Tuesday, May 31, 2005

4:06 AM
finally...

In 1985 (the year you were born)

Ronald Reagan is president of the US Live Aid, a 17 hour rock concert broadcasts worldwide from London and Philadelphia, raising $70 million for starving Africans An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico City and results in about 25,000 deaths Vocano "Nevada del Ruiz" erupts near Bogota, Columbia causing mud slides that bury two towns American Jew Jonathan Pollard is arrested for giving military secrets to Israel Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader New Coke is released on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola The GNU Manifesto first written by Richard Stallman Kansas City Royals win the World series San Francisco 49ers win Superbowl XIX Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup Back to the Future is the top grossing film Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis is published David Lee Roth leaves Van Halen to begin a solo career "Careless Whisper" by Wham! spends the most time at the top of the US charts Elmo is introduced on Sesame Street The Golden Girls and Growing Pains premiere

4:00 AM

even more insanity...

Your #1 Match: ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

Your #2 Match: ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executive, or actor.

Your #3 Match: ENFJ

The Giver You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed. Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections. Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down. You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine. You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist.

Your #4 Match: ENTJ

The Executive You are a natural leader - with confidence and strength that inspires others. Driven to succeed, you are always looking for ways to gain, power, knowledge, and expertise. Sometimes you aren't the most considerate person, especially to those who are a bit slow. You are not easily intimidated - and you have a commanding, awe-inspiring presence. You would make a great CEO, entrepreneur, or consultant.

Your #5 Match: ESFP

The Performer You are a natural performer and happiest when you're entertaining others. A great friend, you are generous, fun-loving and optimistic. You love to laugh - and you like almost all people equally. You accept life as it is, and you do your best to make each day fantastic. You would make a good actor, designer, or counselor.

3:58 AM
that's what happens when i'm trying to find ways of wasting an hour of free internet time.

3:57 AM

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

3:05 AM
in this dingy little laundromat right now. i think i just got totally ripped off. 5 euros per person to wash and dry our laundry. argh....i guess some things can't be helped, but it's a bloody conglomerate. the same people run the hotel (friendship place), the indian fastfood 'restaurant' and the laundromat. been so swindled...sigh...

rome is good. rome-ing tours was excellent. the guide was informative and there were only 7 of us in that little private tour. the whole city is just a meshwork of new buildings on ancient ruins.

the trevis fountain has got to be the most romantic place on earth. saw a proposal there, and there was this italian couple who threw their coins backwards at the same time than turned to each other and kissed like they were the happiest people on earth. their baby was really cute too, all chubby and big-eyed.

europe's climate is unbelivable. just before our trip the maximum temperature was around the low twenties but now it's up to 32 degrees Celsius in rome and vienna. i bought 2 spaghetti strap shirts because it's just impossible to keep moving around this heat in long sleeved shirts. i'm never going to visit europe in summer again if i can help it.

miss singapore so much....

Saturday, May 28, 2005

3:24 PM
hey people, europe has been one mad rush. been through paris, avignon and nice (which really isn't so nice).

we just spent a night being packed like sardines. now in florence recuperating. it's blistering. got sunburnt in nice. ouch.

haha fun fun fun!!!


europing...

Thursday, May 19, 2005

11:47 PM
met a couple of the cmg doctors for dinner at heeren marche - sally, william, adrian and edward. i've talked to sally a couple of times now; at the cms talk last year and at godpa's house when we went carolling. was first introduced to edward when i was volunteering at assisi home and hospice before i got into med school.

i'm supposed to be studying for the pdcp exam tomorrow but...there's a lot to be said for improvisation...and it's open book! besides, ernest, serena and tracy were there as well so i didn't feel quite so guilty for showing up. tracy made a very astute observation - why is the assessment for a communication module a written paper??

12:05 AM
the most 'useful?' lesson from pdcp...


how guys comfort guys:

"let's go for a drink."
"i'll introduce you to some hot babes."
"she wasn't worthy of you anyway."
"there are plenty of fish in the ocean."
"you don't have to buy the cow if you just want to drink milk." - courtesy of sam yang


how girls comfort girls:

-big hug-
"if he could do that to you he obviously isn't Mr. Right."
"i'm here for you."
"there are plenty of fish in the ocean."
"长痛不如短痛"

但还是会痛.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

12:07 AM
according to yet another warped personality test (Myer-Briggs), i'm an extroverted, intuitive, judging, feeling sort of person. depends on how you define it i guess...act first/think later...like being around people...crowds are good things. it's easy to be happy in a crowd. all that personal reflection time isn't really my thing.

the things we learn in pdcp are actually quite interesting. but i think the way the course was conducted didn't do the subject matter justice. nearly died of boredom during the 1.5 hr lectures and interminably long tutorials. sigh. not to mention an unfathomable exam on friday...

went to make our europetrip t-shirt at IMM today. so exciting! wenxian designed the words, daniel decided on the colours, while wong yi came up with the concept and drew the road sign for the back. it's cool. janice included the 7 little people looking upwards. so cute!!! chris, alvin, susan and i coloured it at the foodcourt. $23 for a white cotton shirt...a bit pricey but it's the product of all our hard work, so...worth every cent.

europed. what's next?

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

12:30 AM
thank you.


I don't wanna lose you,
I don't wanna use you
Just to have somebody by my side
And I don't wanna hate you
I don't wanna take you
But I don't wanna be the one to cry
That don't really matter to anyone, anymore
But like a fool I keep losing my place
And I keep seeing you walk through that door

But there's a danger in loving somebody too much
And it's sad when you know it's your heart you can't trust
There's a reason why people don't stay where they are
Baby sometimes love just ain't enough

Now I could never change you
I don't wanna blame you
Baby you don't have to take the fall
Yes I may have hurt you
But I did not desert you
Maybe I just wanna have it all
It makes a sound like thunder
It makes me feel like rain
And like a fool who will never see the truth
I keep thinking something's gonna change

But there's a danger in loving somebody too much
And it's sad when you know it’s your heart you can't trust
There's a reason why people don't stay where they are
Baby sometimes love just ain't enough

And there's no way home
When it's late at night and you're all alone
Are there things that you wanted to say
Do you feel me beside you in your bed
There beside you where I used to lay

And there's a danger in loving somebody too much
And it's sad when you know it's your heart they can't touch
There's a reason why people don't stay who they are
Cause baby sometimes love just ain't enough
Baby sometimes love just ain't enough

- lyrics by Don Henley

Sunday, May 15, 2005

11:56 PM
packing....should have started earlier but i always do things at the last minute.

should stop putting off things that have to be done.

12:44 AM
long day...

went to meet jocelyn to discuss handing over the treasury accounts for nus sailing, but the books are not quite ready yet, so we'll have to meet again when the new academic year starts i guess. wanted to go swimming after that, but it was raining cats and dogs so i decided to go to hc for biomed instead.

hung around watching jess condense 1 entire year's worth of biochemistry into a day for a while, then decided to go run around hc. it's been a long time since i've done that; brought back memories of crazy wonderful wushu trainings...when i got back sirui had appeared; he gave me lots of useful tips for the europe trip. thanks! haha...but my eyes still nearly popped out when i saw condoms under their list of things to bring... to store water perhaps??? aishu also turned up for a while but disappeared after lunch. went to prince at coro with jess and sirui. lots of good memories in that place too.

rushed to orchard for a free mysony seminar on travel photography in the afternoon. it was by lester ladesma or something like that. not bad. i copied down a lot of tips; i was probably the only nut furiously scribbling down his slides...a habit ingrained from those long hours of lecture.

bought thomas and dai-pa's birthday cakes from taka, then the paternal side of the family went to tang palace at copthorne hotel for dinner. i love eating there; all those individual servings and tiny gourmet portions...expensive and pointless i know, but once in a while...it can't hurt right?

Saturday, May 14, 2005

12:00 AM
Happy 18th birthday Tom!!

Friday, May 13, 2005

11:16 PM
europe trip meeting yet again. i think we're more or less set to go. had a guest today; hope we didn't bore pearlly too much :)

auntie barbara gave us a lunch treat at tanglin club afterwards. the toilets had sitting rooms and it was really cold... how am i going to survive europe?? it's supposed to be summer but paris was 4/17 C today. anyway, we managed to squeeze 10 grown people into the car! granted, it was a honda odessey but i still think it's a tremendous achievement.

got the medication from godpa; i hope i can decipher his handwriting during the trip. he's tried very hard, but 20 years of being a doctor doesn't do much for the legibility one's words. very grateful to him nonetheless.

does courage come in a pill?

12:15 AM
Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow
Vonda Shepard

I like the way you wanted me
Every night for so long baby
I like the way you needed me
Every time things got rocky

I was believing in you
Was I mistaken do you say
Do you say what you mean
I want our love to last forever

(Chorus)
But I'd rather you be mean than love and lie
I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye
I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know
But baby don't you break my heart slow

I like the way you'd hold me
Every night for so long baby
I like the way you'd say my name
In the middle of the night

While you were sleeping
I was believing in you
Was I mistaken do you mean
Do you mean what you say
When you say our love could last forever

(Chorus)
Well I'd rather you be mean than love and lie
I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye(goodbye)
I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know
But baby don't you break my heart slow

(Bridge)
You would run around and lead me on forever
While I wait at home still thinking we're together
I wanted our love to last forever

I was believing in you

(Chorus)
I'd rather you be mean than love and lie
I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye
I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know
But baby don't you break my heart slow

Don't love and lie
I'd rather hear the the truth and have to say goodbye
I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know
But baby don't you break my heart slow
Baby don't you break my heart slow

Thursday, May 12, 2005

12:13 AM
oh and to all the wonderful people who stood by me...thanks for your support and prayers. especially cms....you have my thanks and love. God bless...

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

11:43 PM
祸不单行

2005 has been a trying year. hope things just get better from here.

on monday night, uncle kam san fainted during surgery and had 3 operations to drain blood from subdural and extradural hemorrhages. the next 48 hours are crucial; thankfully the support from the medical community has been wonderful. word spread in a matter of hours throughout the private hospitals and everyone's been praying for him. please do too...

hope you're all better ky....you should have given us the opportunity to fuss over you... XD

anyway, spent the day at mt alvernia ot watching and pretending to assist dad in a bipolar hip replacement and plating of a radial head fracture. wanted to determine if i learnt anything in m1 at all. the anasthetist kept quizzing me on the relations of the hip and elbow joint...haha...hope i didn't embarrass myself too badly. he taught me lots of stuff too, like how to insert a CVP line between the 2 heads of the SCM directed towards the nipple. and how to numb the cervical plexus in the groove between the scalenus anterior and medius. felt an enlarged lymph node in the anterior triangle of the neck too. i learnt more in that 1 hour than all the pdp sessions combined...

i love being in the ot. and i even got to scrub up and retract for the hip case! orthopaedic surgery can be brutal though; when dad just snapped the head of the femur off, my eyeballs nearly bulged out of their sockets as well. and when he started brushing the marrow...it was like scrubbing the toilet bowl. plus the hammering, snapping bits of bone off, blood spurting into mum's face...haha, is it terrible of me to say i had so much fun?

12:57 AM
it rained today.

great powers come with great responsiblity? even the little ones come with responsibility...i'm not really lucid at 1 am in the morning.

hope chief had a nice time at his birthday party in seoul garden. fq, zy, zk, ruxin, qiumei, ben tung, toh han, chris, rachel, dave, pearlly and i...quite a decent turn out if i may say so myself. fq, nat woong and i met slightly earlier to get chief's present (sorry chief! as you can tell, we're kind of into last minute work... *blush*). there were a few candidates but eventually we settled on this fat fluffy cow cushion/soft toy thingy. by the way chief, it's washable and it represents your ideal body shape target for m2. got to pack some tissue onto those long femurs yeah? :p will try and fatten you up in europe...haha...

thanks chris for organising the rows 9, 10, 11 side. oh and the cake is from fourleaves, chocolate exotica if you'll are now hooked on it. hee...sugar rush.


catharsis in a crowd
clamour in the silence

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

12:03 AM
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST ANAT GROUP CHIEF EVER!

God bless you alvin...

12:02 AM
time takes it all, whether you want it to or not
time takes it all, time bears it away
and in the end there is only darkness
sometimes we find others in that darkness
and sometimes we lose them there again

words of wisdom from chris...thanks for your support everyone... especially chris and pearlly for being there.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

11:59 PM
"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow,sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Read this line very slowly and let it sink in...

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it."

12:58 AM
when i'm busy, i'm really really really busy... everything just seems to happen at once...

tues: cms' first carolling practice of 2005! haha...not even june...but early birds and worms and all that...we had a really good turnout; tracy, alvin, chris, serena, ernest, george, maureen, daniel, leonard...basically most of the m1s and m2s. we all had dinner at my place after that. mum cooked curry and sweet and sour fish and brocolli... felt so...wen xin. :)

wed: had a eurotrip meeting. we're really getting down to planning the itineraries for individual cities. argh, sweat and blood...chris and his mum bought lots of pastries from Hans, as well as a cheesecake from Sweet Secrets, so at least there was incentive.

thurs: preparing biomed notes for pelvis and perineum + researching vienna for the europetrip.

fri: eurotrip meeting again. went to change euros at chijmes as well. we had originally planned to change money at Sim Lim, but the 2 indian moneychangers were obviously in cahoots; they kept raising their rates when we shuttled between them for information. luckily auntie barbara knew the uncle at chijmes so we could get a better rate there. she's such a nice person - even the yunnan auntie is friendly to her. why are all moneychangers indian?

sat: had a meeting with the sailing club in the morning, then had to go teach p & p at 2 in hc. 4 solid hours of talking. was really stoned towards the end. went to bukit timah plaza for pool and dinner with jess since the parents were at a dinner and dance. thanks girl...

1.30 am on sunday: happy mother's day... thank you mummy...

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

12:15 AM
just realised i don't have jonathan's hp number even though i've known him for about 2.5 years... anyway, thanks for the treat today! i think everyone had a wonderful time on that deserted island of pulau bukom.

we played badminton, table tennis, bowling, pool and concluded the day with swimming and a sauna. kenneth, guan hao, big joshua, weifeng, jess, aishu, sirui, fuqiang, baby joshua, jonathan, his dad and i...hope jonathan didn't go bankrupt after treating all of us to lunch and bowling. haha, it seems like the distinctions are more trouble than their worth. silver lining to every cloud i suppose.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

12:40 AM
they see through me everytime. no fooling the parents. :)

was supposed to go help with biomed training at hc but jess called me at9 plus to say that only 4 people had turned up. pretty depressing statistics, but understandable in light of the approaching syf. weifeng told me not to waste petrol driving there. haha, can't believe he maneouvered himself out of a lift!

decided to indulge in some retail therapy at orchard instead. well, actually mum dragged me there to settle the eurotrip stuff. bought some incredulously-rock-bottom-priced shirts from lucky plaza. mum told me to throw them away along the trip but being the miserly scrooge that i am, i'm not sure if i can bring myself to abandon them.

everyone should have a dad like mine.