The true stories of me

And four months into the job...

I feel like throwing my bleep against the wall everytime it goes off.

Especially when you get 3 pages within a span of 4 seconds.

Especially at 5am in the morning when I've only slept an hour.

This was me at some point during the last 2 months
You got that right...

...THREE bleeps!!

Ok i look constipated

Scratch that

And I haven't even begun my most stressful job yet!!

Thnking of using the training grant to buy a new computer next year

Option 1: Toshiba's qosmio f50

Option 2: Fujitsu's Xi 3650
Tough choices...

It all culminates to this...

Five years..no wait...SEVEN! (including Alevels)....and now I can wave my stethoscope around ( OMG I actually had to use the spellcheck to correct how I spelled stethoscope)

To those who were wondering what colour the NUI medicine gowns are...worry no further...cos your suspicions have been confirmed.
The red and green do no justice.
I start work next week after this week's orientations!
Wish me luck!
2nd nite on call! Ahhhh....!

And what have I been doing?

Nothing.

Except visit the fam in Penang.

Eat. Loads.

And getting literary again.And in the spirit of science fiction and being immersed in the lore of dungeons and dragons and all things non-earthly....












That's right...I went on a dragonfruit binge.

That's not all.
Ok, that's me looking a leeettle scary with my durian.

Durian itself is a scary fruit for non-Malaysians, and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Which reminds me, kudos to Elaine Liu for actually swallowing it.

Glad Marianne, Elaine and Charles visited from US. It gave me a chance to actually do touristy things in KL, something which I've never done before..and I'm supposed to be a native KL-lite!


Indian temple within Batu Caves (Rock Caves) with its 250 steps.

Chi and I at the top!


Shah Alam mosque...awesome from afar.


Charles after he tasted durian.

Go figure why they were so fascinated that this kiddy ride was named after Battlestar Galactica.


I finally got my ticket to go up the Petronas twin towers! (Fourth time's the charm..)

I'm surprised they actually cleaned up Petaling Street (Chinatown). It actually looks touristable now...

Will miss you guys now that the craziness and the loooong sit-downs at Coffeebean is over and I'm back in Ireland =(

Ok, yes, the title does not sound fun at all.

But I will try to compensate.

Err...no pics either.

Hopefully the written word would dazzle you people enough to make you forget about the crappy title and no pictures.

*clears throat*

~PRESSURE!!!~





Ok, so I'm leaving for kAY Elle tomorrow.

I almost feel weird that I'm going home.

So I missed last night's class party. Steph gave out to me cause I did. But I was just too tired and was busy packing! I'm amazed how much JUNK I've accumulated throughout the years. I have a whole recycling bag full of paper. I watched Tudors (which is getting kinda boring nowadays) until I just zonked out before 11am. (In that case, good thing I didn't go to the class party...cos alcohol and packing anxiety and tiredness can't have been a good combination)

I hate the bookseller people in the UCC campus. Yesterday, they refused to buy my books because it was "Wednesday, and we only do it on Thursdays". So I had to lug all of it back again today...and...'surprise, surprise'??

They only bought back 2 of em. *curse curse*

Had a yummy dinner with the peeps at cap'n america's upon housie dave's suggestion. Sorry no pics! Hugs to everyone though!

Over the last few days, everyone keeps calling me doctor. Not that I don't like it. I just feel so weird about it. No really, it's not modesty. It just feels unreal. Like, hell, that's not me! That's the person next to me.

Until I realize.

Oh wait, it is me.

Good thing I don't have to officially worry about it til the end of next month. Til then..a month of fun in the smouldering sun.

The plan:

Shopping

Foooooooooood

More shopping

And buying graduation stuff!!

So how do I summarize the year that it was...???

STRESSful

Little rotations scattered everywhere...with my luck, most were crap..except my last rotation with endocrinology (that was BRILLIANT)

My quaint room in Mallow (which wasn't all thaaaat bad after all)














And the view from the window when it snowed














But overall, there were fun times with classmates (ok, maybe this pic isn't as happy as Steph might make it look cos it was taken right outside the library =(

And just plain stress

Exams!!!






































































































I guess some of us really stayed up late to study =P



But it has now all come to an end!

Believe it or not, I opened (Housie Dave's chinese takeaway) fortune cookie (I love eating em'!)...and this was what it said.

No way right??!

Click to enlarge

So I haven't written in almost a year.

Ever get the feeling that you're so consumed into something that you lose all sense of the outside world? To friends and family..much apology is needed. This year has been one heck of a whirlwind. I haven't even wished Shoney congratulations on the engagement yet. (guilt, guilt...)

But dark corners and unhappy tunnels aside, I've reached the end!

(gosh, that's kind of a spooky picture...)





Anyway...Yay! No more exams...no more studying (or at least for a year)....no more people grilling you about random things that isn't even important! I felt like this year was one big interview. Heck of a long one. With oral exams after oral exams.

And not only do you have to talk during exams....you have to talk to patients. Neverending streams of patients filling up hospitals. For the most part, I love talking to patients. It really is what makes the job meaningful (and I'm not just being the jolly eager interviewee telling interviewers that my whole goal of medschool is to help people)...but sometimes, I start wishing that they'll do all the talking and voila...produce a beautiful admission history without me having to lead them in the right direction by my one zillion questions. Oh yea, this should have been one of my points when I was trying to explain to someone what my job entailed.

What do I do for a living?
Talking.
Haha.

But I'm sick of talking. No really.

Just leave me alone and let me do 20 IV cannulations.

More rants about exams soon. (I know it's over but I'm still in denial about it being over)

Maybe it's just not my thing. Too much bright lights



















Too much noise.














Too many people
















Too many temptations (expensive ones too)...largest Macy's ever. Not enough parking

















Food looks good, with a hefty pricetag...but fail in delicacence

This is Harlem. The bane of my month in New York. (Ben's apartment)



















Haha. No, not really. Safer than I thought. You just had to put up with more hiphop music, boom boxes, and fried chicken than you would normally get.

Lost in New York between Broadway and Wall Street


















But still Nuts about it nonetheless














Where quaint art stalls line the street outside the Met- Metropolitan Museum of Art











And in another Museum...I caught some dinos
At another museum- MOMA- Museum of Modern Art , we came upon a mural which was reminiscent of toilet grafitti Jia Yi keeps speaking of
No..I didn't get to see the famous musical:

















Instead I saw this:Which turned out to be brilliant!

What trip to NY would be complete without climbing up to the top of Empire State Building?
Catching a glimpse of Lady liberty at sunset















A Saturday afternoon stroll along Central Park

With my long-lost friend Rachel, who has decided to abandon us for the glamour of New York's publishing world

After 2 Broadway shows, one off-broadway show, a indie movie (both of these 'independent stuff' courtesy of Rachel the arts-reviewer connections), 2 stand-up comedy nights, and a lotttt of shopping....I think I'm ready to head back to Ireland.

Or maybe not.

Firstly, I'd have to start studying again...*bleh*

Secondly, no more nice summer-y weather.

Thirdly, no more nice summer-y weather without rain

No more shopping

No more shops.

No more shoes.

No more weekend markets!

You can obviously now visualise how much I've been shopping can't you?

No more hotdogs.

No more Korean food. Or fancy Italian food. Or Malaysian food (save for cooking some semblance of it). Or Indian food. Or Thai food. Or Vietnamese food. Or soul food. Or KFCs.

Of utmost importance being no hotdogs. With papaya juice.

You can also probably visualise how much weight I've put on.

Yesterday's stand up comedy was at this local comedy club near NYU which wasn't as touristy as Caroline's on Broadway. We got up-front-and-centre seats. Like as in the face as you could get. Which meant we were nearly almost ridiculed upon. Well, not me, but mostly as "Asians". Ben got made fun of cos he ordered a cocktail which was, quote, "Too fuschia for men..."

Of note was comedian Maz Jobrani who stood out from the 6 acts (Some were really bad). This video conveys most of his act last night. Oh! Oh! And at the point of the Asian car joke, he was like Asians! And points to us. (cue: burst out laughing?)

(disclaimer:None of these pictures were taken by me, rather from New York Times and NY1)

It was a Wednesday morning, the first morning of the week I didn't have to get to the hospital early..that it happened.

Having to not get up early..I nicely slept in a bit...and by that I mean til 8am..and then bumbled my way through morning to-dos...extremely slowly. It had rained during the night, and I didn't feel like going into the rain.

When I did get out, 10 minutes to 9am, it wasn't raining. Fabulous.

I walk around the corner to where the bus stop where I usually catch my usual bus was...and was greeted by a mob.

Haha, no..not really as bad.

Living in Harlem for the month, where too many people on the street was a rarity (unlike Times Square), it was a little surprising to see more than 20 people waiting at the bus stop.

After eavesdropping on several phone conversations, I realised..there was a reason why there were so many people at the bus stop: The subway trains had shut down due to flooding! (this pic is actually in Brooklyn and I'm in Manhattan)

I thought nothing of it...since..I didn't take the subway to work. Unlike these people.....




What I forgot about was that everyone else did!

Thus, not having any way else to get to work, they packed up the buses. (I was not one of those poor people being squished in the bus but really one of those poor people standing outside the bus looking confused and transport-less)


It was 2 buses filled to the brim who passed us by without stopping before I gave up and started my 45-minute 34 block walk.

Let me tell you, the last 3 blocks were extremely difficult.

I heard worse horror stories, my fellow student/teammate had to walk 30 blocks and take a cab. People's journeys which would normally take 45 minutes took 3 hours. Taxicabs overcharged people who were desperate to get to work. Everyone got started really late. It was a huge huge MESS.

Kinda funny how New York could be squashed like a fly by some rain. It's amazing how dependent everyone is on the mass transit public transportation system. And yet when it slightly malfunctions, a humongous group of people get stuck. What nonsense.

Today it rained overnight again. When I got out, it was still raining. Afraid the same thing would happen twice in a week, I woke up early to make sure I got to where I had to get to on time.

Good thing the New York public transport managed to fight back and run smoothly this time. I still hate rain though.



A panoramic view (someone else) took of 135th Street in harlem..where I'm staying. I can't seem to find Ben's apartment in this picture though.

For some strange funny reason, the blogger page I'm on is all in Chinese characters.

Anyway, I have arrived in New York.

Yep, the big apple itself.

I haven't been able to upload my Philly and New York pictures yet..so bear patience with me.

Today went to see the new musical- Spring Awakening.
It's based on a German play which was written in 1890 and banned at the time it was shown 15 years later. I can succinctly summarize it by saying that it's a story about all society's taboos inflicted upon a group of teenagers. Everything that you can imagine to be taboo..you name it: sex, homosexuality, abuse, drugs, pregnancy, abortion, suicide...what else am I missing? Oh, not to mention an odd (really unnecessary) scene on S&M.

Simulated sex.

Need I say more?

I think I'm now addicted to musicals. The singing is brilliant (die American idol...people who should be singers already ARE singers) and the acting is amazing. Which is why I love stage acting. The notion is full of romance, love and death. How more romantic can it get?

Wanted to watch Wicked, but it seems to be sold out all the time...so I guess I'll do it in London.

Rachel is bringing me to an off-Broadway show tomorrow cos she's doing reviews...which she doesn't expect to be good...so just as well, my expectations are on the bottom rung. Like I said..I'm addicted. If I had the time (and money!) I'll watch everything.

Had Korean food again today. Think I'm adapting my tastebuds to actually liking it now.

Also found a new performer called Ben Kweller, a New Yorker who plays brit-rock/john mayer-early-days-type songs. His music sounds kinda familiar yet different.Only discovered him a day before his last gig in New York =(

At least I still have Rufus Wainwright.

Met Ben's intern friends yesterday, one of whom is funnily flaming such a queen! Didn't help that he was also drunk at the time. So funny funny funny. Politeness gets you nowhere with drunk gay people (err, no offense?...I swear I be too politically correct). Patience wears thin after hearing (in a Filipino accent) about how he's visited KL and Kl is so fab (!!) but sooo expensive....for the fourth time....

Peds in Mount Sinai, New York is fun! My team is funny. My fellow is a ditz,a fun fun and funny one at that (love her!) and my other two fellow med students are respectively fun and funny. One cracks my type of sarcastic jokes (yay to Tom) and the other shares her peanut/chocolate-chip/peanut-butter-chips mix with me when we're both starving at 4pm (cheers to Liz).

To sleep, to sleep....for I don't have to get up til 10am tomorrow....