M203 Diary

Thursday, November 30, 2006

It's not just IMU.

Apparently, all medics are depraved, sex-mad perverts if Southampton's Medics Revue is anything to go by. The Medics Revue is basically a charity musical spoof put up annually by medical students, complete with an in-house band/orchestra also made up of medical students. (It helps when one of the mature students has a degree in music.)

The title is always a huge secret, which is only revealed close to opening night. In 2004, the title was "Pirates of the Cerebellum", in 2005, the title was "Top Gum".
This is the title for 2006:



















Hairy Proctor and the Urologist's Bone.


And the Bone in question is a Boner. Priapism, for those who like their medical jargon.

Basically, Professor Fumblemore had priapism from performing a surgery to "enlarge his cock" while he was drunk, with the resultant priapism, so he divided his students into 2 groups, 1 with Hairy, Wrong, Spermione (& Shagrid), vs. the mature, ie. postgraduate students, and set them the task of finding a cure for his condition. Whoever managed to solve his problem, would get the F1 posting of their choice. The rest would be sent to Portsmouth. (This relatively ulu place off Southampton.)

However, just because there is a storyline, don't be deceived into thinking the show actually stuck to it. There were numerous musical/dance sequences deploring work as a doctor ("Poo, it's in my head, and in my eyes." - Sung to the tune of Penny Lane), or creating awareness of testicular cancer ("Ball sack, that's where you get cancer." - Sung to the tune of Love Shack). And of course, sex jokes ("Fist me" - Love Scene between Spermione & Hairy, sung to the tune of Kiss me) & cross-dressing aplenty, including a bit where Wrong mooned the audience.
A guy in a thong is a nasty thing.

Interestingly enough, lecturers, consultants, and even the Dean of Medicine show up yearly for the Medics Revue. And they find it funny.

All in all, the Medics Revue, as YK put it, was a longer & more thematic version of IMU's Variety Night, pretty much the way twins raised by different parents in different parts of the globe can still grow up with similar characteristics.
I don't know if it is the unconscious desire to prove ourselves "un-nerdy" that medics go to the other extreme and employ toilet humour to show that we are "cool", or it is just that whether in Malaysia or the UK, all medics are sick.

But, I do know that it might be a sign of how much I have advanced in my medical career that I actually ENJOYED the Medics Revue.

Shagrid: "You're a magical medic, Hairy."
Hairy: "A what?"
Shagrid: "A magical medic. And a thumpin' good one I'd wager once you've trained up a bit."
Uncle Vernon: "He will not be going! We swore when we took him in that we would put a stop to all of this rubbish!
Hairy's going to stay here and be a pharmacologist!"


Maybe taking the mickey out of pharmacists/pharmacologists is another universal medic thing as well.

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Monday, November 27, 2006

Silent Scream World Tour 2010 Promotional Video

No, I wasn't paid a cup of cofeebean ice blended anything to promote this. Enjoy. Don't scream,girls.




This is just a promotional video for Silent Scream World Tour 2010. Coming Live! near you. Please contact SISTIC for more information on ticketing.

Students from M203,please bring your IMU ID for free entries(does not include spouse and kids)

Please visit http://www.silentscream.biz for further info.


Wah.....why some people so yeng one?I wanna be a rock star as well. Too much...too much..... You guys think I am joking about the World Tour? I will tell you guys in 2010.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Debate?

You would have thought that after being flamed in my previous post in M203, I would have learnt my lesson. Well, I did, and that is to blog more here! Haha.

But this post is a post that I must blogged about to all the M203 debaters. Today, when I stepped into IMU, I heard a commotion on the atrium. I went to take a peek, and I saw a debate setuped on the stage, with Dr. Thani, Dr. Vishna and Kamalan as the government, and Prasad, Yih Seong and Hai Liang as the Opposition.

The motion: This House will abolish the dress code.

The adjudicating panel: Prof Yeoh Peng Nam (Auntie Nam as Chair), Charmaine from SAD and a student I did not know (my guess: SRC member).

As debate is something I deemed very interesting, and these three juniors were the juniors I hold dear to my heart, I thought, what the heck, let's just watch the debate for a while. The thesis can wait, my results can wait, hell, life can wait, I want to watch my juniors trash the lecturers with their debating skills.

So the debate began. And I have to stop myself from throwing myself over the 1st floor railing in laughter. Recall Dr. Thani's voice in lecture, now replace the white wall background, the table and the powerpoint presentation with the atrium and instead of pathology, he was talking about dress codes and how dress code is unnecessary as it does not do anything beneficial. This, from a lecturer. And his accent does not make it any easier, as I could see my juniors straining to catch what the hell he was trying to say.

You have to ignore the fact that the government bench were made up of 2 non-debaters and a debater. So their structure of speech was shot to hell. But again, you have to bear in mind their non-debater status. So from their huru-hara speech, I managed to drag out these few points:
1. Dress code infringe rights.
2. Dress Code is not beneficial
3. Why force students when you can teach?

Ok.. pretty good points... except they seemed all to be similar points.

And I think the boys let themselves get caught up with the pace that the lecturers had set, or maybe they weren't taking this seriously (because I know that can do better), or they do not want to insult the lecturers.

Now, I understand how tough it can be when you debate on a side that you clearly and wholesomely and strongly disagree with. Like hell I would want to defend the dresscode, so I think the boys do not have the drive to actually debate this topic.
(I wonder how Yee Pei, Adeline, and Sheena could have done. They had no problems thrashing the asses of the seniors in Seremban and in the same breath insulting the entire teacher-student body of IMU Seremban)

So I thought our juniors did pretty ok, even though they did not substatiate their points well enough. (Can't blame them. A POI by Thani lasted almost a minute and they were too respectful to sit the lecturer down). Hai Liang definitely made a better whip than Kamalan and he cleared all the haze that the lecturers stirred to cover their asses. Our boys had matter and manner, while the lecturers had only manner and loud bombastic voices.

I think most of IMU students need to go watch debates more. They seemed to be laughing everytime the speaker wave another debater down (ie denying a POI). Not sure why.

Kamalan got best speaker (I would have given it either to Pras or HL) and the motion stands. So in the end, what do we have but a redundant debate, as even though the lectures agree that the dress code is just a hindrance, nothing is going to change.

We were discussing about just now and thought maybe Prof Yeoh gave the loss to the boys because they weren't wearing the similar shade of red (They were all in red, by the way, just different shades). To understand why we would come to such conclusion, you have to understand what happened in our research meeting yesterday when we presented out results.

Due to several call for edits... the following part is in code. People who played FFX would understand the language, so those who do not know, please email one who knows.


Adrian icat y knao pylgknuiht vun rec knybrc, ed ec cdyhtynt.
Bnuv Oaur: Lryhka dra pylgknuiht du freda. Oui ghuf ruf nekrd?

Fyr myi ar, fa fana ymm cdynehk yd ran mega cra fyc syt un cusadrehk.

Daniel: Yht E ryja ran yc uha uv so aqysehanc. Fryd ev cra belgat uh dra tevvanahd cryta uv fredac uh so dracec byban?!!!

Ur, cbaygehk uv uin dracec, Rajinder ryc y kyo kio yc uha uv rec aqysehan. Cu lyh oui kioc cikkacd cusa 'sujac' du syga res cluna rekran?

Daniel: Sing 'Maneater' or dance 'Sexy Back'

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Monday, November 20, 2006

"First time on call. Ever."

I went through my first night on call last Wednesday at the psychiatric hospital which I’m currently attached to. Psych isn’t something I particularly fancy, so the thought of having to sacrifice a night of S&S (study and sleep to the uninitiated) to assess patients didn’t seem like a very inviting prospect to me. After finishing up in the wards I checked out the call room which I was going to sleep in. Pseudo-homey is the word I would use to describe it, although the bed did look comfortable. But the TV didn’t work, so minus 100 points already. Aghhh…

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I know now that patients aren’t the only ones affected by budget cuts

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Comfy bed..yes…Verdict: Nice

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Notice the wires hanging off the tv? Verdict: Not nice

Plus I should mention that the call room is located in the abandoned part of the hospital…just empty hallways and even emptier rooms. Major spook factor lor…I kept thinking someone could escape from one of the units and club me in the head and cook me with chianti and fava beans. Sluurrpspspsps….Which is a funny thought, because the one of the first things we learned here in psych is the stigma that psych patients have to deal with, and here I am validating that problem.

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No echos, please. It looks brighter than it really is because my camera has a powerful flash

So I thought in order to soften the blow a little I’d walk across the street and indulge in a meal that would remind me of home – A&W fried chicken and fries. But as I was sinking my teeth into the gloriously delicious oil-laden fries the pager went off at 7.15pm. Aghhh…

It’s going to be a long night.

So I spent the whole night assessing 3 patients with my resident. The patients were not very co-operative (one had wanted to jump off the bridge for the second time, one thought the devil was listening in on her conversations and another one had wanted to end her life because she was too proud to ask for assistance with her medical problems…you know, the usual stuff), and there were tonnes of paperwork to fill up. So I didn’t get any sleep till 5am the next day. Which would have been fine with me, had it not been necessary to get up at 8am to get ready for the wards. Cisss… Side note: when they told me that med school in North America was hard, I didn’t think it’d be THIS hard. While my comrades across the Atlantic are impressing the heck out of everybody with their knowledge and skills, here I am barely surviving. ^%#&@!!.

I shouldn’t be complaining really, since I did pay a gargantuan amount of money to come here to learn medicine as the locals do. So by working more hours in the wards I’m actually getting more bang for my buck. And the resident I worked with was fantastic…she let me run the show whenever possible, and taught me a practical thing or two about dealing with psych patients. One of my colleagues didn’t get beeped at all the following night, so I should be thankful I got to do stuff. Five more calls to go before this posting comes to an end…so bring it on!!

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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Bronchiectasis & IMUians in Glasgow

OHHHH so you did 2.5 years in Malaysia… No wonder you are so smart!!!!” The unmistakable Glaswegian accent.

WHAT!? I thought it must be the piling wax in my ear. Did she just say S.M.A.R.T?

“YEAH, you guys know words that we don’t know! – BRONCHIECTASIS

*Tried so hard to not laugh*

I swear, I could have fallen off from my chair and suffer a severe concussion that would make me stupid for the rest of my life.

This is one of the rare occasions in my life when I actually feel smart. Dramatic, I must say, for me to “feel smart”. Reason for “feeling” smart is because I know I am NOT as smart as I wish to be, but now, right now, I feel so. Whoosh.

They are superb in history taking. Correction, in communication – Blethering with patients. It’s so natural that you’d think they have known the patient for years – something we Asian students struggle with. It just sounds so FAKE when we try to chit-chat. When we ask about the weather, about patient’s journey to the surgery…

But, they don’t even ask about smoking history when talking to a patient who suffers from respiratory symptoms. Like ????????????????

I quietly recuperated from my state of shock and refrained myself from adding questions because I didn’t want to be a show off/smarty pants/smart Alec/know-it-all…

2.5 years in IMU. I am now grateful with…

* A walking Papa Patho who didn’t know the meaning of comma, fullstop – Dr. Thani who gave us consice and complete notes on what…but BRONCHIECTASIS!

*Achike who scared me shitless every time during CSU. Who had prepared us so well.

* “Hello, good morning, I am Sue Yin.. a 3rd year medical student…” – that piece of God-Sent CSU notes which had helped me sailed through all 5 semesters.

A lot. Did I tell you, they gawked in awe when my IMU friend mentioned about Osler’s Nodes and Janeway Lesions?

However, ang mohs being ang mohs, they will pick up in no time and they will then realize…

Bronchiectasis is just a word in Pg. 127 in Dorland’s.

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Thursday, November 02, 2006

Regenerate

You scored as Biology/Chemistry/Geology. You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in Biology, Chemistry, Geology, or related majors (e.g. Environmental Science, Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Biology, Zoology).




It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it.




Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests. Please post your results in your myspace/blog/journal.

Biology/Chemistry/Geology

88%

Nursing/AthleticTraining

69%

Physics/Engineering

63%

Religion/Theology

63%

Education/Counseling

50%

Psychology/Sociology

50%

Accounting/Finance/Marketing

50%

PoliticalScience/Philosophy

44%

Visual&PerformingArts

38%

History/Anthropology/LiberalArts

31%

HR/BusinessManagement

31%

Mathematics/Statistics

19%

English/Journalism/Comm

19%

French/German/Spanish

13%

WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com



hmmm... am I in the right field???

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