New Creation

Best popcorn ever!

2012-01-25T08:42:00.002Z

When I saw this on the ward one day, I knew I had to get some. Unfortunately on google, the only place seemed to be a delivery from an online shop from Sydney. Hence my trip to Costco Docklands to stock up for Australia Day goodness while watching Federer and Nadal duke it out for a place in the finals.

As to the popcorn itself, I believe its American, its got an addictive glaze and when the glaze includes a nut or two, it's got a nice crunch as well.

My Costco haul

2012-01-25T08:29:00.004Z

Pretty embarrassing, considering people all around me were filling up their trolleys to the brim - everyone seemed to be running small businesses.

However I couldn't resist the Root Beer after not having it for a long while.

The little things in life

2012-01-25T08:29:00.003Z

Aussie Open 2012

2012-01-22T07:06:00.002Z

Finally made it for some tennis action at the Australian Open yesterday after watching Tomic vs Dolgopolov on the telly the night before.

At the gates

A late start due to a forgotten credit card meant that I arrived at Flinders Street only at 1pm. Unsure which direction to take, I ended up having a quiet walk down the riverbank to the entrance of Rod Laver Arena.

Who knew Berdych would later be known as the man who refused to shake hands?

As usual, the place was packed, perhaps even more so than at Wimbledon with a great deal more foodstalls as well as long, long queues to get into each of the show courts.

The grounds

The top two courts at the Aussie Open are the Rod Laver and the Hisense Arena - these get top billing and the top matches are usually played at night here. Tickets to each of these are exclusive to each, as in a Hisense ticket holder would not be able to access Rod Laver and vice versa. The next show court down is the Margaret Court Arena - access to this court as well as all the other ground courts is covered by a ground pass.

Watching the scores and envying the spectators while waiting to get in

Clutching my mobile ticket in hand, I made my way to the end of a queue waiting to get into Show Court 2 (the next one down from Margaret Court Arena) and began my waiting game. What happens is that new seats only became available when people already sitting get up to leave. And if you have a seat, you are allowed up to 3 exits to get food, use the toilet etc before your seat is given up to newcomers. All this meant that those arriving in the 2nd or 3rd wave of visitors had to wait ages to get into the seated courts.

Wimbledon was green, down under it's blue!

Still having no idea whom I was going to be watching, I finally found myself in the middle of a match between David Ferrer and Juan Ignacio Chela - exciting until Ferrer took the second set and his opponent started giving up in the 3rd, even applauding some of David's shots at the end.

Above where we were sitting were a group of Aussies who cheered boisterously after almost every point and when the points were not so exciting, would break out into fragments of song, often using the player's names.

After the match, we were pleasantly surprised when we found we were about to watch a mixed doubles between Bernard Tomic, the Aussie thats getting all the news at the moment with Jelena Jankovic against a couple of young Aussie players. The cheering section above us were in their element now, and started cheering in between points, asking Tomic to wear his headband and enquiring as to the whereabouts of his girlfriend.

The match itself was pretty straightforward with Tomic and Jankovic winning pretty easily.

The final match we watched was a mixed doubles between Max Myrnic and Leander Paes, both of whose partner's names escape me. Compared to the first two matches, this was a pretty relaxed affair, with Leander showing why he was, and still is a doubles player ot repute - with a killer backhand volley/smash and masterful touches into open court areas.

So ended a sunburnt day at the Australian Open. 2 down, 2 more to go!

:-)

2012-01-17T08:44:00.001Z

It's nice to know,

Somewhere not too far away,

Two people are completely happy.

A belated happy Christmas!

2011-12-26T23:54:00.000Z

In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. job 12:10

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. matt 16:25

Obsession with slf in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Rom 8:6

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. Eph 1:11

Lists

2011-12-04T07:55:00.000Z

According to this list, I'm living in the 153rd most liveable suburb in Melbourne. Oddly, my hospital is a ten minute walk away from where I live and its in the 37th most liveable suburb. Apparently house prices where I live are roughly 400-600K Aussie, which is supposedly good value-for-money.

And thats out of 314 suburbs in total!

I think I need to go order some takeaway pizza now. Menulog - what a great discovery.

My Marianas Trench

2011-11-29T11:57:00.001Z

I think I've probably reached my lowest point today. And really, it can only get better from here. And step 1 to making it better: sleep early.

Nineveh

2011-11-05T22:42:00.000Z

From the Encyclopaedia Britannica
'Nineveh, the oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian Empire...'

First mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 10:11, where a chap called Cush 'built' it.

Not seen until Jonah, where the focus was on Jonah running away from a summons to preach against it.

'That man deserves to die for what he did.'
'Why do I do stuff like this to myself?'

Like Jonah, it's easy to pass judgement on everything, even on ourselves (probably why anyone could judge X-Factor!).

'But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

The right to be angry is a given, what isn't is how we proclaim judgement and refuse to take God's considerations into account. Self-pity, jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness; all are part of the emotional spectrum implanted into us but if I let these take over my actions without allowing God any say, its not going to produce the best results.

But what stood out for me in this reading of Jonah 3 was how the king of Nineveh responded to Jonah's message.

The king of the city 'rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.'

No one responds to a wayward prophet like that, certainly not the king of an important city unless he recognises the God behind the man.

More PACES stuff

2011-11-05T02:39:00.000Z

CVS:
1. Before doing anything, check for scars - a midline sternotomy scar without a corresponding vein graft scar on the legs suggests a valve replacement (AVR has a flow murmur with a loud 2HS)
2. In Blalock-Taussig shunts - there is usually a midline scar + L/R posterior thoracotomy scar
3. Whereas in complete repair of VSD the only sign may be pulm regurg/stenosis

CNS:
1. In 3rd CN palsy, check with cover test to exclude lazy eye.

Respi:
4 causes with scars (pneumonectomy, thoracoplasty, lobectomy, lung transplant)
4 causes without scars (effusion, fibrosis, bronchiectasis, COPD)

How I prepared for PACES

2011-11-03T08:49:00.000Z

I had thought about writing this post for a while, if only to serve as a reminder to myself because I'll likely be needing to repeat the exam next year. But also I guess I'm hoping to give other first-timers to the PACES bit of the MRCP some idea of what to expect. Most of the following can actually be found on the PACES bit of the MRCP UK website as well.

First up, the format:

PACES is 5 stations of 20 mins with 5 mins break in between each station.

Station 1 is Abdo Exam (10 mins) and Respi Exam (10 mins)
Station 2 is History taking (20 mins)
Station 3 is CVS Exam (10 mins) and Neuro Exam (10 mins)
Station 4 is Comm Skills (20 mins)
Station 5 is 2 cases of either skin, eyes, locomotor or endocrine (10 mins each)

For the examination stations (1 and 3) you'll get 6 mins to examine and 4 mins to present your findings and be questioned by the invigilators (there'll be 2 in each station with one doing the talking).
For the history/comm skills station you'll get 14 mins to either take a history or resolve a comm skills situation (eg breaking bad news or calming a patient after a prescribing error), 1 min to put everything together and 5 mins to present to the examiners.
For station 5, you'll have 8 mins to take a history/examine each patient and 2 mins to present and be questioned by the examiner.

At the start of the exam you'll be ushered into a room with your other 4 candidates (5 to a stream) and have to fill out your name and examination/center number on 16 marksheets. These, togetherwith your steth, and a pencil are all you have to bring around as you go (though people have also brought their own opthalmoscope/pen torch etc - all these are provided).

You'll then be brought to your stations and have to wait for the bell to ring, signifying the start of the first 5 min break. When the bell rings again, the door opens, a friendly examiner's head pokes out and the exam begins!

In terms of preparation, the key books that I've been told about are Ryder's Aid to the MRCP PACES, Cases for Paces and Baliga's 250 Cases in Clinical Medicine. Certainly most people I've spoken tohave read through the first 2 of these. The other key is to form up a practice group with other PACES candidates and start compiling a list of patients with signs to practice on 2-3 months before the exam and testing each other(trying to get consultants/regs to supervise whenever possible).

A PACES course is a good idea just because of the sheer amount of patients with signs to see - there is always some practical advice worth gleaning from these courses as well (some of which I will try to reproduce here) and to get an idea of how you stand with other candidates in terms of preparation.

Practicing comm skills and history taking with your PACES buddies is also a good idea to get an idea of time (so you have a sense of how long 14 mins is in an exam situation) and the comm skills in particular are worth working through as there are some points to be gained from practice (eg remembering to ask how a patient is going home after breaking bad news - ideally someone at home with her and not driving alone)

Paces Tips I Should Remember:
1. When presenting after each case, its a good idea to take the steth off and put my hands behind my back and to NOT look back at the patient while presenting to the examiners.
2. When presenting a CVS patient, always a good idea to mention the presence/absence of 'peripheral stigmata of infective endocarditis and/or heart failure'
3. When presenting a Respi patient, always good to mention the presence/absence of 'pulmonary hypertension'
4. When presenting a renal transplant patient (in the Abdo station) always good to mention the presence/abscence of 'modes of renal replacement therapy eg AV fistulas and whether they are working or not, signs of immunosuppression'
5. Always good to give an idea of the diagnosis of why the patient has had a renal transplant, or an enlarged liver, or pulmonary fibrosis etc
6. Always mention the key phrases 'I would like to complete my examination by...' (differs according to each system eg CVS - doing an ECG, checking the urine for haematuria and checking the BP / Respi - checking the bedside obs incl O2 sats, looking at the sputum pot, doing peak flows and checking for signs of heart failure / Abdo - checking the hernial orifices, checking for inguinal lymphadenopathy and doing a PR / Neuro - doing a full upper/lower limb neuro exam and checking for cerebellar signs)
7. So a complete presentation might sound like 'I've examined Mr X who looks tachypnoeic at rest with a RR of 22 breaths per min. He has evidence of clubbing and central cyanosis and has a productive cough. His positive findings on his chest were coarse crepitations on both lung bases which changed in nature with coughing. He had no evidence of pulmonary hypertension or pitting oedema to suggest heartfailure. My diagnosis for this patient would be that of bronchiectasis. I would like to finish my exam by checking the sputum pot, checking his bedside obs incl O2 sats and confirm my findings by doing bld tests to exclude infection as well as a CXR to look for evidence of basal consolidation. I would also send the sputum off for culture/sensitivity.'
8.Cases for Paces should really be the baseline reading book I think - its a good springboard to more xomplex stuff however Ryder is also well worth a read, if only for the pictures and the comm skills/history taking scenarios in Book 2.
9. I also used the Pastest Online website which is not, as you might imagine, an ideal way to practice for this exam - but it does give some idea of what to expect as well as some good pictures/spot diagnoses to look at.
10. Do a mock exam - useful to get an idea of what to expect and to gauge where you stand with other candidates - its useful after you'vedone some work, but even if you're not fully prepped, its good for that figurative kick in the butt! Also those who've done one don't seem to have that fear of the unknown on the day of their actual PACES.

All the best if you're prepping forit and if you're prepping from Australia, specifically Melbourne Australia, let me know and we can buddy up!

So it's the 1st of Nov is it?

2011-11-01T17:07:00.000Z

Happy birthday Pa!

The second photo is from Linda Tan who took both of you recently - a pretty good one I thought!

Liverpool One has a Lego shop!

2011-10-29T14:16:00.000+01:00

So its only fair I celebrate this with some cool Lego videos.

Sigh

2011-10-29T09:15:00.002+01:00

If they don't get their act together, how will I get home next Thursday?

Cool songs on Scrubs

2011-10-28T23:39:00.000+01:00

Or other ways to spend the time when I should be studying

Will work for food!

2011-10-25T11:18:00.001+01:00

mersey river view

2011-10-17T07:25:00.001+01:00

Liverpool waking up

pub fish pie and leffe.

2011-10-14T17:50:00.001+01:00

back in London

2011-10-14T17:42:00.001+01:00

UK Part 1

2011-10-14T16:28:00.000+01:00

Arrived safely am and installed in 84 Cleveland Road where the landlady keeps a typical establishment reflecting a cosy London townhouse lifestyle. Plush carpets, old bookshelves (self restraint!), leather armchairs sitting beside polished wooden bureaus and an upright piano which I'm also tempted to try out.

Am not looking forward to the course this weekend but am resigned to the fact that I DO need the practice and that I'll probably be the noobiest of all PACES candidates ever to be involved this late in the process, but never mind. I'll be as thick-skinned as I can and put in as much work as possible these next two weeks and we'll see how it goes. Hopefully the fat lady will leave her song till the very end.

The flight was really a bit long, even for me. 12 hours in a plane - 4 movies and 2 longish naps plus 2 meals - perfect DVT-genic material. No way I could do this for any length of time, UK, as much as I love coming back to you, I'm glad I'm that much nearer home nowadays.

What am I doing?

2011-10-08T10:43:00.000+01:00

Sleepy.

2011-10-02T02:21:00.000+01:00

'I will meditate on the glorious splendour of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works."

What I've come to realise

2011-07-30T10:18:00.000+01:00

"It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres."

pie heaven - southport food festival 2011

2011-05-15T13:30:00.001+01:00

To Elaine and Gus

2011-05-07T11:50:00.000+01:00

Have a brilliant start to your lives together!

What's better than Glee?

2011-03-27T13:40:00.002+01:00

The clips I enjoyed the most from the Youtube selections off Season 2 of Sing Off!

Am so looking forward to this

2011-03-26T11:50:00.000Z

Video Games | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | Three Ways Trailer HD

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

2011-03-13T16:24:00.001Z

Remember this?

2011-03-08T23:49:00.001Z

Back in the day of MYF musicals, this played out on a stage in a church in Sitiawan. A story of Peter's journey as a staunch follower of Jesus to his denial of Jesus at his capture and Jesus's redeeming love that forgave him; this paralleled with a modern day married young professional faced with the daily choice of acknowledging Christ at work and at home.

THough they did use backing tracks, the singers/choir really did it justice as you'll hear below.

And my favourite, echoing the call that embraced, loved, empowered and sent out, all at once.

Every small step/-

2011-03-03T17:23:00.001Z

Funny how we sometimes expect things to change overnight and the next day - the sun rises as usual, we are our usual grumpy selves as we shuffle towards our morning coffee. Small steps.

What I've done this week so far:

Supervise a knee aspiration on a patient with septic arthritis.
Realise that I need to make more effort to chase patients up after they've been discharged under my care - just to see if I'm doing the right things.
Done a load of discharge summaries - felt good at the time but the cupboard will soon be full again.
Took my first look at the hospitals on offer in Melbourne.
Reminded that before resisting, I need to submit (James 4:7).
Bored out of my head prepping for Part 2 - though I do feel it IS making me more confident clinically.
Intermittently spending time on Battlefield Heroes - lvl 26 never seemed so far off before.
Spent an hour reading through the Junior Doctor's blog - and laughing about people mouthing off in the comments section (seriously Jon, get a life!)
First long distance landline call to Squeaks, wish Skype would work better.
KFC for lunch! Seriously tempted to eat the other 2 pieces (got a repeat order for free off a coupon) but decided not to have too much of a good thing.

Btw, if anyone is up for 15 mins to spare, have a gander at The Lost Thing. The trailer looks pretty good, and it won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars just gone.

Also, Bethany Dillon rocks.

A cOg in a well oiled machine

2011-02-26T13:46:00.001Z

When the music starts playing and the playing field is silenced
Drum beats and the scrunch of newly mown grass underfeet
Palms slightly wet from equal halves nervous perspiration and acute anticipation
Gripping icy cold microphones waiting for the solo sequence

Eyes traversing passages of music, breathing in time echoing to either side
Raw numb fingers on steel strings, pick trembling ever so slightly
Blinding lights reminding us we're on display
An undertone beyond that swells and ebbs, a sign of the crowd awaiting

There have been moments when we skim effortlessly (it seems) through the opening strains, when the guitar riff heralds an anticipatory applause, when dancers weave in and out in perfect timing to the music, when the drum solos herald a faultless march and the formation square stays tight through a full rotation, expanding out into a 6 pointed star, when we don't even notice we're gliding through the most difficult passages because it all feels so natural and in tune with each other, when the stage turns from a living room into a busy bar in a heartbeat and the video transitions go off without a audio/video hitch, stage helpers running through with no wasted effort, people at their markers on time and anticipating the key change, when the baton is caught after a 20ft high throw and the ribbons and flags cut through the air, biting and weaving at exactly the same moment, when the last lilting woodwind passage melts into a perfect decrescendo, when your entire body trembles from being emotionally caught up in the song/dance/performance; a frisson of excitement from being in the zone, when the audience is forgotten and perfection suddenly moves from the realm of impossibility to being tantalisingly within reach.

Was listening to the OST of Wicked - and it brought back memories of being in musicals and military band performances, of being a cog in a well-oiled machine.

Malaysia 2010 - good times

2011-02-20T16:08:00.001Z

On the ferry to Penang

Oyster omelette Penang style

The family photo that nearly never happened

Kampung Baru

Kompiang!

Vincent and Maureen and Brayden!

With Wima in Ayer Tawar

Claypot rice in Penang

With Wen Jen, Suet San and Hang Sheng @ Old Town Kopitiam

On Penang Ferry

Am I a gamer? Part 1

2011-02-19T17:03:00.000Z

While SOME PEOPLE may find it hard to believe I didn't go in for all night DOTA and wake up at 3pm the next day, I definitely dabbled in my fair share of games growing up. Here's some that I'm looking forward to this year (if I get time to play them that is):

Video Games | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | CG Director's Cut Trailer HD

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

Video Games | Mass Effect 3 | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

Video Games | Diablo III | Debut Gameplay Trailer HD

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

Business Class @ Emirates

2011-02-17T02:37:00.000Z

A number of really cool things happened over the course of the past week but today's really all about me flying one step up from cattle class with Emirates.

To begin with, checking in was a breeze - though the red carpet felt a bit contrived - perhaps they think while you're paying a few hundred quid more for your tickets you're entitled to possibly have slightly more cushioning for your feet?

The Emirates lounge at KLIA was something I'd almost forgotten I could access - just in time for a nice snooze away from the rush of the airport as it WAS midnight at the time. Also a good chance to grab a shave (see? taking your advice already squeaks!).

But of course the moment I'd been waiting for was when i presented my boarding pass (though the lady did ask me whether I was sure I wasn't in Economy - probably didn't dress the part enough). The usual bustle faded away as I entered the private section of the plane normally reserved for the suited and the booted.

Having secured an aisle seat, I briefly wished i'D actually put on a coat just so I could've asked the stewardess to take it away and hang it up for me. Turning my attention to the seats - my first worry was that the TV screen was way too far away for comfortable viewing however it was substantially larger than what I'd been used to. And my were the seats roomy.

Essentially you got two personal reading lights, a central console for controlling your chair's various positions which could be saved for future use (meals, sleep etc), tv controls and privacy controls. This last one meant raising up a screen that separated you from the guy/girl sitting right next to you. I spent quite a bit of time getting used to the chair's controls - not being very deft with the fingers and puzzling out techy stuff but before too long, paraphernalia started arriving to keep me busy elsewhere.

The first thing I was given was a sock and eyepatch combo - I suppose just in case peopl needed a change of socks? Stuffing them into the pouch underneath the screen with the complimentary blanket (which I never use), I contemplated the second item they gave me - a travel bag complete with everything a sophisticated traveler could need down to Bvlgari eau de cologne. Another stewardess then appeared with the menu and a wine list - by this time I'D Kicked my shoes off and was preparing to enjoy myself thoroughly - helped by a glass of juice and bottles of mineral water they offered even before we'd taken off.

After I was handed a noise-cancelling headset and was done watching a couple of episodes of Friends, the snacks arrived - none of your usual peanuts with a plastic cup - these were sandwiches of capsicum, feta, tandoori chicken and salmon with a slice of chocolate topped sponge to help it all go down. I'd been puzzling about where the table was - needn't have worried as she basically reached into the center console and pulled ou a huge foldable table overlaid with polished wood. Over this she placed a white cloth and then proceeded to set the cutlery and meal down. Huge salted nuts did get served later (still not sure why nuts are such a big deal on airlines in general) which were a bit much at that point.

THat led nicely on to a snooze (the most horizontal snooze I've ever had in the air) from which I was awoken by the stewardess tapping lightly on my knee to ask ever so quietly if I'd like some breakfast. This whole process started again with the folding table, upon which a tray with yoghurt and a plate of fruit was placed. The stewardess then brought out a hot tray of rolls, from which we made our selections - while we were making our way through these, the main bits of the meal (these came not in plastic packaging but in proper plates) were served separately. Though I think the quality of the main meal itself was pretty similar to what we'd normally have in Economy - which isn't bad at all.

On preparing to disembark - the stewardess noticed I'd left the eyepatch/sock combo and the travel bag behind and pointed out they were mine to take away which was nice - we left the plane on a separate exit and basically entered Dubai on a walkway above the main central floor away from the duty-free crowd where we proceeded to the business lounge to await our transits.

I'd definitely do it again!

Happy New Year all

2010-12-31T23:22:00.000Z

Going to bed now. Wish I was home!

It's here.

2010-12-25T00:46:00.002Z

Happy Christmas everyone!

Growing up Pa used to play this all the time (think he still has the cassette!) - to this day it isn't really Christmas until I hear this playing somewhere.

A MYF classic - we used to sing this to death every year - still remember the first time I heard it though.

Often quoted 1

2010-12-22T21:50:00.002Z

And we know that in all things
God works
for the good
of those who love him,
who have been
called according to his purpose.

God works - not by accident or left to the vagaries of fate nor left to chance

but

a force with purpose and a will stronger than steel behind it, directing and guiding every movement, each action carefully gauged and measured to have maximum impact in every life involved.

For every time I've taken this verse to mean God blessing my efforts/attempts at various projects, I've failed to realise that it's God who's been working and using me

Hence when things don't go how I expected them to, its less of God not coming through, but more of God changing my poor and often wayward efforts into something worthwhile in the end.

3rd post in a day - record!

2010-12-18T16:48:00.003Z

My car is a transformer!

If anyone still wants to get me a Christmas present....

Snow In Southport

2010-12-18T16:36:00.003Z

The heaviest snowfall here so far.

It was fun for all of 15 seconds as I realised there was no way my car was getting out of the parking lot that day.

A Narnia moment. Anyone want to watch this before it closes?

Things I'm looking forward to 3

2010-12-18T15:41:00.003Z

Something else I remember about Christmas back home was carolling around the homes and hotels in Sitiawan with the church youth group. The run up to Christmas would be filled with morning practices - normally preceded by a coffeeshop breakfast as school holidays had begun. Bass, tenor, alto and soprano singers would be magically discovered within each batch of secondary school students, many of us not having any musical knowledge haphazardly separated by a pianist trying out our individual pitches.

Once slotted into our groups, we'd break up and learn the parts from indivisual songsheets with either a pianist or guitarist showing each group the melody. It was an exercise in memory as we'd learn the bassline, for example, down by heart and try to exorcise all memory of the actual melody of the song. An exercise that invariably broke down when all the groups regathered to try out the 4-part harmony together as the soprano singers (who always seemed to be the most numerous) ended up dragging everyone into their melody.

There were the staples from the Methodist Hymnal: Joy To The World, Silent Night (both of whom had their distinctive guitar intros that were reused year after year), We Wish You A Merry Christmas, which would invariably be sung repeatedly in an ever-faster tempo, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark The Herald Angels Sing and Angels We Have Heard On High. On occasion, someone would produce new songs and arrangements, which after a year or two, became staples of their own.

While the practices were going on, the youth group committee would be gathering invitations from homes (mainly church members) to which we would then go on the nights of the 24th and 25th. On the nights themselves, we'd start off at Pastor's manse - always as a dry run where mistakes would be giggled at. After a final prayer, we'd split into 2 groups to cover more ground. And as the night went on, the singing became more and more boisterous as people grew more tired. The climax would normally occur at a house where both groups planned to meet up at - the singing would then increase exponentially in volume as both the musicians and singers doubled in volume and soloists found themselves dueting instead.

The real challenge of course, was waking up for Christmas morning service in church after a late night carol session on the 24th!

Things I'm looking forward to 2

2010-12-14T14:16:00.001Z

If you played computer games from the 1990s to early 2000 and enjoyed classics like Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Jagged Alliance and Duke Nukem, chances are you'll have heard of GOG.com. If not, here's a good reason to check them out!

Things I'm looking forward to 1

2010-12-14T13:09:00.003Z

Happy pre-Christmas to anyone still reading this sorry collection of words and disjointed sentences!

My 4th Christmas in the UK and due to work am getting caught up in the swing of things a bit later than usual. The perpetual cold, tree branches sticking bare at all angles, moving shopfront displays (nope not actually IN southport!), christmas markets and carol songs blaring from every shop all add a festive mood to the air. The hospital wards with christmas trees are the good ones i think.

I do miss Christmas at home though, the staple of the season was the big Christmas dinner at the grandparents house where for one day of the year the big sitting-room tablecloth would be whisked away to reveal a dark polished wood surface. The kitchen would be occupied from early afternoon to dinnertime while the tabletop would be covered with large bouquets of flowers/fruits and the fancy dinner service would be placed next to wineglasses.

The family would gather at dinnertime and presents would be put on the sideboard. Uncles and aunts would bustle in and out of the kitchen bearing plates loaded with cuts of meat, pots of steaming gravy and bowls of peas and potatoes. The uncle in charge of the main bird for the night would be standingby the oven, forehead brimming with sweat, checking to see if the meat was cooked through.

And when everything was ready - the first course began - with everyone eating except the uncle in charge of the food who had to be continuously entreated to sit down and have a bite instead of running to and fro from the kitchen. Dessert usually consisted of christmas pudding set alight with all the lights off, after which the presents were exchanged - always the best part of the evening for us small fry.

And then followed a nice sit-down time with drinks where the cooks would be congratulated on their cooking, and various family members would put aside their differences and recall memories of childhood pranks and the doings of family members and friends long-gone.

And after that the food distribution which would last everyone at least till the new year..ahh Christmas at home.

New post.

2010-12-04T13:10:00.002Z

My first day on call back in acute medicine - though I haven't killed anyone that I know about, its been slightly nerve-wrecking. And the next day I get my own ward round. After my last job in which >2 inpatients was considered more than the average, to sort out 12 patients for the weekend without team support meant that I left an hour late.

How random

2010-10-28T00:24:00.003+01:00

Met a person on Battlefield Heroes going by the nick of Mabthera - lo and behold, a doctor from Hungary. Sparked off a conversation which took place while we weaved in and out of the ruins of Midnight Mayhem where everyone chatted about where they were from while complaining about the lag.

I've been playing this for a while on and off - still nice to interact with players like this rather than the usual noob-jeering and player taunting and crass language that normally goes on.

Song of the Week

2010-10-25T00:32:00.002+01:00

Can't believe I havent posted this before - possibly my favourite orchestral piece of all time haha. I like how everything's broken down and comes back together at the end. Still remember listening to this just before I went for my music exams - was really nervous but by the end, just felt privileged to be in my own small way able to produce music and to call myself a musician.

To those who say I don't bathe for long enough.

2010-10-17T20:53:00.004+01:00

So I was thinking in the shower:

So who among us is good, really? The long-quoted phrase 'no-one is perfect' - how many of us would challenge this? Granted, being 'good' is different to being 'perfect' - we may be considered 'good' despite making mistakes. But even so, what is the definition of 'good'?

Oxford Dictionary lists the definitions (as an adjective) thus:
1. To be desired and approved of.
2. Having the required qualities; of a high standard
3. Possessing or displaying moral values
4. Giving pleasure; enjoyable or satisfying
5. Attributive; being thorough
6. Valid
7. Used in conjunction with the name of God or related expression as an expression of extreme surprise or anger

We can discard 4,5,6,7 from this discussion.

1. To be desired and approved of - whose desires/approval are we talking about? Each individual has different desires/ppl they seek approval from - therefore what is good differs from person to person. And this is where influence of people, for good or bad, is able to change the fate of nations eg apartheid in Africa, the Dalits in India, Nazism in WW2, 9/11 etc.

2. Again, whose standards are these? We may say we 'aspire to high standards' yet to others, our standards may be woefully low. What is impressive to me on the tennis court, is peanuts to Roger Federer for example.

3. Moral values, ah. This is the crux. To go back to Oxford, moral is defined as:

a.concerned with principles of right and wrong behaviour.
b.holding or manifesting high principles for proper conduct.

This is contentious; on one hand, everyone's right or wrong code is different. Someone may agree with cheating to get ahead as long as no one's hurt however others feel this is wrong. However we do consider some things that definitely are bad. eg. rape/murder/incest/abuse. Surely there can be no question of that? So, surely if we do not perform these 'morally condemnable' actions, we must be good, or at least, good-er than people who DID perform these actions.

But then again, is there a scale of goodness? Where we are ranked 6 above Hitler who is probably a minus something? And who decides this scale? Santa Claus?

Where am I going with this?

I put it to you, that the term 'good' is something relative, not absolute. And that all of us who compare ourselves to others do so on an individual code of morality (that is, unless you are of a faith that says differently, in whatever way).

And so the conclusion is, none of us are really 'good' or 'bad'. The closest we can come to deciding that (without outside help) is by judging each other, rather pointlessly in fact when we think about it (but which we are really, really good at). For good people do bad things, and vice-versa, despite the labels we give each other.

And I also put it to you, that this often-quoted question 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' is thus rendered inaccurate.

As in, bad things happen, there's no denying that. But the people that they happen to, are neither good, nor bad. Indeed (if I may be allowed to use an expression from what I believe), we are all sinners in need of grace.

What do you think?

Weekend in Southport

2010-10-10T15:32:00.010+01:00

One of the most relaxing weekends in Southport since we started here 2 months ago. Got up at the fashionable hour of 930am after which headed into town to get errands sorted. Tried out the HTC Wildfire at a Vodafone store. And then spent a nice few hours at Waterstones picking out books from a gift card (thanks MeiFoong!).

Which way to the sea?

Persuaded Jack to come out for a drive (he's been poorly the past week) and so we traipsed off to Formby beach. A nice walk over the dunes led us to a wide open beach with pretty fine sand and packed just nicely for running/horse-riding/frisbee.

The dunes were 'under construction' whatever that means.

Emo Jack

Walking out to the ship.

Southport sunset

No beach trip complete without creamy ice!

Then decided as we were so close to Liverpool (Formby is about halfway btw Liverpool-Southport) might as well pop over for dinner, so met up with CherHan and Victor for dinner and a tong sui supper. Ah, good times.

All possible because of this baby.

And this is home for the year!

Southport Musical Fireworks Championship 2010

2010-10-05T23:35:00.006+01:00

An enthusiastic Woei Lin with an even more enthusiastic Sasha

I had no idea this was on until Woei Lin my ex-housemate asked me if I was getting tickets. Apparently held annually, it's between a few ?fireworks companies who spend untold sums on getting fireworks timed to music.

Yes it rained

The whole thing kicked off at about 7pm with a demonstration of different types of firework(?s) eg what a Catherine wheel did as opposed to a Roman candle or a tourbillion. Being a fan of Paddington Bear, E.Nesbit's The Treasure Seekers etc, (all of whom described particularly memorable firework segments) it was actually pretty interesting.

No my camera doesn't do night shots well.

The main event turned out to be better than expected, particularly the first performance which was themed around Britain's Got Talent. Favourite bits below.

Not my idea of fun.

2010-10-03T20:57:00.001+01:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

This gave me wet palms before the halfway mark.

What is the point of wearing hard hats if you're climbing that high?

Well that was worth waiting up for:-)

2010-09-25T01:09:00.002+01:00

"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me." Ps 57:2

Time to get crying, then.

Thank you Lord

2010-09-22T00:11:00.000+01:00

For family and friends. Wish I'd brought my camera:-)

Song of The Week

2010-09-18T22:28:00.003+01:00

Hall of Mirrors

2010-09-18T12:35:00.003+01:00

Which is what my hospital accomodation should be called.

I've just realised that in my room alone there are 3 mirrors, 2 more full length ones in the hallway, one in the loo, and one more in the living room! I suppose Southport doctors have a reputation for being sharp dressers? Or just very vain in general?

Life of a CMT1 in Rheumatology 2

2010-09-15T21:58:00.001+01:00

God I hate presentations.

Thanks for bringing me through this one though.

Southport 1

2010-09-11T22:24:00.007+01:00

Southport Marine Lake

'Their portion is with the eternal'

Lord Street - where the fun happens

Visitors welcome:-)

Song of The Week

2010-09-09T20:25:00.000+01:00

Life as a CMT1 in Rheumatology

2010-08-26T13:57:00.002+01:00

Morning
A 40 minute drive to work along A and B roads with national speed limits. Weaving through roads where trees meet overhead and glimpses of farmland peek through the undergrowth, then bursting into sunshine with flat fields on either side. Over bridges with canal boats alongside, through little villages with mini roundabouts and small alleyways barely big enough for a car. Up a steep hill, past the pub at the top with a breathtaking view of the surrounding county spread out below, then a glorious rush down again letting the gears run free after the steep climb (am driving an automatic).

Another stunning trailer

2010-06-24T21:11:00.001+01:00

Song of the Week

2010-06-17T10:14:00.002+01:00

A random listen on Last.fm. Representative of what I like in the genre, first introduced to me by Nickelback.

Love watching people do what I can only dream of

2010-06-10T14:41:00.000+01:00

2010-06-09T22:25:00.001+01:00

The ultimate boys toy.

Wonder how many years of work would I need to be able to afford something like that.

Song of the Week

2010-06-03T22:21:00.002+01:00

I do love a good cover!

Travel?

2010-05-30T15:45:00.003+01:00

So, no holidays to Korea anytime soon then.

Song of the week

2010-05-24T12:30:00.007+01:00

Considering the amount of random music I listen to nowadays, I'm going to put some of what I enjoy here - unfortunately its going to be mainly a mix of pop-rock, electronic and choir-based with a very light amount of jazz as that's what I tend to bend my ears to.

Sang this yesterday in church - with a set of sore lungs and throat, it was great nevertheless, which is one of the great things about singing in church/leading in church - voice quality is but a minor inconvenience and does not hinder in any way the whole business of worshipping.

Now, will I get to go to Brussels or not?

For the gamers

2010-05-09T16:16:00.003+01:00

Saw this a few days ago - and decided to let anyone who reads this page into the secret!

If you're a gamer, or have a netbook and are wondering what to do in your spare time on the train/bus/plane, have a stab at this!

Offer ends in 2 more days!

And on a totally different topic - this one is for those who are disillusioned by Christians.

I've been here too long

2010-03-09T20:06:00.002Z

Scene:
Sitting in the UK equivalent of a greasy spoon, minding my own business, that is to say, wolfing down a chicken fillet burger while chatting to Luke.

Dude from the table across us gets up and on his way out, puts his hand on Luke's bicycle as if to make off with it.

Sees me looking straight at him.

Grins sheepishly and says (in a Eastern European accent) "Of course, that's 'your' (emphasis with fingers) bicycle isn't it? It's definitely yours after you steal it."

Dude walks off.

I realise I'm wearing a hoody, with dark trousers that just might be mistaken for track bottoms and a pair of black shoes. If only I had a shiv sticking out, the picture would be complete.

While I think of something to write

2010-02-18T11:57:00.001Z

Mass Effect 2. What a joy to play.

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | Launch Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | Cinematic Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So I've been offered a job

2010-02-04T21:51:00.004Z

As a Core medical trainee for 2 years in Liverpool, essentially. That which seemed far off and distant has quite suddenly appeared at my doorstep and somehow, like I was saying to a friend, it seems as though I'm committing the next two years of my life away. This is probably the longest I've stayed in an area away from home. I mean, IMU was 3 years-ish, and Liverpool has been nearly 5 years now. And its somewhere which I still don't see myself settling down longterm in, quirky and familiar though it is. The question therefore being: where then? And the slightly unspoken question's semi-identical twin hangs in the air.

I really do not like

2010-02-03T20:43:00.004Z

Electricians (however well-meaning) trampling in my room with bulky coats that look like they havent been washed in years, leaving clipboards and workboxes around which have been goodness knows where, then unscrewing sockets off the wall leaving dust everywhere sniffling rubbing their noses and then hands hands hands forgetting to take their shoes off after being told then stomping all over the house all after a A+E night when I just want to go to bed.

The price of living in the living room of the house-converted into a bedroom I guess. Man I'm whiny.

How some things never change.

2010-02-02T23:10:00.002Z

It can mean a couple of things:

a comfort post about how some things are stable and unchanging, veritable rocks to cling on to while the sands of life continue shifting.

Or a whine post where unshakeable (as far as we can see) circumstances remain firmly in place, bad habits continue to grate, and the past looms out of the shadows at every turn.

Or maybe, its neither of the above.

Maybe some things don't change because thats the way they are meant to be. Forever.
And maybe that's alright.

Sorry just thinking aloud and decided to articulate.

So how's everyone doing?

Hi blog, long time no see!

2010-02-02T11:05:00.005Z

Dinner last night - a nice change from venison sausages with pasta.

It's been a while.

Fresh out of a week of nights. Mass Effect 2. Book to review. Bliss.

Woken up at 0938 by A+E Consultant. Can I do a locum shift tonight as colleague is sick. To sleepy to come up with a good excuse, and too me to say No.

Have loads to do but for some reason feel like trying a new eatery during the next couple of days off. Anyone reading this blog, and in Liverpool, let me know if you want to come with!

Random

2010-01-12T17:50:00.002Z

Alma - is an excellent short on Vimeo! I want to watch a movie by the people who made this!

Also found The Meatrix quite well made.

Quickie

2009-12-04T14:15:00.002Z

Interrupting the work to say:

There are 11,000 free eBooks up for download at The Book Depository, so have a look and pick up those you like, or those you haven't heard of before!

A+E, contrary to my facebook, isn't that bad. So far..

It's Been Ages

2009-10-31T01:57:00.003Z

and I've not got much to say:-)

Suffice to say I've been on a busy set of nights, am girding up my loins (still no idea why and how that phrase came into use) for MRCP Part 1 (wish me luck, and more importantly , keep me in prayer!), planning for my trip back home and Down South, all the while wondering what God's plans are for the next few months, especially after June next year.

I suppose the only other thing is that XBox with Jack and Woei Lin has brought back fond memories of playing on the Amiga when I was in primary school. Back then my cousin would come over every so often on a weekend (he's a medic now as well...whats the world coming to) and we'd take turns playing the games my far-sighted dad bought (presumably for our entertainment since he never played himself) - Double Dragon was one game I remember playing together with him.

Not much has changed, except the graphics haha! Gears of War 2 looks brilliant on our new 32 inch TV, another perk we allowed ourselves this year as 2nd year doctors:-)

Am loving most of the songs on Imogen Heap's new album!

Up is definitely the BEST Pixar film ever to date, eclipsing Wall-E any day.

Better pop to bed, music practice tmrw morning for Sunday. And then a baby dedication after that. Everyone seems to either be getting married or having baies nowadays:-)

The Lost Generation

2009-10-12T18:53:00.000+01:00

Liverpool Food Festival

2009-09-20T16:55:00.015+01:00

Well its actually mainly about my comeback to the baking scene, after years (literally!) of failed trifles, bread-and-butter pudding and crumbles, I finally managed to bake something that people finished eating! hooray for me!

They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating...well, I'm just happy it looked like how a cake should look.
It was chocolate fudge cake (apparently), the original recipe is taken wholesale from my cousin's blog, somewhere I go to to dream about good eating now and again.

Also had a pretty good dinner at 60 Hope Street, somewhere I'd never be able to afford normally as mains go for about mid-20's, however as this week was the Liverpool Food Festival, they had a pretty good deal going on their website (its running till the 26th of Sept so any Liverpudlians want in, head to their site!)

3 courses for GBP18.95 plus a bottle of Rose for 2, sounded like a pretty fair deal, so 5 of us went to try it out. Esther and her sister, Naomi are good foodie people, and Asyikin (an M202!) and Frank made up the party.

Spent a good while discussing what these berries were, and found that the staff didn't know either!

I think my order of starter (Cumbrian ham tart), mains (fillet of Goosnargh chicken) and sweet (Ms Kirkham's cheese with beetroot cake) was probably the weakest of the combinations available - Esther's hake main dish, with Asykin's smoked salmon starter and the mousse dessert were pretty strong options. Even so, the meal was probably one of the best I've had out in Liverpool in terms of English dining. Can't remember much about the wine except that it was Spanish, and there was a lot of it - slept well that night!

Then come Sunday, it was the end of the Food Festival, culminating in a Farmer's Market all along Hope Street. Something like a pasar malam back home, a farmer's market is how UK farmers have a chance to sell directly to the customer, thereby cutting out the middle man and resulting in a higher profit margin.

Looking pretty bare in the morning before it gets crowded later.

I'd planned to meet up with Esther and her cronies from church so heading there after Sunday Service, I found myself confronted with the above scene. Felt hungry so settled for a roll with Gloucester Old Spot hog roast with the stuffing and apple sauce at the shop below.

Let's just say I wasn't blown away. However things looked up as I'd heard there was going to be free performances by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with their resident conductor in charge. Ducking into the Philharmonic, I managed to steal a seat in a box after convincing an elderly couple, that no, I wasn't going to to shout or take tons of photos midway through the performance:-)

Beethoven's 5th Symphony (according to Pa), Haydn's Symphony No. 100 and Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus ballet was my introduction to live orchestral music, and it was good.

Tried biltong, which I'd read about in King Solomon's Mines and always wondered what it'd taste like. In real life, its a strip of jerky-like meat studded with seeds (fennel?) and is really really difficult to bite through. According to Esther (who should know since she spent part of her life in Africa), they're meant to be chewed and chewed and chewed. Not exactly sharing material:-)

Total haul for the day: clockwise from top left-

Smoked kippers, which I'm assured will taste absolutely brilliant boiled in their bags and then dropped on top of white bread.

Cain's Raisin Beer, which as a flavoured beer, I don't get to try too often.

A French artisanal loaf, which apparently uses French flour (I obviously have no clue) and therefore is tastier.

Some sweetcorn lobbed into my bag by Esther.

A pot of homemade damson jam - was looking for quince jelly but no one stocked it.

A chocolate tarte and a slice of chocolate ganache cake.

Two venison tarts with orange and juniper toppings.

YUM!

Part 4

2009-09-08T19:56:00.002+01:00

Three weeks after the wind ceased to blow, the sea lion had a dream.

Now, as I told you before, there were other nights in which he had dreamed of the sea. But those were long ago and nearly forgotten. Even still, the ocean that filled his dreams this night was so beautiful and clear, so vast and deep, it was as if he were seeing it for the very first time.

The sunlight glittered on its surface, and as he dived, the waters all around him shone like an emerald. If he swam quite deep, it turned to jade, cool and dark and mysterious. But he was never frightened, not at all. For I must tell you that in all his dreams of the sea, he had never before found himself in the company of other sea lions. This night there were many, round about him, diving and turning, spinning and twirling. They were playing.

Oh, how he hated to wake from that wonderful dream. The tears running down his face were the first wet thing he had felt in three weeks. But he did not pause even to wipe them away, he did not pause, in fact, for anything at all. He set his face to the east, and he began to walk as best a sea lion can.

"Where are you going?" asked the tortoise.

"I am going to find the sea."

Old and New Merdeka Videos

2009-09-02T10:55:00.001+01:00

Part 3

2009-09-01T23:01:00.001+01:00

It was in May that the winds began to blow.

The sea lion had grown used to wind, and at first he did not pay much heed at all. Years of desert life had taught him to turn his back in the direction from which the wind came and cover his eyes with his flippers, so that the dust would not get in. Eventually, the winds would always pass.

But not this time.

Day and night it came, howling across the barren lands. There was nothing to stop its fury, nothing to even slow it down. For forty days and forty nights the wind blew. And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. The sea lion lifted himself to have a look around. He could hardly believe his eyes.

Every single leaf had been stripped from his tree. The branches that remained, with only a twig or two upon them, looked like an old scarecrow. And I do not need to tell you that there was no longer any shade in which to hide. But worse than this, much worse indeed, was what the sea lion saw next.

The water hole was completely dry.

Sound familiar..Part 2

2009-08-28T22:48:00.002+01:00

The sea lion was not entirely alone in those parts. For it was there he met the tortoise.

Now this tortoise was an ancient creature, so weathered by his life in the barren lands that at first, the sea lion mistook him for a rock. He told the tortoise of his plight, hoping that this wise one might be able to help him.

"Perhaps," the tortoise mused, " this is the sea."

His eyes appeared to be shut against the bright sun, but he was watching the sea lion very closely.

The sea lion swept his flippers once against his side, gliding to the end of the water hole and back. "I don't know," he said. "It isn't very deep."

"Isn't it?"

"Somehow, I thought the sea would be broader, deeper. At least, I hoped so."

"You must learn to be happy here," the tortoise told him one day. "For it is unlikely you shall ever find this sea of yours." Deep in his old and shriveled heart, the tortoise envied the sea lion and his sea.

"But I belong to the sea. We are made for each other."

"Perhaps. But you have been gone so long now, the sea has probably forgotten you."

This tought had never occurred to the sea lion. But it was true, he had been gone for a long, long time. "If this is not my home, how can I ever feel at home here?" the sea lion asked.

"You will, in time." The tortoise appeared to be squinting, his eyes a thin slit. "I have seen the sea, and it is no better than what you have found here."

"You have seen the sea!"

"Yes. Come closer," whispered the tortoise, "and I will tell you a secret. I am not a tortoise. I am a sea turtle. But I left the sea of my own accord, many years ago, in search of better things. If you stay with me, I will tell you stories of my adventures."

The stories of the ancient tortoise were enchanting and soon cast their spell upon the sea lion. As weeks passed into months, his memory of the sea faded. "The desert," whispered the tortoise, "is all that is, or was, or ever will be."

When the sun grew firece and burned his skin, the sea lion would hide in the shade of the tree, listening to the tales woven by the tortoise. When the dry winds cracked his flippers and filled his eyes with dust, the sea lion would retreat to the water hole. And so the sea lion remained, living his days between the water hole and tree.

The sea no longer filled his dreams.

Like This

2009-08-27T20:35:00.003+01:00

Credits go to...erm...John Eldredge, I think, as I first read this in a book he wrote.

Once upon a time there lived a sea lion who had lost the sea.

He lived in a country known as the barren lands. High on a plateau far from any coast, it was a place so dry and dusty that it could only be called a desert. A king od coarse grass grew in patches here and there, and a few trees were scaterred across the horizon. But mostly, it was dust. And sometimes wind, which together make one very thirsty.

Of course, it must seem strange to you that such a beautiful creature should wind up in a desert at all. He was, mind you, a sea lion. But things like this do happen.

How the sea lion came to the barren lands, no one could remember. It all seemed very long ago. So long, in fact, it appeared as though he had always been there. Not that he belonged in such an arid place. How could that be? He was, after all, a sea lion. But as you know, once you have lived so long in a certain spot, no matter how odd, you come to think of it as home.

** **

There was a time, many years back, when the sea lion knew he was lost.

In those days, he would stop every traveler he met to see if he might help him find his way back to the sea. But no one seemed to know the way.

On he searched, but never finding.

After years without success, the sea lion took refuge beneath a solitary tree beside a very small water hole. The tree provided refuge from the burning rays of the sun, which was very fierce in that place. And the water hole, though small and muddy, was wet, in its own way. Here he settled down and got on as best he could.

** **

Had you journeyed in those days through the barren lands, you might have seen the sea lion for yourself. Quite often in the evening, he would go and sit upon his favourite rock, a very large boulder, which lifted him off the burning sand and allowed him a view of the entire country.

There he would remain for hours into the night, silhouetted against the sky. And on the best nights, when the wind shifted to the east, a faint smell of salt air would come to him on the breeze. Then he would close his eyes and imagine himself once more at the sea. When he lay himself down to sleep, he would dream of a vast, deep ocean. Twisting and turning, diving and twirling, he would swim and swim and swim. When he woke, he thought he heard the sound of breakers.

The sea was calling to him.

** **

The sea lion loved his rock, and he even loved waiting night after night for the sea breezes that might come. Especially he loved the dreams those memories would stir. But as you well know, even the best of dreams cannot go on, and in the morning when the sea lion woke, he was still in the barren lands. Sometimes he would close his eyes and try to fall back asleep. It never seemed to work, for the sun was always very bright.

Eventually it became too much for him to bear. He began to visit his rock only on occasion.

"I have too much to do," he told himself. "I cannot waste my time just idling about." He really did not have so much to do. The truth of it was, waking so far from home was such a disappointment, he did not want to have those wonderful dreams anymore.

The day finally came when he stopped going to his rock altogether, and he no longer lifted his nose to the wind when the sea breezes blew.

** **

And so,

2009-08-25T16:38:00.003+01:00

I've acquired the reputation of being a Celine Dion fanatic, simply because I was caught listening to her rendering of Beauty and the Beast on Youtube in the doctor's room after going to watch the musical in question.

The musical, performed at the Empire Theatre was better than I'd hoped for - I was actually quite excited about going to watch it (more so than I should have been, according to the prevaling opinion amongst the infectious diseases team).

The original 1994 movie being the first movie I've ever watched in cinema, kind of brought back memories...which were quickly dispelled at the start, with Belle's voice being a bit too squeaky (I thought).

Gaston, Lumeire and Cogsworth carried the show at the start, and by the time the iconic ballroom scene rolled around, we were all enjoying ourselves.

F I N A L L Y !

2009-08-02T17:27:00.005+01:00

I've never felt so nervous just before an hour's drive before. At least, not since my first 2 attempts at this British driving test which have left me frustrated both with myself and with how candidates are graded.

So the sense of relief upon hearing the words, "I'm pleased to tell you that you've passed" was almost palpable.

Now, which car to get? Suggestions?

And Sarah, you're right - this is super funny - for all generations of IMU students!!

Star Wars Awesomness

2009-07-08T22:32:00.001+01:00

This is, as they say, better than Episodes 1-3 put together.

For a muc much better version, watch it here.

Until I find time to blog seriously again..

Where I find rest

2009-07-01T21:03:00.005+01:00

Turning out to be a good week, despite not going anywhere exotic for my last annual leave of this year.

Transformers 2 which I watched a couple of weeks ago, was good. One long adrenaline rush after another made for a very tired group of us who stumbled out 2 hours later that Sunday afternoon. The next week we confessed how we kept imagining how everything around us would start transforming - wonder if it had that effect on anyone else?

A load of books are keeping me occupied for now -

Alexandre Dumas's Three Musketeers is one that I've read in abridged form when very young, Little Women is a heartwarming story about 4 sisters growing up, very much in the vein of Anne of Green Gables.

More to the present, The Boy In Striped Pajamas is surprisingly cute to read - its told from the viewpoint of Bruno a nine year old boy who is sent to 'Out-With' and who befriends a boy 'in striped pajamas' on 'the other side of the fence'.

The Corner - A Year In The Life Of An Inner-City Neighbourhood looks interesting on the outside, I'm hoping for an eye-opener here. And finally a couple of books from the WesleyOwen sales, which I'll write about when I've actually gotten down to reading them.

Oh, and a travelbook, namely Stephen Fry in America, which I spent most of my afternoon in the park reading today, also made into a BBC series which I'm waiting to watch.

Work? What work?

When You Believe

2009-06-14T22:34:00.002+01:00

Have been looking for this version for a while - it keeps getting taken off youtube I think, so enjoy while you can!

Movie Week

2009-06-08T20:45:00.002+01:00

Not a whole week of movies -just a couple:-)

On Sunday - Erik ditched his long-suffering wife to join Kenny, Becky and I for Terminator Salvation. Something that I'd wanted to watch ever since watching the trailer but had been put off by the poor reviews I'd heard about.

However as Becky put it, the fans who had stood through the downer that was Terminator 3 were not going to miss this summer's addition to the Terminator universe.

A purely action-packed movie, with an emotionless Christian Bale playing John Connor and a slightly more interesting cast paling beside the machines - iconic T-600s alongside Hunter-Killers and a gigantic robot that looked like it had been plucked from the upcoming Transformers movie and was slightly confused to be played beside smallish humans.

Overall - better than expected, but its no Star Trek.

Next - watched this one in my room over dinner and pizza after an unexpected break when David reminded me that he was covering my on-call shift this evening. A movie about Joshua Jackson being told that he has only One Week to live.

A fairly good movie - a lot of Canada is shown (not that I know a whole lot about the country itself), the movie plays out pretty much as expected - there is the moment of epiphany, the moment of sobering realization, the moment of desperation, the moment of fear, the moment of discovery - however the best thing about this movie by far is not its moments.

3 words.

Best. Soundtrack. Ever.

I'm trying to find out how to get a copy of it - the soundtracks are played by Canadian indie artists and established bands, and the sound, while probably a little too light and poppish in parts, is just the right amount of quirkish individuality to pull off a show like this.

Both shows then - well worth a watch!

Time to get down to some work..

Black Is Traditional!

2009-05-25T18:11:00.007+01:00

Coraline.

Amazing stuff.

Not having read the book, I watched this with the anticipation of a Neil Gaiman fan collective resting on my consciousness and a middling trailer seen on Apple.com.

It didn't disappoint.

A story about a young girl bored with her parents, and who thinks her parents are bored with her. So she finds new parents, who look just a little odd.

Definitely not a typical feel-good Disney/Pixar variant, which was refreshing. Scenes flipped between the eccentric to mildly amusing to an anticipation of an exciting finish. This is the sort of book I would've loved when I was young. Maybe even now!

The website was the icing on the cake - plenty of fiddling to be had for those with plenty of time on their hands.

Buttons anyone?

Bit s and Bob s

2009-05-18T20:31:00.003+01:00

Actually just a bit.

Heard that Coldplay's offering their live recording LeftRightLeftRightLeft as a free download here.

It's got some classics plus some ones off their latest album.

Can't believe its so soon till we finish our first year as junior doctors.
In the space of minutes we'll morph magically into SHO equivalents, expected to make decisions on discharging/admitting patients/sending patients to intensive care/taking over complicated patients from junior doctors - wonder if I'll be up to the challenge.

It does sound like fun though, so we'll see.

Plus, this weekend, if it pans out, should be fun!

PS: If you've still got an appetite for legally obtained free music, check out Amazon's free MP3 site.

Etsu

2009-05-14T20:04:00.005+01:00

The last time I ate Japanese, I threw up.

My sister is a big fan, my last housemate back home, my cousin and countless people I know swear by their sushi, sashimi, sake and every raw food that ends with a vowel, so I decided there must be something to the whole cuisine that I'm just not getting.

Etsu was somewhere we've been planning to go for a while. It was the 'place we would go for our first paycheck', then the 'place we would go for our second paycheck' then just 'arrggh are we ever going to go to that place'. Jack, Gil and I planned to make it a house affair, Esther and Naomi, always game to try out a new place, decided to join in.

Restaurant of the Year 2008 in Liverpool, plus rave reviews online - we were expecting good stuff. Gil was especially excited as she knew the chef from a houseparty not too long ago - turns out he remembered her too!

I think we all came with the idea that helpings were going to be small for some reason, so we might have gone a bit overboard in ordering a mixed sushi/sashimi plate, some gyoza and some tempura to start with, plus a main course for each. To complete the feast, some Asahi and Kirin for the guys and plum wine for the girls.

Now I'm a poor judge of what is fresh and what isn't, but the fish that night stuck in my mind as being 'fresh' from the moment I bit into their bouncy flesh that wasn't mushy/soggy in the least. Grains of rice that came apart easily in the mouth yet held together firmly enough to be moved in small clumps easily by chopsticks. Tempura was pretty normal, however the main courses were brilliant all around.

My unagi-don came with a sweet sauce that was light enough not to be cloying, and went beautifully with the white rice - the unagi itself reminded me of a very sweet ikan bakar from back home - similar texture. The tuna and red snapper steaks that Jack and Gil had were firm and went well with their sauces.

Surprise, surprise, we were full enough not to bother about dessert and instead sat around for an hour or so chatting about random stuff till Naomi had to go home and study for finals.

Definitely going back to try their bento boxes.

Free stuff is fun!

2009-05-01T12:05:00.004+01:00

I've not won many prizes via random competitions before, so this was a big deal for me. Being a Waterstone's Cardholder, I rarely receive a parcel from them without knowing in advance, so I was surprised one morning, coming back from an all-nighter, to get a fairly hefty white envelope.

Inside was a letter informing me that I'd won an unproofed edition of Martyr by Rory Clements to read and would I be so kind as to submit an online review when I'd finished.

First of all, I mentally and physically prepared myself.

I remembered entering the draw for the book, thinking that I wouldn't mind reviewing a light historical murder mystery, a little light reading in bed would be fun. At the same time, I was wondering whether I would be able to be objective about it, as I've not read that many pseudo-historical thrillers before (Phillipa Gregory - I'd better read one of hers after this to compare)

What makes a good read, for me, is something I've never thought about; this might be interesting as an introspective for myself!

Firstly, I guess I like it when a book is easy to get stuck into - ie if the language is not too fancy, sentence construction isn't too long . In other words, how 'readable' it is.

I also like it when the scene/setting is painted naturally - ie descriptions flow from the pages naturally, making it easy to picture the surroundings without feeling as if the author is trying to draw my attention to each and every object present in order to make me believe in the authenticity/accuracy of his writing.

Descriptions of food are a bonus, I personally like it when meals are described in books, besides making me hungry, it helps to keep me in the scene, as it were.

Pacing of the plot would do quite a lot to keep me reading. I found books with slow plotlines very dull to read. This goes also for books with obscure references to events that only become clear when I keep reading. However some books reward persistence when the plot picks up a little way on; I found Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell very hard to get into at first-by the end, I didn't want it to stop.

Books with difficult-to-follow plots are an issue. Most murder mysteries, court-case-based books (John Grisham) are not on my reading list because most of them require a lot of attention to really be able to get the most out of them.

Based on the above, I'm actually quite a superficial reader!

However bearing all that in mind, I enjoyed this particular book, because it ticked all the boxes above. Plus I felt that since I'm not a writer, I shouldn't have been too harsh when I genuinely enjoyed it:-)

Almost

2009-04-21T23:51:00.004+01:00

An up and down day - in between attending and assisting in flexible cystoscopy clinic, I managed to lose a USB drive, and post a letter minus the stamps.

And at the eleventh hour, when dinner was in the oven and I was wandering bleary-eyed around the house, Ai Wei's frantic tones via Jack's mobile informed me that I was within 15 minutes of missing the farewell tour of Riverdance.

Having seen them already on DVD, I had some idea of what to expect, but the dancing, the music, the showmanship generally was a sight to behold. Everything seemed so meticulous, from crowd pleasers such as Trading Taps, to wildly crazy dances like Morning in Macedonia, to choral performances and instrumentals; to my untrained eye, not a foot looked out of place.

Sitting back during the intermission we wondered aloud how one of the dancers could twirl on tiptoes while in a squat, and almost immediately get back up and perform without losing her balance.

The musicians were excellent, especially the fiddler, who played immunerable solos and generally kept us entertained for the better part of two hours! Must be something, to be part of such a spirited band.

We were lucky to have got such high seats - AiWei's work, and as they are apparently going to end their run of shows sometime in 2010, about 10 years after they first started (an offspring of a Eurovision performance, I just learned!) so if anyone is still wondering; they're very much worth a watch!

wORSHIP

2009-04-18T10:09:00.003+01:00

Song of the night:

At the foot of the cross

What made the most sense:

'I lay all my burdens down, at the foot of the cross.'

I wish I may, I wish I might

2009-04-09T22:00:00.004+01:00

Got through today, which I'd been dreading for some time now...

Talked about urinary retention in front of the FY1s at the RLUH, which was strangely more nerve-wrecking for me than I thought it would be-I think its getting up to talk in front of people I'm not that close with that makes me nervous.

As expected, ended up talking fast, and trying to cover too much in too little time. Every time I prepare something similar(which isn't all that often anyway), I seem to picture having a lot more time, and prepare a lot more than I actually need to, with the result of having too little time to say all that I want to say. (I'm sure there's a more efficient way of writing all that out as well!)

Was followed by Jack, who did an amazing presentation on COPD. Amazing because he held everyone's attention via a gameshow aka Who Wants To Be A Millionaire style, and amazing because he included plenty of important points for house officers faced with patients with COPD. Enjoyed revising the FEV1 cutoff points for mild-moderate and severe COPD which I'd totally forgotten after doing the respiratory job.

The rest of the day was particularly busy, but mostly enjoyable - ended the day with an unexpected invite to a drug rep presentation at Mayur, an excuse for urology consultants and registrars to mingle and enjoy free food and drink. Vinny and I felt a bit out of place amongst all the big names and timidly asked for a couple of glasses of coke, while around us, Johnny walker Black Labels were being consumed by the glassful.

To mask the event in a show of actually learning something, the registrars had a couple of talks on recent advances in PSA monitoring, and it was pretty heartening to watch senior doctors argue over the definition of a screening test, and how a receiver operating characteristic curve should be interpreted and what 'area under the curve' actually meant. Kind of reminded me of a long ago evening in Barrow 4th year med school where HP, Ed and I sat down to discuss statistics for exams. Much like then, everyone came to the conclusion that no one really fully understood matters:-)

Dinner was good - and while I kick myself now for not indulging in lassi, it was a good, if brief, night out. If only I wasn't working tmrw.

Happy Good Friday!

Holding my attention

2009-04-07T21:16:00.002+01:00

Popped into theatre today for only the second time in my Urology rotation - watched a cystoscopy - basically a camera going into the bladder via the urethra, looking for cancer. The fluffy specks, fronds that swayed in the clear irrigation fluid pumped into the bladder were actually worrying - muscle invasive tumour. A 5-year survival rate of 50%.

Back on the ward, a patient became abusive and took a swing at me as I was examining his chest to detect the crackles and creps of aspiration pneumonia to determine if he should continue on IV antibiotics. The staff wonder: how do we assess the mental capacity of a patient whose family are not immediately contactable? A mini-mental score and a call to the Mental Health Liaison team are in order; plus I shouldn't feel too special about the whole thing; he has taken swings at all manner of staff from SHOs to junior nurses.

Jack and Gil are watching Hospital - a reality programme about NHS and dealing with different patients - too much work for me, I'm glad to come home to Heroes, to a nice cup of hot Milo with condensed milk(!) to the latest book waiting to be read, not to more work:-)

Saw tonight on the Apple trailers site that one of my first books growing up, is being made into a movie. Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, to me, was a tale about a troubled child who went to the land of the Wild Things to escape his ominous life at home. Seems that the movie is going along those lines - will be interesting to see how it pans out.

I like weekends

2009-04-05T22:25:00.004+01:00

It's nice to wake up at the ungodly hour of 9am, without being jolted out of sleep by the alarm and knowing that, if I chose, I could go on sleeping and no one would be harmed in the least (not that they would anyway).

So had a relatively lazy Saturday where I finally dragged myself out of the house to the Liverpool Empire to catch the Witches of Eastwick. It was surprisingly good, and provided plenty of entertaining moments, though we did wonder about the subject matter and there being plenty of kids around - colorful language and sexual innuendo abounded - parents would have a lot of explaining to do.

The story, for those too lazy to follow the links, revolves around 3 women living in a town small enough that everyone knows who's seeing who, and the conjuring up of a devilishly handsome man that proceeds to charm the lady-folk of the town, with both creepy and hilarious effects.

Here's hoping Riverdance will at least be as good when we watch them in April!

Saturday night saw us at Jody's where a number of Malaysian medics had been invited. It was nice to kick back and chat, if a little too medical-oriented:-) (what an amazing phenomenon that when medics gather, the conversation always turns back to work) and considering his house wasn't too far from ours, we stumbled home at 1am without too much difficulty.

Have decided in bits what to talk about on Thursday (benign prostatic hyperplasia management) and am a little miffed at finding out I am working the next couple of bank holidays.

Things are getting exciting

2009-04-02T22:39:00.002+01:00

Grand Nationals this weekend...the nursing staff are talking about going to the races, everyone's worried that the rain will spoil things and recounting hilarious past experiences where people spent ridiculous amounts on a bottle of wine.

Will be watching Witches of Eastwick - of which I know nothing about as of now with Jack, my long suffering housemate with whom I've been out together on more occasions than I care to remember. Gil bailed out leaving the two of us to scrounge around for someone else to share the evening with.

Am feeling a little pleased at having survived today after covering 6 different consultants worth of patients. SHOs who are willing to pitch in are a Godsend.

And Easter is coming up. Wonder if I'm working then?

Its nice when things go right

2009-03-30T20:50:00.002+01:00

Had an enjoyable Saturday diagnosing and managing at leisure what seemed to be all the various surgical causes of abdominal pain, all of who came in at nicely spaced intervals so that I never felt rushed to do things.

And while Sunday was a little more free than I'd have liked, I diagnosed my first acute appendicitis.

Its the little things that make me happy.

'Twas a curry lunch saved my life today

2009-03-26T22:05:00.002Z

Yup, carrying that packed lunch of lamb, dhal poured over white rice and overlaid with fragments of a crispy poppadum around to the various wards certainly helped the day go by quite well.

In THe eNd

2009-03-24T20:05:00.002Z

So its final - I'll start my second year as a doctor working in Infectious Diseases, then Accident and Emergency, and finally Critical Care.

Should I try to sit part 1 during my first block of 4 months? - yet to be answered.