Sunday, February 24, 2008
What a weekend! Thankfully it wasn't marred by the knowledge that I'm on call today - I only just remembered last night, which of course is no comfort but at least I spent Fri and Sat blissfully ignorant. Here's hoping that it'll be a good one.
Spent Fri at Oosh - some kind of event, with Yx, my sis and my cousin. Food was average. Japanese theme, loads of sashimi but not much of anything else. The girls had a field day with taking photos though! We just had to end the night with a late night dessert at Ben & Jerry's.
My favourite photo - it's hilarious. Those boobs actually squeak loudly if you squeeze them.
Oh she is just so pretty!!!!
And got a little annoyed by him - he claimed I was 30 .. Gasp!
Follow this up with a day at the beach on Sat, and drinking with Dawn & Rita at night. We tried the shisha that night, but I simply couldn't stomache it. I really don't understand. The table next to us (Rita and Yx also, come to think of it) were puffing away, while Dawn didn't produce much smoke and I ended up choking on the damn thing.
I'm all spent now, partly cos we spent a good part of yesterday cooking up a meal of sushi for some of my aunts who came over.
It's going to be a nasty wait for call to start (yes, I am actually looking forward to starting the call ... beats being in the OT!!!), and then another nasty wait for call to end, and then the wait for post-call. 10 more days.
Wenky
11:45 PM
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
3 days down! 12 more to go.
I'm now wondering if it's possible to take leave end of this year. Don't even know what posting I'll be in yet, or whether Shit have called by that time. Really hoping for a 4-5 day trip nearby again, something like the Tioman holiday. Oh yikes - it's the rainy season, is it not? That complicates things.
Just got sent a brochure for a clinical hypnosis course that I am extremely interested in. The cost and time involved are prohibitive though - 6 months, and something like $7k. =( Maybe next year?
Wenky
6:40 AM
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I am absolutely hating my job for the next 3 weeks. It's meaningless, stressful, and worst of all, tiring. My days are now filled with 8 (or more) hours of standing at the same spot, pulling at retractors and hearing the rants of bosses. I'd much rather see them once a day in the morning, rather than all the time now. Only solace is that I've got a friend with me to bitch! =) Eeeks, hard to imagine V. doing it all alone during the first month - would have been plain gross. Reach home all spent. Oh well, 1 down, 14 more days to go.
Wenky
7:13 AM
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Monday, February 18, 2008
Monday again! Was given a break off having Monday blues last week, but it's slowly starting to creep back again. Now just looking forward to leave, and end of this thing. You know it's weird, that I look forward to the end of things like these - it really doesn't mean I'm embracing what's to come; more of a hope that something nicer awaits at the end of the road.
All of a sudden, I miss everyone. Yes, even those I see day in, day out.
Made a rather nice corner in the garden, can't wait for it to mature (read: grow wild) and look more natural. Spent a good part of yesterday painting my room too, it's nice and new-looking now.
Oh, and I did go to Paulaner in the end. Hmm. Entertainment was great (downstairs though, while we were upstairs, but I could TELL it was good), food was average, service was good. The entire restaurant was actually empty - post-V Day syndrome I think. Everyone's spent their last dime on that silly day and are probably hiding out at home with instant noodles? Commercialization and its evil ways of warping the true meaning of beautiful days.
Going to be put away, never to see the light of day for the next 3 weeks (ok, excluding weekends!)
Wenky
7:01 AM
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Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sneaky
(Venus flytrap image from Galleria Carnivora, courtesy of Dr.Barry Rice)
Got the slides ready, but it all depends on whether I manage to hook the Mac up to the screen. Keynote is just so sweet for presentations! In any case, it also has this function where you can export the entire presentation to run on Powerpoint by just clicking one button - very, very neat. Other problem is at the end. People like to ask for contacts, and it's just such a PITA to dish out namecards. Shall just have a final slide with my email addy on it and some links to local resources.
Spent a good part of last night and this morning watching the most heart-warming videos on Youtube. Some just make you cry, some make you gasp, and some are just plain funny. Not going to say what they're about, but those are just about the most lovely days of those people's lives. Looking forward to my turn.
Wenky
9:30 AM
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Friday, February 15, 2008
Sentosa Flowers 2008
I'll be giving a talk at Sentosa Flowers tomorrow around noon. Made a quick trip post-call to check out the place, and was once again a little grossed out. The talk area is just outside the Images of Singapore, in an outdoor marquee. Not putting up an exhibit this year, it's just too time-consuming.
Wenky
7:11 AM
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
1 am. Having quite a shitty time, for OG standards. 2 more cases coming in, transfusions to check, and all the rest of it. Quit trying to snatch 15 min periods of sleep, and write instead. I'm now eating Pacific Crab Delight (some sort of sandwich) and peppermint green tea - just had to get a treat somehow!
Wenky
12:53 AM
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Monday, February 11, 2008
Back to work ...
I'm guessing a large percentage of people are feeling some kind of inertia as well?
Quite a bit to do this week.
Wenky
7:06 AM
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Saturday, February 09, 2008
Econs, revisited
(Full article here)Familiar, Monty? Haha .. I'm suddenly so reminded of a certain tai-tai who arrives for Econs lectures with a scarf, uses "catty" to measure grain, and brings oh-so-powerful economies "to their knees". =D
Anyway by sheer luck, I managed to collect a box of stuff today. They looked pretty beaten-up, but no doubt will recover. Just a matter of time.
Wenky
11:18 PM
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Friday, February 08, 2008
Back To BasicsBalsam is a permanent fixture in my garden. Irregardless of how many times I attempt another invasion to get more space for my CPs, they always return, and with a vengeance. You jut can't beat the dark side, sometimes. My mom's enthusiasm with them doesn't help either.
I first learnt about balsam, not during Science lessions in primary school. Rather, mom taught me to make a poultice out of balsam leaves for minor abrasions and wounds. Ah, training to be a (witch) doctor at such a tender age! In any case, I never thought I might like them one day. Which I did, as a matter of fact.
We went to Malaysia as usual for the festivities, and a single stand of balsam plants caught my eye. We all know the usual balsam hybrids - those with multiple petals and which come in red, purple, pink and white and everything in between. These plants though, are single-petalled. Can't quite explain it, but I just had to have them. About 200-300 seeds are now sitting in my room. Can't wait to sow them and have single-petalled balsam plants! I'm now starting to have dangerous ideas, as I guess Yx would have called them. What if I replaced every single hybrid plant I have in the garden with their original species, back to the basics? Wild rose (not that I have any), wild ixora, zinnia, marigold, gladiolus, amaryllis? Would be very interesting indeed, I guess.
Oh, and I found an aquatic Utricularia there which I have never seen before. Shall have to research into it.
The highlight of this trip had to be the 2-hour Thai massage I got. A masseuse (friend of my aunt) came over and honestly beat the living daylights out of me. She was GOOD. Like getting at problem areas I never knew were problematic (brushed off as little aches and pains) and I felt supple as a newborn child after those 2 hours. More is in order, I reckon. Age is catching up, huh?
Enjoy the hols, everyone!
Wenky
9:52 PM
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Tuesday, February 05, 2008
CNY is unbelievably near, and I still have loads left to do. Seems like once again, I can't complete my CNY tasks this year. Also on call tonight, wish me luck! Let's hope for no electives, no A&E admissions, no births, no emergencies. =D Head's feeling all woozy this morning. Likely inadequate sleep, but yet I kept waking up early and couldn't rest well after that.
Anyone's planning anything exciting this ultra-long weekend?
Also quite a bit of thinking and planning left to do. Quite a whole bit. Would love to escape from reality, but time's ticking. Hmm .. Yx actually said that most of my blog's pretty depressing. Is it really? I'm just using this place to think out loud most of the time, and if you realise, half of the stuff's frivolous or doesn't make sense or are just rambles.
Ooh, and yet another friend's getting married, and I'm so happy for him! Dawn, Rita - you girls know him too. Tall, smiley nice guy =D We got a treat from him yesterday at Outram hawker centre!
Wenky
6:31 AM
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Monday, February 04, 2008
Right, I owe some of you a quick run-through of the trip. I wouldn't say it was a fantastic holiday, but it had its own rewards as well. Like what I tell people who ask me how different it is from the last time I've visited the place, how much change do you expect in 1, 5 or even 10 years in a place that had it's main attractions built thousands of years ago? Indeed, I skipped all the silly usual must-sees like the Forbidden Palace, Temple of the sun etc. Most uncharacteristically, it was shopping, shopping and more shopping. Oh, and we did a 2-day trip by train to Tian Jin which was, IMO, a more pleasant and interesting place. Enough talk - photos!
Found a nice alley that sold the funkiest foods. Fried scorpions, cicadas, silkworms, starfish, eels, salamanders. Of course, we just had to try them all! Except the salamanders. I simply couldn't stomach them. Best-tasting = scorpions. Yuckiest had to be a tie between the cicadas and starfish.
Went skiing in Miyun. I fell magnificently - twice. And Yx turned out to be a professional skier. Yes, I never knew that, after all these years. I hated the cable car ride to the top of that hill though, and the trip down was even worse. Muahahahaha.
Lovely tree - some Dragon Claw Tree or something.
And of course, we nicked a cone from this ancient pine at the 13 Ming Tombs.
A beautiful evening with ice carvings in Long Qing Xia, although we did freeze our asses off. Oooh, and Yx set off her first firecrackers and fireworks! The fireworks was really nice, and pretty funny too - the attendant gave her his cigarette to light the box, but straight after lighting it she fled screaming- with his cigarette.
My only solace in the city was this lovely small place called Mississippi pub, which had cheap booze and decent western food. It felt so homely in all that cold!
A nice visit to the zoo. Giant pandas! =D They were seriously cute. Most of the animals were sleeping though, just like the last time when we went to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago in the dead of winter.
Bottled Fighting Fish. Hmmm ...
Moorish Idols at the aquarium
Now this was really sad. We went by underpass to a shopping place near the zoo, and found this lady selling puppies and bunnies. The poor things were all huddled together in the cold! And the puppies sold for 40 RMB, the bunnies for 18 RMB - that works out to be $8 and $3 respectively, before bargaining.
We decided to be adventurous and try this Saliva Chicken in a dingy restaurant, which turned out to be tasty.
Had a stamp seal made in Beihai Park.
Now to Tian Jin, which was 1 hour by train from Beijing. It's predominantly a port city much like Singapore, but China-style. It had a nice scattering of foreign-built structures and colonial-style buildings though, which was interesting.
Very nice CNY festivities everywhere (stark contrast to Beijing and Singapore)
Tian Jin is famous for her Gou Bu Li baos, so Yx and I braved a 15-minute stroll in -8C weather at night to find this posh palace-like place that sold baos. They turned out to be REALLY yummy.
(I obviously stole one bao before taking this photo ...)
Went to this rather boring aircraft carrier thingy, but the view of a frozen sea was really new to me.
Giant Hei Bi (dried prawns)
And finally - Brownie's present!
Wenky
11:47 PM
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Got back yesterday and had a fun time unpacking. Back to Singapore at last! I simply couldn't stand spending one more day there. Having this I-don't-wanna-go-to-work feeling though, which I know is inevitable. Worse still are people asking me about my holiday - just not in a talkative mood now, compounded by the fact that my throat's pretty sore. Photos will be coming soon.
Wenky
6:33 AM
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