best in the future =P

Beauty is in the eye of its beholder

Which is true. Many people think the bulldog is the cutest dog in the world but I personally think its just an ugly brute.

Love is blind.

So what does this mean for the lovers of the world? Not much really...those who are in love wouldn't give a damn about what I've said in this post. Just a thought though...

This is a photo of my PBL group (PBL for problem based learning). What that means is we study as a group and learn everything there is to know about 30+ index cases for the year.

From the right: Karinna, Kaiwen, Taps, Syafiq, James, Sarah, Yeu Sheng, Me

Those who read Yeu Sheng's Blog as well would already know what our group is like. Our PBL group doesn't function very efficiently, a result of many many factors. In essence, the problem is based on three things. 1) The members of our groups each have different priorities. 2) Our group's tutor tends to talk a bit so the rest of the group, in all their greatness, decided that we can handle ourselves without his guidance. 3) Our group is over-ambitious and likes to cover topics waaay over the level of MEDIII and then never end up doing it properly.

Two more months with this group and then no more. Wish us luck!

I know, I know. This was a loooong time ago. Unfortunately, we transferred these photos onto Yeu Sheng's hard drive and I just kept on forgetting to bring it back to my house (internet is free at my house so would rather do all my blogging and uploading on the weekend). So...even though belatedly, happy birthday to Jessica!





On the same night, Yeu Sheng also went bum hunting. Here are the results =)

Let us all ignore my last stupid post. There are more important things to talk about!

Last night I went to two birthday celebrations. Dinner with my 阿嬤 for her 農曆生日. So...happy birthday 阿嬤! Then came back to halls to catch the end of the celebration for Li Ping's birthday. So...happy birthday Li Ping as well! Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera to dinner but here are a couple of photos for Li Ping's celebration:














And tonight, have another dinner with 阿婆...also her birthday (I know...how crazy is it? Both my grandmas have their 農曆生日 near 中秋節).