Power recharge?

Yesterday, decided to head down to cell group since i've missed the past 2 for various reasons. Don't exactly know why I decided to head down, but its just this nagging feeling to go for it. Guess its the Spirit calling.

Good call then, cos God indeed knows what we all need at different times, and a recharge was much needed.

Informal breaking of the word of this Sunday's scriptures - God's calling of David, the call to be light to all, and the Gospel on Jesus healing the blind man.

I like my theory of the recharging lights. =P

Each of us are individual lights, with our own little bits of good in each of us. We are called upon to shine our lights everyday, to help others in need, and to be lights for those in the dark; yet at the same time, we are challenged to become brighter lights ourselves every day, to become better people.

And it is comforting to know that God has always provided the brightest light of all to guide us in our little moments of "darkness".

Women, oh women..

I refer to today's article in Lifestyle, Sunday Times, Page 2 & 3.

It quotes results of a Social Development Service Survey that says that 50% or more of women expect guys to:

1) pay on dates (80%)
2) open doors to cars and restaurants (50%)
3) send their GFs home after a date (90%)
4) initiate celebration of special occaions (96%)
5) dress up for special occasions (88%)

and 24% of women expect guys to
6) carry their handbags

and 7) even meet at least twice a week.

Well, from the title, obviously I have a lot to say/type about.

Now, there are some silent rules which I stand by, whether its for GF or for female friends. But since I'm currently single, I shall hence forth refer to female friends to make things simpler.

1) Sending female friends home is a given, especially if late into the night. Cos its simply not safe. I'm sorry, if its broad daylight, and your house is like on the other side of the island and v far off, and you have a direct bus / mrt there, then i'm sure you can make your way home yourself if i'm not driving. If i'm driving, then i'll certainly drop you at a place where you can make your way home easily.

2) Opening doors is basic courtesy - males or females. As it is, I think that I already open doors for my male and female friends if i'm the one walking in front - its just basic courtesy! With regards to car doors, give me a break. Its not that hard to open the car door. Probably on wedding day or honeymoon.

3) Paying on dates? I think that its fair that the guy picks up the tab like on the first date, or on special occasions, but to expect the guy to pick up the tab for every single date is quite pushing the envelope. Especially if the guy isn't working, or doesn't earn too high a salary. Are you looking for a boyfriend and life partner, or are you looking for a sugar daddy?

4) initiate celebrations on special occasions, and dress up for them. Ok, given societal norms, certain dates are best remembered, e.g. V day, birthdays, yearly anniversaries and what nots, and the guy would be slaughtered for not remembering these. But slot in those 3/4/5/...-monthly anniversaries, and I start to feel over-activity of my superior rectus (orbital) muscles bilaterally. Anyday is a special day as long the 2 of you are together and you all truly love each other.

5) carry handbags? Sure, if there's a valid reason, like you need to go to the washroom, or you need to adjust your shoes or something. Just don't expect this guy to carry your handbag just because you feel like it.

6) and lastly, meet twice a week? Psshhh. With the current work schedule, and in the future, I sometimes think that its even lucky if couples meet once a week if they don't work in the same institution. But once a week should lah.

But is there hope on the horizon?

The ladies interviewed on the right column on page 3 dismissed various viewpoints, and certainly didn't insist that their dream man meet all the above criteria. But hey, no one knows if they reflect the current thought-trend of the dating crowd of the 20-somethings, do they?

But seriously? Some of the points are so archaic. *oculogyric crisis*

Maybe that's why I'm single. Lol.

Singapore AirShow 2008

Now, I have almost no interest in those flying machines called aeroplanes and helicopters, and my only concern is probably the pricing and that I land safely whenever I board one of those. So I surprised myself by actually going down today for the Singapore AirShow 2008.

Oh all right, if I hadn't been given a ticket, I won't have gone, given that it cost $20 per tix.

After today, I have realized that Singaporeans are actually quite rich. You see, given the price tag of $20 per tix, plus the recent barrage of complaints of inflation and price hikes, I would scarce expect to see such a full turnout today. But that I did, and more - cos all the tics were sold out, and every family seemed intent on making it a Sunday family outing. -_-"

Shuttle bus service started at 9.30am at Pasir Ris MRT station. I lacked foresight in reaching only at 10am cos I thought there won't be too much people. Oh Boy. Firstly, White Sands carpark was full and had long lines of cars snaking out. Then the nearby HDB carparks were full, so I had to park quite a distance away. Now that wasn't all that bad actually.

What irked me more was the oversight on the part of the organisers. The queue for the shuttle buses snaked around the green field, ala Nokia Snake style, then around the Pasir Ris MRT station, and doubling back on itself till they formed another nokia-snake formation on the other side of the field to form a mirror image. They obviously did not foresee the crowd descending on Pasir Ris MRT station, for they only started adding extra posts to tie the police cordon tape around to shepherd the people into queues at around 10.30am.

And guess what they used? They obviously ran out of yellow barricades, so they improvised. There was a barricaded small construction site next to the MRT station, so they borrowed the stands and a few metal pole stands to use as stands to tie the tape around. Then, suddenly appeared a bicycle which was also used as a stand! (Hhmmm. so where did the bike come from? There's a bike stand next to the MRT station, so that certainly didn't leave too much to imagination. o_O)

And all these despite the newspaper report in today's Sunday Times which talked about complaints of long queues and traffic jams during Saturday's AirShow.

Then there's the other affair about the traffic jams towards the AirShow exhibition site. This was contributed mainly by the multiple taxis which kept driving on the Chevron markings and cutting into the designated bus lanes. As a result, it was another dreary 45 minutes to reach the site after about an hour in the queue for the bus.

But hey I'm fair and I give credit for the plus points too.

1) the chartered buses were more than sufficient to meet the crowd load. Its just that the people were boarding too slowly so the queue just snaked longer and longer as inflow > outflow. As it is, the queue was constantly moving, so it wasn't all that frustrating.

Might I suggest that for future AirShows, that they have multiple boarding points for the buses? Cos the bottleneck really arose at the point where people had their tickets checked before they boarded the buses. So i reason that if there was more than 1 checking and boarding point, the queue would move along even faster! =)

2) kudos to the improvisation of the officials on site to temporarily erect more queue "stands" to help in crowd control. Though seemingly "too-little-too-late", it did help ease the confusion and mess (a little anyway).

3) smooth security clearance at the AirShow exhibition site itself. Relatively hassle-free and smooth flowing given the more than 15 clearance points available.

4) multiple police officers to try to smooth traffic flow. For after they discovered the Chevron-trick, they started placing officers on the Chevron markings as a deterrent to such drivers.

All in all, it was an ok-outing, given that I was in a hurry to leave to get home for another family outing. But sorry, I'm most likely not going for any more AirShows in the future - cos its not my cup of tea!!

Unless I'm given another ticket.

But then, this time, i'll be sure to reach there 1 hour before the chartered busese start running, so that I avoid the mad rush (and queues).


P.S. If you've been reading the forum letters these few days and am wondering how I managed to leave the AirShow without too much of a problem, the answer is simple, and lies in the first line of this post - basically, having minimal interest, i left rather early and avoided the crowd. Voila.

Been gone from the face of Blogger for almost 2 weeks now. Partially cos didn't find much to write about, partially cos I've started posting again at CGH.

CGH is really quite a pleasant place to do Medicine posting. Firstly, there aren't a lot of students there, so gone are the cut-throat competition that i've heard and am hearing about that's occurring in other establishements. Then, there are the really nice tutors.. True, they are equally busy like other tutors in other establishments, but some are really nice and really mean to teach. And generally, the environment is just simply pleasant.

Of course, it helps that there's a students' lounge to hide away for a quick hour's worth of studying or rest, instead of having to hide in the dr's rooms and be a nuisance to all the drs in there rushing out reports.

First week's gone. Think i've learnt quite a bit. And also learnt that i do not know quite a lot!!! Good grief. Lots more work to be done in the next 3 weeks! Plus a writeup.

Shall end this post with some photos from outings taken over the past 2 weeks CNY holidays! And I'm missing a certain photo! Christopher Seet, if you are reading this, I want the photo at Dave's house!!! =P Haha, I know you don't appear here, so whoever sees him in hospital, can bug him for my photo. Lol. =)


Photo of my team from NHS! From left: Yongjin, Shahfiah, ZhouHao, me!


Anat group steamboat at Teresa's house!

Pity we forgot to take photos of the steamboat themselves and the food.. =P thanks Teresa for your house! let's meet up again soon! =)




CNY celebs @ Nat's house! =)

Thanks for opening your house too, Nat! =)

Ok, I was about to type a post about administrative inefficiency, before I finally got a phone call from the office telling me where I am going for next Monday's posting.

You know, I don't ask for lightning speed admin processes, but telling people on the last working day before next Monday where I am supposed to be going, is kinda pushing it. I don't even dare to guess what would have happened if we hadn't asked our class rep to push the office for the posting details. Hey, maybe we would be having an extra week of holidays next week.

Anyway, off to CGH come Monday.. Finally visiting the only hospital which I haven't been to.

The next hurdle has arrived.

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Oh yes, and wishing all readers a Happy Chinese New Year! =P And to all my friends overseas, have a fantastic Chinese New Year whereever you are! =)

*yeah, sounds incongrous with above. But oh well. =)

NHS - Neighbourhood Health Screening

Decided to spend the afternoon helping at Medsoc's latest CIP Project, the NHS, since Patho was over. Was a little surprised at being arrowed into a team leader position cos I had signed up so late and i had absolutely no idea what to do!! (actually, all the M4s there were arrowed into them, plus a few M3s, to guide the lower Ms and Ns)

Was quite surprised at the turn up of the M4s.. Being post-patho and holiday mood, there were still quite a lot of pple willing to answer the email call for manpower.. Susan, Jiahui, Raj, Danson, Yaodong, Josh, Dehan, Weifeng..

Had quite a good team consisting of Shahfiah, Zhou Hao and Yong Jin.. So we were tasked to knock on doors of residents and offer health screening services of questionnaire, BP, bld sugar and BMI measurement. Was hoping for more residents to be in on a Saturday afternoon so I could let the M1s and 2s practice their stuff, but there were only 2 residents who were in on our list.. -_-" Haiz.


Yongjin, Shahfiah, Zhou Hao & me =)

Anyway, the most memorable resident was this rather young man less than 50 years old, who fell down about 1.5 months ago, re-opening his 2 year-old RTA wound, with a large 4cm ulcer on his left thigh.. Apparently saw his doctor and had to clean his wound daily, which he does faithfully. But he forgot to go for his last appointment.. and apparently his right calf and foot started to swell over the last 2 weeks, increasing redness, pain, warmth, and gradual loss of sensation in his right foot.

Yeah, it looked quite bad.

At first with a very choppy history which did not include all the above, only an RTA and leg swelling, compartment syndrome popped into my head. Dorsalis pedis pulse present. Calf is quite tense, but not as tense and solid as the one I felt the last time. 2 weeks already, worsening. No fever, chills, rigor.

Ok, unlikely.

Anyway, tried to convince him to go A&E, but he didn't want to cos he didn't want to spend CNY in the hospital. Uummm.. I totally emphatised with that, but the leg did look quite bad!!

So we coaxed him down to the HQ to have a look by the volunteer doctors on duty. Took a more proper history while waiting, and the guys were doing BP and bld sugar for him.. Relayed the summarized history to the Dr, who then took one look and made the dx of a cellulitis of the right foot.

Well, needless to say, the man was still quite reluctant to go hospital. (Not that i blame him, cos CNY is only once a year.) but yeah, it was quite serious.. So the doctor told him that it could spread up the calf and he could lose his leg, and even worse, can die.. So he agreed to go to the hospital..

Popped by his house when we were revisiting the empty houses, later on in the afternoon. He wasn't in. I hope he went to the hospital.

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Thought that NHS was quite important in bringing healthcare to the heartlands.. PHS is totally different, in the sense that people come to you for the health screening. By virtue of the fact that people come to you for a screening, they already indicate interest in their health, and it is usually easier to advice on health and diet changes and stuff.

On the other hand, NHS brings the screening to the doorstep, bridging a missing link between healthcare and those who are unable to move around, and those who are not that keen and concerned about their health, to help them detect health problems earlier. At the same time, helping out the lower income families..

Quite different demographics.

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I remember feeling rather "old" at the start of the event, cos so many of them were M1s and 2s, and there were so few M3s and 4s.. But suppose it was a good chance to meet juniors and new faces. =)

Pleasantly surprised when a couple of my ex-students recognized me and started talking to me.. Its nice to see them in Medicine. =) Now I'm starting to understand how teachers feel on Teachers' Day yearly when their charges who have graduated years ago, return in their new profession or career paths in life, making the teachers oh-so-proud, as if we their students were their own children..

In a way, we are.

Felt over the moon when someone else remembered my bacteria lecture. Lol.

Man, i've got to stop living in the past.

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At the end of the whole event, we were just sitting around and chatting, when this other guy suddenly asked me if I still keep in contact with my scout batchmates.

If you read my previous post 2 posts ago, you'd know that i'm bad with name and faces. Yes, I didn't recognize him. Argh. Ok, so i was thick-skinned and asked who he was. Turns out he's my scout junior in back in 02. Though in J1 I was in the team in-charge of the Sec3s, while he was Sec2, so naturally I didn't have much recollection of him.

I suppose its natural for the juniors to remember more of their seniors, rather than the other way round.

So we had a nice chat about 02 and how he was coping with M1 life..

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Quite an eventful afternoon. I'd like to say that I've made a few new friends, and known a few more juniors.

Had quite a meaningful, yet fun and enjoyable time. =)