Found this article on Wikipedia. It started off being interesting, and quickly became a load of bullcrap. Take a look!
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Just had a flight of fantasy regarding what I'd do with my time, if ever I could take a sabbatical - a hiatus from work. I guess in our workaholic society this concept will probably never germinate, but it is nice to fantasize. Yes, so much could be achieved in 1 year's worth of free time.
A flock of Arctic Terns streams by overhead. He sees many familiar faces, and hear their familiar cries. He too had his fair share of annual migratory flights, leading his brethren and children right to the opposite pole of the world. But not any longer - senility has set in, and nature had so coldly robbed him of what he never wholly owned in the first place. This year, he will be spending his winter here. Yearning and longing swell up inside as he watch them tread the fickle winds. A little anger, perhaps. Or was that grim acceptance?
As they trilled and swooped in graceful synchrony, that little bud of an icicle within started to melt. With a sigh of acquiescence, a little nod of his feathery head, he realised that he had taught them well. That was a thought to cherish indeed. And he will never tread the Great Flight again.
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Sometimes, all you need to do, is to learn to let go.
Still a little disoriented. And still looking forward to just going home each day. I guess some things never change.
Had a shock yesterday, when I discovered that someone knew my name. I was never the high-profile sort.
Nothing in particular to look forward to ... maybe I should just do up some nice recipe soon. Kitchen's in a state of complete mess right now.
Oh remember what I said about Wally being all hissy and unfriendly? Well, he's still like that, but Yx actually managed to pick him up! (Under the influence of alcohol, I might add).
Managed to swap my call out yesterday, and so got to celebrate my birthday-cum-Mothers' Day in the end. And I received such a surprise from Yx yesterday - a large black box with pretty purple paper strips. All I can say is: WOW.
You really have to hand it over to the ladies to come up with matching wrapping decorations .... You know, one of those things you really salivate over but can't bear to fork out the dough to buy it? Having a blast of a time playing around with it right now. Some before and after shots!
And then came Leopard.
Went on a shopping spree also, using the voucher that my dance-mates gave me. There's this lovely shop just off Holland V - Pantry Magic. Yes, they sell kitchen utensils. And yes, I received this well thought-out voucher. Hahahaha .. got myself a cutting board, vanilla beans and some knick-knacks. Find Of The Day would be The Butcher along that same row - they actually stock squid ink packets, duck foie gras (the whole lobe, not the patty nonsense) and fillet mignon pre-wrapped with bacon. Of course, I'm not a good enough home cook (and not rich/mad enough) to attempt the latter 2, but it's still nice to know that there are places that actually stock them.
Have been very taken with arias lately, and came across this very dramatic rendition of Der Hölle Rache by Edda Moser, from The Magic Flute. Do search for the same title some day when you can, and be tickled by the lavish costumes that the 老妖精 (Queen of the Night actually) wears.
Amazingly, Yx can actually hit all the notes in this aria! I really do think she can sing good opera with a little bit of practice. That F6 note is just so incredible, haha.
I actually survived. Looking back, it wasn't really wasn't that hard. Or maybe the past year had hardened me up - where 34-hour workdays are just part of life, where weekends are considered a boon rather than a right, and where getting all consumed by work is only the right thing to do.
I remember starting out without an ounce of experience. My first patient collapse ("collapse" actually means when someone's heart stops beating, no breathing, no blood pressure. i.e. you've got to freakin' resuscitate. I've ever got called for a "collapse" by a green nurse - where the patient tripped, fell, and therefore, "collapsed". Imagine the initial panic and subsequent exasperation.) The first time I removed an extra-ventricular drain without clamping the vacuum. The silly research projects. The endless waiting for exit rounds before I could finally go home. The hours spent with friends in the call room, flipping through Her World. Playing paintball in call clothes on our very last day.
And then there was internal medicine. I remember my first medicine call - it was a complete fiasco (I never knew so many new cases could come in at the same time). The very worst part of it all was the 360-degree assessment. It was SCARY. Like having CCTVs on you 24-7. The cases you've seen get pulled out and audited, and you get graded on what you've written. The nurses grade you, your MOs grade you, you meet your supervisor monthly who also grades you, you present cases at meetings and the consultants also grade you. One mistake during night call, and you can expect a phone call from the consultant in charge questioning why certain things were - or were not - done. I remember my first serious near-miss, involving a case of neutropenic sepsis and wrong calculation of antibiotic dose on call. It was so scary, I couldn't sleep a wink that whole night even though it was a quiet call, praying that the patient didn't die because of me (the patient didn't, because the onco reg turned up and night and spotted the mistake before the medicine was given. Had hell from him.). And there was this other night I called up the registrar on call, argued with him, and overturned his decision to make a referral. Yes, the nerve of me.
Then came Obs and Gyn. It was pure heaven, most of the time. Getting annoyed cos we didn't get our daily jelly from the auntie at the lounge, or cos we missed our second or third tea. And actually ending work on time almost everyday, and waiting for Yx to finish, for a change. Calls where anything less than 4 hours of sleep is unearthly. Playing Bluff in the call room. And, of course, some nice feedback that really made my day.
Have I enjoyed myself? Definitely. It's been a year where you realise that nothing else in the world matters as much as family and friends. And I've met some really good friends along the way, plus the occasional bad nut as well. The year truly brought out the best and the worst in people.
The downside? I think everyone's grown, somehow. That's probably a nice word for aged / jaded / disillusioned. I wonder if this jaded-ness goes on a x=y sort of curve, or if it tapers off somewhere along the line.
Starting on something else altogether. Chapter 2's done and over with, a road that was dreaded and feared. Something new's coming, and it's too early to say what it'll bring.
A bunch of friends came over this weekend for an early celebration for Clarice's and my birthday. It was again pot-luck style, and awfully exciting. Most of us are in the same dance class, so we came back to my place after our last lesson for the month.
The spread! We had chicken curry (Eugene), braised chicken wrapped in cabbage (Clarice), Gado-Gado (Felicia), bee hoon (Ariel) and antipasto (Anna). Yx and I contributed quail and risotto ai funghi while mom had deep fried pufferfish ready for us.
Anna's antipasto - the blue cheese was formidable.
Quail with white asparagus and jus of saffron and red wine. Recipe's up on the food blog! I came up with this recipe specially for the asparagus, and was lucky enough to find a fresh shipment of them.
Attacking the cheese!
As I said, the blue cheese was really a force to be reckoned with. Ariel, after eating a grape that was contaminated with some of the blue cheese. Haha .. nasty shock for her!
Deep-fried pufferfish. One of mom's favourites!
There was plenty of booze, with wine and beer, but we simply had to try some mao tai. I think Clarice's and Andrew's faces really say it all.
Lord Of The House - The Return of the King. He was kept in my room of most part of the party, but we let him out just before the cake-cutting (he does so love it when people sing birthday songs!!) Surprisingly, we didn't supply any customers to the A&E this time - he got along really well with them!
Yx's fantastic lemon cheesecake! I had the luck to eat the prototype, and I found this one even better. It had much more sting and zang to it, just the way it should be. Pretty, huh? And best of all, made with real cheese. No flour added, unlike some of those you get outside, and the pieces of lemon zest were really decorative. I shall bug her to write up the recipe for the food blog soon.
The birthday couples
Mom and dad provided the after-food entertainment by dancing bachata.
Molly made a guest appearance too. I must say, the rest of them were much less uptight about handling Molly than I am ..
My last HO call today. Feeling nonchalant about it, really, but do with me luck anyway! Haha .. Just want to see the light of day on Saturday and be done with it. And then there's the potluck dinner tomorrow night. Probably will be zombiefied, but I ain't cooking much anyway!
I finally succumbed to buying from greengrocer.com.sg - I'm officially supposed to be MO today, so I had a mini private celebration by myself yesterday by cooking risotto ai funghi. Recipe's up on the foodblog. Oh, and we had mussels with garlic butter sauce (too salty - I neglected the fact that the butter is SALTED) and a small grill.
Not usually a fan of grills, since there's very little control over the food and cooking, but these pork loins were good! No marination at all, just a little brine before cooking.
And a couple of cute animal pics. Molly, just after her bath. Wally, the new guy, is so different - he's really unfriendly, and spikes up when I try to go near him.
Brownie with the "uh-oh, I've been caught red-handed" look when we found him tearing apart a toilet roll.
