Tagboard

Most of us have tagboards on our personal blogs and recently, I've been thinking...

Since M203.blogspot has become more active these days, do we want a tagboard here as well? It will provide us with an avenue to post tiny msgs for each other, a mini "chatroom", I should say. So... what do you guys think? Leave a few comments please, whether you're for or against the idea and also erm.. why. Ok? Yeah, I know I should set up a poll or something but it's 4+ in the morning and I'm tired.

Since CVS will be over in a few days' time (phew), and "holidays" (read: holidays wif rotations hence giving us only a week after months of hardwork) are just around the corner, I'm thinking of revamping 2 of the 3 weblogs I post at. Namely, my own blog (which, btw, is far far far overdue for a good revamp) and this blog. So, it will be very nice if you can let me know what whether you wanna see any changes here. Of course, fellow m203-blog bloggers, if you want to do the revamp instead, go ahead. :)

Soon Liang

This post is dedicated to the man who scored 3 out of 5 goals in the friendly match against the Semester 4s last Friday (25/06/2004):
Soon Liang, aka. Bruce Lee, aka. Coachie scored a goal at 10', then 15', followed by another one at 16'. (1 minute between goals! Who needs a playmaker when you've got a goalmaker.)

Other highlights of the game:

1) The sheer momentum of Soon Liang's striking force carried him beyond the edge of the field, and over the side benches. Coachie knew he was gonna ram the benches, so he pushed himself against the bench to vault himself over it, so he pulled through without any obvious pain, masses or scratches. (Good thing, too!) What foresight! What quick-thinking! That's Bruce Lee for ya, folks!

2) As the guys were kicking the ball around before the start of the 2nd half, someone - I presume, accidentally - kicked the ball in the direction of the loyal F3 supporters standing by the side. (That's gratitude for ya!) I was on the brink of being brained by a ball, when I saw a flash of red soar in front of me and punch the ball harmlessly out of the way. Yes, 'tis Adrian that hath saved thy Batch rep, oh M2/03!

To quote the 'lil green aliens in Toy Story 2:
"You saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."

Since we're on the subject of puppets...

You know, I usually do not post here. But since Yee Pei and Sheena insist, i was like... screw it, i'll just post sth here. You know, leave a stain here.
Just finis CG and is supposed to be studying with CVS exams around the corner and all, but I am like in a care-la mood. I've made up my mind not to blog on my blog for this week, and will probably blog on maybe tmr or on monday.
So for today, I'll just like to enlighten you guys bout the upcoming orientation. I found a really creepy picture of a puppet, and it's this picture.
Click to enlarge.
It's the doll right in the centre, and you got to agree with me that it is scary.
What bout this?

And the all famous puppets: Punch and Judy. I found them really scary wen i was a kid. Click to enlarge.


The less scary ones would be like

Don't they remind you of someone?


And dedicated to Krazy and Xiao_Zhai...Red Riding Hood.

And there is also one that looks like Ong Kok Hai:

Oh and just for those ppl in charge: those puppets controlled by strings are not usually called puppets, but called marionettes. Puppets are the one you put on your hands and shake about. But who cares, right?

With CVS Exam 'Round The Corner

Smack in the middle (rather, nearing the end) of CVS, we're fast approaching the exam of our very very first system course. *gulp* Hands up, those who are prepared. :P

Long long time ago (at least it seems long to me), we spend 2 hours a day in school on average, with a only 2 long days a week and have the rest of the time to watch movies, go for different outings, watch all kinds of TV programs and oh ya, how can I forget, study. That's what I call the "good old days".

Nowadays, we seem to have more CSU sessions (plus the revision sessions we arrange for ourselves, aren't we hardworking?), community clinic visits and oh-i-don't-know-why-it-is-happening-now orientation meetings and of course, much more to absorb, so, anyone done studying??? Please let me know, you have my utmost utmost admiration!!!

Ok, why this post? Basically, I'm so unprepared, I have no idea how I'm going to get through this coming paper. Sheesh...

A story to share...

Long ago, in a far away land...

There were many tribes living in harmony amongst the vast jungles. To show their collaboration and unity, every year they held a sword-fighting competition, in gesture of good will. Each tribe will send in their bestest warriors to compete in various sword-fighting events. Each event tests on their skills, dexterity, stamina, bravery and even intelligence.

The champion, the survivor and overall winner for the whole competition would be proclaimed "The Second Best Swordsmaster

Why? coz the Best Swordsmaster just didn't come that day...

Moral of the story, there are people better than you out there. Don't think you are so great.

A Huge Thank You

Just thought I'll say Thank You to someone here. He knows who he is lah. :)

High & Mighty Medical Students

Dear readers,

I got up at 7.30am on a Saturday and saw a comment claiming that we medical students feel we are high above the rest, so I figured that since it's the first thing I saw this morning and I'm in a blogging mood, I'll blog about it. :) And of course, another reason is that it is my wish to try to make every reader feel special, first on the list is Mr I-have-no-guts-to-tell-you-my-name, hereby known as Mr No-guts or NG

Regards,
YP

To quote Mr No-guts, "u medic students probably think u r sooo high above the rest i guess. i can probably represent the people who are not mature, oh and guess what, they are a bigger number than medic students. From the comments and letters from the public in the newspapaer, i can safely say that the majority of the population in the world is not mature enuff.".

On to my post, do we think we're "sooo high above the rest"? The answer, I believe, is no. I'll cover this on two levels (*wink at the debaters*). Firstly, stereotyping and secondly, why high and mighty and medical students just don't go together.

Before I begin, let's answer the question of "what are medical students?" Medical students are but students and in our case, undergraduate students. We are a group of people who are interested in medicine (for whatever reasons) and have been fortunate enough to pursue a course we are interested in. If anything, I think medical students are a bunch of stupid people who don't know what's good for us. Why? Well, think bad pay, bad working conditions, horrible working hours, huge responsibilities, longest course and oh yeah, how can I forget, the most degrading scoldings anyone can get. We chose this course because of a desire to serve the society, unless someone is still living in his dreams, doing medicine and getting high income doesn't quite go.

About stereotyping... by saying the medical students are high above the rest, you're stereotyping. I'm not doubting the fact that there are a handful of medical students who think themselves high above the rest but I'll say the same for accounting students, law students, design courses etc. These are people who think themselves high above the rest and has absolutely nothing to do with what course they are doing. Of course, if the society sees us as high above other students, then we appreciate this high regard they have for us but that doesn't mean that we see ourselves as being above others.

Why is it that medicine and viewing ourselves above others not go together? Simple, in this career we choose, it will be our duty to serve and help people from all walks of life. To the less enlightened, during our course and our career in future, we have to interact with many people acting all high and mighty isn't going to allow you to take their history. Many of us, in our answer to the question "Why do you wanna become a doctor?", have included something along the lines of wanting to serve others. So, now someone who sees him/herself high and mighty wanna serve other people? You think that's possible? I think not.

In conclusion, I'll advice all readers to please think before you comment and please also mind your manners while doing so. And, "IMHO" doesn't entitle you to not have manners. Thanks.

Something I saw today

Was coming up the (unmoving) escalator, and saw Dr. Chu and Dr. Dhruba talking outside Dr. Dhruba's door. I dunno why, but I felt like blogging about it, because:

a) Both of them are such cute individuals on their own,
b) That it's even cuter to see the 2 of them talking together.

c) It's always good to know that the lecturers are friends with each other. (Gee, I make it sound as though I think of them as being such sad cases, like that.)

and d) It REALLY is cute to see & hear them talking together!

Disclaimer

Just added a disclaimer at the end of the page. Please read it. May I emphasize in this post that the commenting system was set up so that readers can have a chance to have their say and that this is a PRIVILEGE and is not a right. If abused, we may consider removing the commenting system. We expect all readers to be mature individuals, therefore will appreciate it very much if no one will attempt to assume the role of a three years old. Children are adorable but I'm sorry, they are not welcome in this blog. A and HP can attest to the fact that children find me very scary. Thank you.

Muhibbah?

I'm aware I'm going to be opening a huge can of worms with this post, but what the heck, to quote YP: "These are just my thoughts and are not meant to hurt anyone." (Or something to that effect)

Yesterday, most people were in a flurry over living arrangements for KKB - hostel or house; if house, which house; how many people in a house; and of course, who to stay with in the house.

I was pretty sleepy yesterday - more so than usual - when R asked me if I wanted to stay in a house together with her. I wasn't too keen on the idea, because I thought having to take the bus from the house was less convenient than walking from the hostel. After some discussion, I figured I'd stick with the hostel. I went back to my seat, then the next thing I know, T comes up to me and says, "Sheena, you're the house leader. Make sure you..." I was like, "Hang on a sec: Wha? House leader? What house?" I was then informed that I'd been signed up - without my knowledge - to stay in a house together with 5 other Chinese girls. Ok, cool, looks like my living arrangements had been taken care of, which in my book is a good thing, 'cos I'm surprisingly blur when it comes to settling practical things like these.

Anyway, R comes back, and I tell her, "Guess what? Apparently I've been signed up to stay in a house." She asked if she could stay with us, but our house was full already. But E hadn't found a house yet, so R & E decided to go house-hunting together. (To quote Timothy Song, "Are you all confused yet with all these short forms? If you are, good.") The 2 of them go off for a bit, then R comes back again to me and says,
"We found 2 other girls to stay with, but they're both Malays."

I couldn't help but think, "So, the problem is... ?"

But the clincher came when R went back to finalise arrangements with them, and she told me the result of which:
"All 6 Malay girls want to stay together in 1 house."

Which leaves R & E to either a) Conquer a house all by themselves, or b) Stay in a hostel.

I was talking about this incident with a guy friend, and he mentioned that a feller in his group, R2, had ticked off the names of all the Chinese guys whom he wanted to stay with. Having ticked off the names, R2 remarked, "Aiyah, the Malays don't need to care onelah." (I found this quite surprising 'cos girls are notorious for being HEAPS more clique-ish compared to their male counterparts.)

Point of this entire post is, how many living arrangements have been drawn along racial lines? I agree that it may seem contrived to force a racial quota when it comes to living arrangements, but having lived in a hostel during my Pre-U days which employed that policy, I have seen that such a quota does work, and is effective in creating more inter-racial friendships. I became such close friends with my housemates that race was honestly a non-issue, and I believe this is true of the others who stayed in that hostel.

I could fault people's preconceived notions of each other: One side says, "They hardly take part in anything." And the other side says, "They're not friendly."
Or I could blame the environment in which we study. IMU is after all, a private, profit-oriented university, with exorbitant fees which subtly excludes certain strata of society, ie. those who are not as well-off as some, and targets certain races for intake. I suppose such an environment is also not conducive to free-mixing among the races, compared to public universities.

Nevertheless, why are we so reluctant to break out of a our comfort zones? We're all different, and we each have something rich to offer one another... if we would choose to overlook trivial things such as race and just, damnit, GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER.

Orientation M2/04

See... I'm blogging 'cos someone commented that Sheena's the only one that blogs here... so I'm a tiny bit hurt. *pretends to sob in a corner*

To everyone else who still doesn't know (and I strongly feel that you should wake up from your sleep), we've recently started planning for M2/04s' orientation. I'm not going to reveal much here (and don't reveal stuff you're not supposed to when you comment, ok?) because well, we don't want to spoil the fun for the juniors in case they come across this blog right?

Most people (the rest, oi! in coma ah?) should know by now that Aravind (dunno how to spell, paiseh) is the President, Sheena is the Vice-President. Secretary is Rassam who "
ordered" Calvin, his vice, to write minutes during our first meeting. Mr-Money, the treasurer, is Richard. That's about it for the main main people for the committee.

I don't want to post the names for the rest of the committee 'cos well, I don't want to miss out anyone. (Not nice what...) I will post it, one fine day, when I get hold of the list. :) Say... after the meeting this coming Wednesday?

Dr. Thani

Hands down, Dr. Thani takes the cake as the man with the best English... or so I think. I love the way he uses the language. I don't know if you guys noticed - since some of you seem more preoccupied with counting how many times he says "as such" rather than actually paying attention to what he's saying - but he has a wonderful, and I mean, a wonderful way with words. He phrases everything so beautifully, that every single one of his lectures is bound to produce a quotable quote. My personal favourite, which sadly I can't remember, was his closing sentence for his neoplasia 4 lecture. And what's more the pity, I've a feeling most people missed that finely-worded, thought-provoking conclusion because they were too busy packing to go back.
Asides from his plethora of quotes - which I'm gonna upload soon to my blog, his intimate knowledge of pathology is amazing! It's like, he's got a book in his head, the way he rattles off descriptions of clinical manifestations of the various pathologies. You can really tell, he knows his stuff. (which is quite impressive, knowing how many lecturers fail miserably at trying to pass off as though they know something) It's no wonder he's earned the moniker "The Walking Papa Patho." According to one current Sem 4 student, there was one time, a blackout happened, and everyone in the theatre thought they could go home 'cos everything was in darkness. But the man said, "Please stay. I would like to finish my lecture." And he finished the lecture... in the dark, without the aid of notes or slides. And when they went home, they found that his slides corresponded ezakly to what he said in that half hour of darkness.
Amazing.
I could wax more lyrical about him, but the library's closing. For now, I'll end with some words which he pronounces in his own unique way:
O-kering (occurring),
Ded (dead),
Spa-geti (spaghetti).
Look out for 'em next time he lectures.

Btw, anyone noticed his predilection for using very US-type examples?