Baru

One of the luckier moments I've had was to do with the train crash that occured near the Lake District last Friday. It was almost pure chance (and the need to wander aimlessly around the British Museum and buy biscuits from Harrods) that made me purchase tickets for the train ride just after the one that was involved in the accident. Needless to say, I'm thanking my lucky stars that the railtrack came off the moment it did and not later on during that night.

I wasn't in the best of moods since last weekend, mostly çause I was melayaning my MURSOS, but one of the highlights of the past week (besides the amazing one-week break I had, that is) is the purchase of a new laptop with MS Vista installed as the OS. So here I am blogging for the first time from my new pride and joy, and it is with a certain amount of relief that I can kiss goodbye to the old ways of waiting for 5 mins for the laptop to get started and to stare listlessly at the wall while certain programmes start loading.

The new OS is a joy to use, and although it bears uncanny resemblances to the current Apple OS, it is much more user-friendly as predicted. The documents are organised more systematically, the photo-viewing machinery is sleek enough to elicit a 'wow', things are easier to find and on the whole, things are a heck of a lot more pleasing to the eye, although admittedly, nothing ground-breaking has been introduced.

I've sort of made up 4 contigency plans in my head with regards to my career progression, and it's really a case of playing the waiting game from here on. At the moment, it's a case of enjoying/milking all the experience I can get from my current post whilst reading up on stuff as I hope to sit for exams in spring. Enough time? Perhaps. I started a little revision today and although it felt like I was clearing cobwebs from my relatively dormant mind, it was a start at least and I felt good towards the end. The 2 lovely cups of coffee (from a brand that was introduced to me by Ellina) might have helped as well.

Here's a toast to new beginnings.

Humbug

It has been more than 6 years since I set foot in England, having set out rather eagerly and wide-eyed from the Southeast of Asia to pursue a medical education in a country that is meant to be a world-leader in the field. We came to this country primarily for the post-graduate opportunities, as almost everyone would agree that the training here is very well organised and it is internationally recognised for good reason. Why else would one pay more than 80 000 pounds for an undergraduate training programme, which is more or less similar in content in most universities throughout the world?

Now, it would appear that the time I've had in this country is coming to a close. Non-British and non-EU citizens aren't welcomed anymore when it comes to specialist training, even if we are trained within the UK and have more than sufficient experience/knowledge of the country, its culture and more importantly, the ethos and mechanisms that make up the NHS.

It does not matter if you have poured your heart and soul into improving and making an effort to build up your Trust, it does not matter if you have proven yourself worthy as a Foundation doctor and surpassed all the requirements. It doesn't even matter if you speak fluent English and communicate well with pretty much everybody. If you don't have the correct passport, then it is all for naught.

Having invested so much time,effort and money, I cannot help but feel frustrated with the outcome of the ST application programme. I would prefer to have been included and then be rejected for being of insufficient quality instead of being in this limbo of not knowing if I am not good enough or if my application wasn't even considered in the first place.

One feels unappreciated, unfulfilled. An individual who's been used to plug up the gaps in the Foundation programme, only to be discarded like an old teddy bear when Christmas comes a-calling. It is saddening that merit is not the main criteria anymore and that the playing field is far from level. Most annoying of all, no leeway was given to individuals who are already within the system. I would have probably done my undergraduate studies elsewhere if I knew I was going to be kicked out in such an unceremonious and disgraceful manner.

But I guess what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger. I know my strengths and my weaknesses, and hopefully this will come into play wherever it is I end up practising medicine. And wherever it is I end up practising, I had better start working on my PR skills as it is more evident than ever before that being a professional in whatever you do is simply not good enough.

Sejuk

It’s been an interesting past week or so.

Bush has addressed his new Democratic-laden colleagues and have actually acknowledged the need to utilise new methods of fuel consumption (of course the fact that he’s doing this for poorly non-altruistic reasons is another issue altogether). A more laughable point is the fact that he is not encouraging intelligent use of carbon combustibles, but is instead advocating the use of materials e.g. a giant mirror to reflect the sunlight away from Earth. The fact that we have practically no understanding of long-term weather systems and we wouldn’t know the consequences getting rid of some of our sunlight don’t seem to be a deterrant.

Federer has won (again) and played oh-so-beautifully. Watching him in slow-motion on a flat-screen is almost like watching poetry in motion. The last time I had this much respect for an athlete, or was so in awe was when I used to follow Jordan floating through the air over at ESPN all those years ago.

Apple’s announced the iPhone, which has made a fair number of IT enthusiasts wet their pants. It definitely looks cool and use-friendly based on Steve Job’s demo and here’s looking forward to a possible purchase once it crosses the Atlantic. Played around with the new Windows Vista yesterday as well. Can’t say that its basic function has changed much, but once again, it looks better with increased user interface and wonderful graphics. The introductions have been criticised as Apple’s OS seems to have already got ‘em, and the new Apple Panther is meant to be out soon. Of course, Apple isn’t known to be as easy to use as Windows and I might as well upgrade to the Vista at some point since Sweetie’s already got the iBook.

The application forms have been completed, following rounds among the a few seniors in order to get some feedback. I had to rephrase a whole paragraph the other day as Dr McDonald said it made me look like a wanker. So it had to be a case of writing the appropriate politically-correct bits without going overboard!Pierre was in town last weekend, so we managed to catch up and bitch about jobs. Jo came for a visit as well (making her the fourth friend to actually come all the way to Carlisle for the sole purpose of visiting me) and over a dinner by Mr Marks and Mr Spencer, we (yes, you guessed it!) bitched about jobs.

From a professional point of view, Friday was particularly satisfying as my management plans seem to have been pretty much accurate (the fact that nothing was too complicated helped!). Also managed to insert another vascath and by the time I inserted my first internal jugular central line, I was pretty much grinning from ear to ear.

And as my time spent with Sweetie is going pretty fantastically, here’s saying hello to yet another week.

P.S. Shanti, you'll be pleased to know that I'll be meeting the F1s this week to set down some ground rules! Haha...