wen
Monday, November 20, 2006
to a very special friend,
whose company is always delightful,
whose opinion is always highly regarded,
whose demeanour is what puts me at ease,
whose laughter is realy precious n infectious,
and whose friendship is what keeps me grounded...
happy birthday my dear friend...
Monday, October 30, 2006
Chasing Cars
We'll do it all
Everything
On our own
We don't need
Anything
Or anyone
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
http://au.music.yahoo.com/relaunch/?vid=33648626&fp=1&app=video&destURL=/musicvideos/
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
canadian rock formation as seen using GoogleEarth
a long hiatus
it's been a long time since my last entry, and really i had half the mind to drop this blog altogether cos i seriously wonder if anyone still reads it haha.
anyway, much has happened since the last post, some good, some bad, but none intolerable. i'm into the second week of psychiatry and my, this is one of the most depressing rotations yet. a typical day consists of seeing a few patients, mostly schizophrenic or severely depressed, and my, my biggest revelation thus far is that a sick body is probably better than a sick mind... so many of the patients that i've spoken to have a broken family, a horrible history of abuse, and really, it's this chronicity and lack of insight that really gets me... oh how terrifying it must be to hear voices constantly, most of the time persecutory and derogatory. what it must feel like to be stuck in a world devoid of hope and aspirations? and thru it all, many patients are not even aware of their condition and it's the carers that will have to shoulder the burden... well, i guess at least the standard of care here in aus is brilliant, and that mental disorders are becoming less of a stigma in this day and age.. and most places in the world are really not even close to being this fortunate...
ah, thinking abt all this is making me depressed... here are some photos to paint a picture of how my past month has been.
med ball 2006
country rotation in dookie!
ladies' club for kerhui's bdae!!
(very entertaining, highly recommend this for anyone's hen's night! haha)
will upload the rest next time!
and happy birthday to my dear ol' bro, and my dear friend in hawaii!!
last but not least, here's a rather cynical quote from one of the psychiatrists:
"Experience is like a comb Life gives you when you are bald" hilarious!
Friday, September 15, 2006
"Like branches on a tree we grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. Each of our lives will always be a special part of the other." -Author Unknown
Happy birthday dear lil one. sixteen is one of the sweetest and most innocent years of your life.. follow your heart, aspire to be the best in all that you do, and may all your dreams come true!
Monday, September 11, 2006
in someone else's shoes
my nightmare has begun, and i hope i'll awaken soon...
before your mind starts wondering and thinking of the worst case scenarios, i should clarify. it's nothing too serious really. just conjunctivitis, that has spread from from left to my right eye. so yeah, both my eyes have now officially let their lashes down and painted themselves red.
i don't mean to whinge, but c'mon, how bad can the timing be? it just has to happen 5 days before my eagerly anticipated ANNUAL med ball, 3 days post my horrible upper respiratory infection, and 1 day before i make my way up to the gorgeous daylesford where i'll embark on my exciting rural placement. why oh why!!!!
sigh. shit happens, and as i always tell my patients, tomorrow is another day.
now i know how it feels to wait for my turn in the Emergency department in RMH, to wait forever for my medication at teh pharmacy, and basically to be quarantined in this big isolation cell that i once called home. well at least it's big, and i can play the piano. i know, the last comment is pretty random, but i'm delirious.
the next time i blog, it had better be about good things.
to all my dear frens, thanks so much..
to all my previous patients, now i kinda know how u feel, and it really sucks...
make me well again!!!!
********************************************************************************
and let us not forget those that have passed on on this fateful day under the most unfortunate circumstances...... is world peace really that unattainable?
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
and so it is
a new semester, a whole lot more to learn.. i'm in my 4th week of my rotation at the rehabilitation hospital and my, how impressions can change! i remember that sense of dread as i walked into this old and rather run-down hospital. the fact that it's located next to the zoo makes it twice as bizarre and the barbed fence three times as daunting. i envisioned this hospital to be filled with patients who are frail and helpless, and abandoned and destitute. And after my first few days, my initial impressions seem to be set in stone.
until i met him
i inched into his room, uneasy and unsure. this is a man who has had his leg amputated from below the knee. How should one approach and console an individual who has suffered as a devastating loss that only he alone can understand? the sombre mood of the room was consuming to say the least. he was on his wheelchair, with his back towards me, staring out in the distance, as if lost in thought, and lost in time...
and then, without warning, as if he had only just noticed a movement from teh corner of his eye, he spun his head around, and his face lit up with absolue glee, and he exclaimed, "Hi my dear! How are you today?" I was taken aback, but extremely relieved, for this old man seems genuinely happy to see me! I put down the armour that med students call books and mustered the widest grin that i could manage. "I'm great Pete. How are u going?"
He is one of the most jovial person that I've met. minutes later, i came to the most difficult question, " how do u feel abt what has happened?"
He peered over at me, wrinkles adding an added sparkle to his eyes. "What can you do darling? We have to pick up the pieces and move on. That is the only thing that we can do."
so simply said, and so true.
and for the next few days, I became a regular visitor. not only because he would have wanted someone to talk to. no. it is a common misconception that pple have. that doctors make the patients feel better. more often than not, it is actually the patients that make our day.. sometimes, we need the patients more than they need us...
"bye Pete. I'll come by again tom!"
"I;m looking forward to that! Talking to you always makes my day darling!"
and you have just made mine....
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
boomerang
the past month has been most chaotic, eventful and enlightening i suppose. 1000 butterflies in my tummy, 100 cups of coffee, 10 (ok more like 100 who am i kidding) bags of starburst lollies, 1 sleepless night after, i have finally emerged unscathed. yes, the exams are finally over and the freedom to just sink into the sofa, take a sip of mocha and immerse myself in the pages detailing the life of Piscine Patel is relaxing and oh so precious.. man i miss reading and just not doing ... anything and nothing...
***
have i ever mentioned that the arrival hall is much akin to a conical flask packed to the brim with the most reactive molecules of human emotion participating vigorously in the most complicated concoction? fists clenched in nervous and exhilarating anticipation, eyes overflowing with rivers of longing and happiness, heads down and feet hurried with loneliness and "hell i just wanna get out of here", eyebrows knitted together in a searching gaze for a familiar face, hands in the pockets and a sheepish grin at the first encounter with a distant relative or a first meeting with the in-laws-to-be, and the squeals of delight as one falls into the embrace of a loved one so missed....
i could have sat in the hall observing this amazing dance of human emotions forever if not for my own agenda. it's been half a year since i last saw him, and
it's always heart-warming to know that the most fundamental of emotions has not wavered.
a week after, as i followed his trudge through the departure gates, i braced myself not to shed a tear, for haven't i been through numerous partings and re-encounters by now?
yes, but the longing is always as bad.
have i ever mentioned that i hate departure halls?