my favorite time of day

South Africa

My favorite time of day, in a favorite type of place :) With some sparkling lemonade and a good book and a (where are you??) lover...

multi-tasking

Going out on Saturdays is fairly different from going out on Sundays. It's a whole lot more crowded, traffic's a lot rougher, and everyone's still in a rush (must be hungover from the workday before).

In general, I don't enjoy crowds. My idea of a great time is lying in bed and dreaming. Or listening music blasting and hitting a jamfree road. A great time is also after I've completed a whole host of niggly tasks. E.g. going for a visit to the dermatologist (the stars finally aligned and I managed to get a Saturday appointment!), picking up my graduation cap-and-gown and convocation invites (this has been bugging me for 2 weeks!), getting some pharmaceuticals, buying an assortment of presents for odd sorts, and booking dinner for Monday. Happiness! Is also a pair of lovely cuffed sandals in brown leather for a steal :)

Now to get through work on Sunday...

happy father's day daddy!

Another weekend, another bunch of people.

This weekend was Father's Day. It was nice as dad came home :) I had call on Friday -- it was my very first "passive" call (which means we don't see new cases from the A&E; we do the changes for existing patients e.g. draw bloods for tests, read ECGs etc). It wasn't a bad call, as there wasn't anything particularly life-endangering that happened to the patients. Just one very whiny indian patient with a psychotic wife and sister. Gross. The MO on call was the scary distant (albeit nice) sort so I did my very best not to call and disturb him.

Thing about Friday call is that the weekend's shorter as one spends most of Saturday in bed. This Saturday was a little different though as Jean and I had set about getting her friend and our friend out on a date. House@Dempsey (so-so) for tea, and it went quite alright I think :) I've taken to thinking that when a singleton sets another singletone up with someone, it probably should be taken as a compliment. After a spot of shopping with the girls after the friendly date, I totally crashed after dinner. When I woke up, it was 1130am Sunday, and I was late for lunch, not to mention church!

Note to self -- must try not to drive home post-call. It's an accident waiting to happen. Have heard way too many stories and had way too many close calls!

Sunday was spent with family friends at Royal China (ah beng right) at the Raffles Hotel. The lifts there are totally vintage man (it takes 5mins to get from B to level 3) and they even smell like a musty bookstore. Not my favorite. The food was a little greasy, albeit with passable presentation.

Found the perfect pair of golden slippers to replace my worn out ones today. Most pleased :)

I hope I get to keep the postings I've been assigned for July and August ...

"we work hard for the money"

So spend or save?? (No, one CAN'T do both. Choose!)

Anyway, I spent another few hours of Sunday at Kino again (20% discount now on folks!), and this time I picked up Jeffrey Sachs' "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet" from which I think Obama might have filched a few ideas.

Am wondering if I've tempted fate -- will there be TIME?? No think POSITIVE. I will MAKE time to finish this extended essay of a book because it's worth it. (I like Jeffrey Sachs. And if it didn't cost so much to attend his lectures (unless you're a Columbia student of course), I would love to go. Helps that he looks a little like Arsene Wenger too.)

savoring

Still getting round to the idea of having a weekend break. Didn't realise how lovely it was till I had it, and am now a little afraid to look forward to it!

Worked half of today -- rounding, discharging, etc -- and zipped off just past noon for lunch shopping with mum. When I was 15, a family friend told me that when I grew up, I would live in Calvin Klein. Suffice to say, I love all of it :) And I love discounts. Massive discounts especially. They're so unbelievable, I really wonder who'll buy things at full price! Though having said that, a lovely black dress that I wanted ran out of my size. So that's where paying full price comes in I suppose.

I went for a wedding at the Malay Heritage Centre in the afternoon today. My super-awesome workmate S invited me to her brother's wedding. I loved it! It was packed to the gills with people (easily a 1000!), togged up in colorful silks and their finest jewelry, tucking into scrumptious nasi padang (seriously some of the best sambal EVER) and listening to traditional Malay songs. Very cool. The bridal couple sat on a sedan onstage and everyone queued up to take photos with them. Had a really good time.

The heritage centre was right next to Haji Lane, which I hadn't visited in more than a year, so I popped on over. Seeing teenagers togged out in the latest Lindsay-Kate-Olsen inspired outfits made me feel really old! They're all nubile flesh and pin thin legs... and going from the Hilton to Haji Lane, I realised the real difference between taitais and teenaged fashionistas really boils down to skin and fabric. Flabby skin, fabulous fabric. And vice versa.

Dampener -- had to dash back to hospital to discharge a patient in the mid-afternoon, before heading back to town for a quickie get-together with beloved den and jean :) We're still the same!

fussy

I recently was gifted a beautiful ring that only looks nice in a size 6 and only on my right fourth finger. Yes -- that specific! I tried a size 7 and on my third finger, but the look was completely different and I refused to budge though they ran out of new pieces of the 6. And the one I bought had to be polished for forever.

No wonder I'll end up an old maid!

first weekend

My work partner S forbade me from working the weekend at all -- she says because she's taking next weekend off for her brother's wedding, and thereby thinks it's fair since I'll have to do next weekend (gargh!!). The prospect of having a WHOLE weekend to myself felt so strange that my control-freak-worklaholic self couldn't help but wonder at all the things that could go wrong. I was nervous and edgy in spots, but ultimately Sunday has ridden itself out to a lovely conclusion and the prospect of Monday is almost a happy one. Really can't do without work. It's impossible to relax because some strange spot in my mind is buzzing away. Thinking, thinking always thinking about what-ifs. Being highstrung is extremely unproductive and exhausting when one has nothing worthy to be highstrung about!

Suffice to say, this was a very nice weekend. I can't really remember much of Saturday except that I spent most of it off my feet (which were aching like anything), an afternoon being massaged, and managed to squeeze in a last bit of latenight book-shopping (Kino@Taka is my absolute favorite place!) and shoe-gazing.

Sunday, I spent all the afternoon with my mum :) Super spontaneous and super fun. After a full lunch (some semblance of my old appetite came back thanks to that time of month) comprising a meatball sandwich, mum grabbed me along for shopping and more shopping. We even shopped for baby clothes! It was madness on Saturday, and Sunday wasn't much better I think. It didn't feel like we were in recession at all, except people are milling about, sans shopping bags.

I have a few favorite shops that I never fail to frequent whenever I hit town, and unlike most women, I never found much inclination toward browsing. It stems from the love of convenience and instant gratification -- see, like and buy. Though with time, and with each purchase becoming an investment rather than a whim or fancy, I've learnt to pause and appreciate and put on hold. I very much picked this up through osmosis. Hanging out almost exclusively with my mother has taught me all the above, and an appreciation for the finer aspects of things. I'm afraid I can't be more specific without being too specific!!

Ooh and I finished a very nice book over the weekend :) My first full book since April! Am most pleased. Plus, a nice fuschia silk dress that weighs near nothing at all and a pair of comfortable slingbacks for work purposes. And a beautiful ring.

on hypocrisy

Something very important that everyone knows but often doesn't realise is that how we present ourselves allows people to categorize us into neat little boxes that social conditioning has created in their minds. So, dress the part.

And something Singaporeans will never admit is that whomever they slam for no real reason other than ostentation, is probably whomever they wish to be.

queen of no marriage

Haha this does not refer to anybody real (yet). It's this drama serial that I've sort-of been watching (CAN YOU BELIEVE I HAVE THE WEEKEND OFF?? -- breast team list exploded to 26 patients post-take and has since deflated to 4 for the weekend wheee; talk about yo-yo). I'm only into episode 2 (keep falling asleep geez) and already, I like it. Which is saying alot because Taiwanse drama serials are usually crap. Albeit, as per yo-yo, my favorite and least favorite drama serials are both Taiwanese!

Older woman, younger man. Workaholic career go-getter almost-spinster with slacker hottie. Sell-out happy ending (which I love and hate)... I think I spy a winner :) WHEN I REALLY SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING WAY MORE PRODUCTIVE. Like study for part one of something. I probably would/should -- only I don't know which something to be a part of, yet.

Definitely not general surgery. Definitely, definitely NOT. And one more definitely -- NOT BREAST.

team one :)

It was hard work, but it sure as hell was wonderful to be a part of the vascular team under Mr M and Mr S, and of course, my beloved Dr H!!

This was one of the rare places which really had team spirit -- the two cons were so adorable each time they discussed patients among themselves like curious schoolboys, and I've never seen them truly lose their cool Ever. Mr M looks like Kungfu panda and is such a gentle giant, Mr S is your cheeky kid who puts whoopee cushions on the teacher's chair :) And Dr H is a woman I truly admire -- she's from Bahrain, and for the past almost-3 years has left her beloved husband and family of 13 siblings behind to pursue her ambition. She's at once vulnerable and implacable, but always collected, intelligent, and Capable. Looking at Dr H, I realise how much further I have to go, how much more I have to grow in spirit and mind and in heart. I adore her.

Never once were we chided -- Not Once. Not even when the PT/PTT tube broke en route the the lab (UNBELIEVABLE) for the first case patient who was on warfarin and INR monitoring and her op had to be delayed. Not even when the GXM tube went missing and we had to postpone the op again for a patient with gastrectomy. Not for the many times we didn't remember our patients' TW, Hb, co-morbidities etc. Not when we didn't deliver an OT chit as quickly as we should have. Not when at 8pm I had to call Mr M (!!) to see a patient's difficult daughter-in-law who wouldn't desist. Not Once. Not Ever. They embraced us, protected us, encouraged us and taught us.

This team is just an amazingly awesome place to be in for a baby HO. When Ben bluffed that because of the new H1N1 case we had to be stuck in our current rotations for another month, I yelped with joy.

God has been so kind. My great teammate S and I have since moved on to Team 2, Breast. So far, it's been alright. No explosions yet (of joy or anger or sadness or Trouble). A little less comraderie, what with 6 consultants to follow and with the team mostly in the OT. But still -- a new place to learn new things :)

SGH is such a great place to see and learn things. I am so grateful.