You can't be a pimp and a prostitute too

In a week that was highlighted by one of the worst floods in England in recent ages and one that will hopefully usher in a new era (I can get rather naive and optimistic when new leaders take over the helm), some idiots have decided to focus their lenses on the release of the famous-for-nothing, star-of-not-even-worth-watching-homemade-porn heiress or the latest antics of the Big Brother household. Which pretty much describes society at times.

One newscaster held her ground though, and it was with great delight that I read this article.

Another site that proved to be rather amusing is http://www.videojug.com/, supposedly the 'thinking person's YouTube'. Wouldn't go so far as to describe it as such, but there are pretty useful and entertaining clips such as How To Be Lazy In The Office and Get Away With It.

Another thing to bring a smile to my face is the arrival of my Smashing Pumpkins tix. Still can't find anyone who's enough of a fan to pay the premium price and join me in Glasgow, but I'm pretty happy to go ahead by myself. The journey will be longer than expected though, as I've found out that I'll be based in Middlesbrough for the next year.

Rotations over the next couple of years - 4 months each of cardiology, respiratory, geriatrics, gastroenterology, endocrinology and respiratory again. I'm quite happy with the rotations, although I would have loved for an attachment in renal or neurology. But at least I'll be involved or working in specialities that I can profess to have an interest in. Hopefully I won't be whining about the endless parade of stupor-inducing cases that I come across on a daily basis in Obs & Gynae.

Edinburgh

Things I learnt over the weekend:

• Haagen-dazs' special edition Mango & Passionfruit is good. To-die-for kinda good.
• It is actually possible to prepare an edible meal the first time you cook briyani.
• Supporting the All-Blacks in an Australian bar is not the best of ideas, even if the kangaroos aren't playing. Shouting 'yes' and pumping your fist? A no-no.
• Cabbage can actually taste good when cooked properly. In fact, I don't recall ever associating cabbage with taste.
• Food should be savoured with good company.
• Summer sucks when it's raining all the time.
• I need to be more disciplined with studying. I would be a bitching a doctor if I concentrated less on non-medicky stuff. But I'd probably be dead boring as a result.

Of saving cheerleaders and tarantulas

The opposition leader questioned Malaysia's poor international ranking with regards to corruption in Parliament yesterday, and was called 'stupid' by the Prime Minister's representative minister about a dozen times or two for not accepting the latter's denial. He then compared things with Singapore's better record and said :

'Singapore is not a real country, it is a small island. Singapore’s population is just three to four million and there are no opportunities for corruption, unlike in our country.'

Which boggles the mind, doesn't it? I believe the word 'stupid' was directed at the wrong member of parliament. And if these blatant examples of idiocy are not gone in the upcoming 'clean-up' that I've been hearing about (but don't have that much confidence in) the past year or so, then the PM shouldn't even bother with further spin.

Anyway...

Tonight marks the last night in Obs & Gynae for me. Which means I'll never have it this easy during a night shift ever again (as all night shifts from now onwards will be medical, and I think I've bitched about those enough, as I know that I'll bitch about them again).

During the past 3 nights, I've actually been able to finish watching the entire season of Heroes. Well, 20 of the 23 episodes anyway. Wasn't able to catch the penultimate episode and a couple of episodes before that, but I can't really complain. Heroes is one of those TV shows (along with the likes of Prison Break and The Sopranos) that I've put off watching as I've been wanting to watch it from the very beginning.

Being a comicbook fan, it is no surprise that I've thoroughly enjoyed the show. The plot is exposed gradually through small arcs that eventually fit into a larger picture ala comic books. The characters are developed gradually and given almost equal air-time and I have no doubt that this will result in viewers having a particular fondness for his/her own favourite (as Reem does for Hiro. The only character that I thought of as cute decided to blow her brains to bits, so that was the end of that). It flows in a Vertigo-ish kind of manner, and this has probably helped enable it to reach such critical and mainstream success. The addition of comic stalwarts such as the writer Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (who's responsible for the artwork in the show) didn't do any damage either.

The free time wasn't so good for finances either. Ended up buying tickets for this, this and this. Of which the last was bought at double the original price. But here's to keeping the faith and heck, I'm due for my annual rock concert anyway.

Musings

My mates are sometimes surprised that I spend a significant amount of time by myself in my room. Paradoxically, I sometimes keep to my own company because being with others makes me feel lonely. This is especially so when you're in the presence of couples and your own significant other is halfway across the world.

Sipping coffee in town and watching other couples walk hand-in-hand usually brings a sad smile to face. Happy for them, sad for me. I can't help but wish that I could do the same for my Sweetie and be there for her 24/7 or at least be able to give her a hug when she's not having the best of days. But the teleportation machine has not been invented yet, and I doubt it'll be available during this lifetime. And it makes me feel rather angry and annoyed at times when I'm faced with couples who fight over the silliest of things. I wonder if they realise how lucky they are to be in the physical presence of each other and that maybe they should start counting their blessings instead of bitching about every other thing under the sun.

Anyhow, I have a developed a keen sense of being able to pull myself into my little world. It usually involves a comic book, a movie or a novel but sometimes (like today) it also involves walking around rather aimlessly and just enjoying the fresh air along with the random sights and sounds that come to be. I'm that guy you may see sitting by himself enjoying lunch, immersed in a book or happily texting away. Or that guy who believes that the best way to get to know a foreign place is by getting lost in the most obscure of places.

I guess that also means that sometimes I am a little picky about the company I keep. I have the same bunch of people that I enjoy hanging out with and that setlist hasn't changed in a while. Today's victim was Jo, who was kind enough to drive me all the way back to Carlisle after we caught Charles Ross' rather amusing One Man Star Wars Show (highly recommended, but only to those who've actually watched the original trilogy - otherwise you'll be left scratching your head). Star Wars being our little thing, I've half convinced her to go down to London with me for the convention next month.

Only thing left to decide is if I should sign up as a member of the fan club in order to gain early access...

Botak

The on-call today has been horrendous, and not only because it's been a while since I set foot on the ward. Everyone seems to be bleeding or having abdominal pains. And someone actually came in and complained about purple spots in her visual fields. Made me wonder which fucking idiot had referred her to the ward in the first place. About halfway through her convulated history, I came to the realisation that I didn't actually care. Had to mentally shrug off the feeling though and get on with things.

The most interesting session involved me taking a history off a patient whose accent was not dissimilar to that of Brad Pitt's character in Snatch. Thankfully, comprehension was nowhere near as difficult.

Somewhere in between, I managed to grab a bite and catch up on the news. Whilst reading my letter (that argued for the establishment of free healthcare), I came across the rather startling and amusing article of Sharifah Amani (the star of Sepet, one of the better products of the Malaysian film industry) being condemned by religious 'authorities' for shaving her head in preparation for a film role.

Apparently it's unIslamic, as women aren't meant to dress up nor behave like men.

Perhaps someone should point out to said authorities that this is yet another example of making a mountain out of a molehill. Things have to be taken in context - if she shaved her head, underwent a breast reduction and decides that wearing a strap-on might be a good idea, then yes, perhaps one might argue that she's wanting to behave like a man.

Otherwise, I don't see why this should lead to the moral decay of Muslim youth blah blah blah. Let her wear her hair the way she see fits, and perhaps these experts (and I use the term loosely) should stop barking up the wrong tree and concentrate on more important matters. In a world where Palestinians are now happily killing each other (and making a mockery of the so-called fight for freedom), there are other issues that these Islamists should concentrate on.

Hoppity hop hop

I've just been off for 5 days (including the weekend) but I'm find myself needing a mug of coffee to stay awake and keep lethargy at bay. It must have something to do with my rather haphazard sleeping patterns over the past few nights, as I've been trying to give a hand in the preparation of the final years'; especially with regards to Ellina's final model (which looked pretty good the last time I had a look at it!).

The weekend was pretty good for catching up as well, especially with Reem coming over on Friday as she felt bad for not visiting Carlisle over the past year and a half (not that I blame her). It was nice meeting up to celebrate the recent events of our lives and be happy for each other. The favourite bit of her trip was probably the ride home, during which she squealed excitedly at the sight of bunnies hopping by the road. Not the smartest of creatures, those bunnies. And naturally, I was secretly counting the flattened bunnies on the road. But I stopped at ten.

The other incident that involved an animal was the rather amusing sight of the neighbourhood cat giving chase to one of my friends (I shall withold your name!). I have seen people being chased by dogs, but cats? Then again, I remember a certain someone jumping when a bunny came hopping towards her a few years ago (and I'll withold the name again as an act of self-preservation).

The MRCP results have been released, with the expected results. I did better than I hoped for though, and if I had studied just a teeny weeny bit harder I probably would've gotten through. Should have paid less attention to the ATLS, but I guess achieving 2 out of my 3 spring targets ain't too bad. Now I've got time to properly prepare for the exam and there won't be any more excuses next time.

I am actually more gutted about the fact that I had only just found out about the Smashing Pumpkins playing an intimate gig in London next Tuesday. I would gladly pay a premium price, but with me starting a week of nights this Friday, there's no way in hell I'll be able to swap out of it. Sigh...

6 down, 1 to go

The disadvantage of having a relatively easy set of nights is that you become complacent and also the fact that your sleep pattern is turned upside down. When I was on medical nights, I'd be up all night and this would translate to being asleep all day. For O&G however, I'd sleep for a few hours at night, and a few hours during the day and this in turn will translate to me being groggy most of the time.

I shouldn't complain though. My nights seem to have followed the following pattern this last week - listen to handover, spend an hour (or two) sorting out a few patients, spend an hour (or two) on the internet and then spend about 45 minutes on the bed trying to fall asleep. About ten minutes after falling asleep, I'll get bleeped to see a patient and this invariably falls between 3 and 4 in the morning. After which I spend another 45 minutes staring at the ceiling trying to sleep, and eventually dozing off before waking up around 8.

The days are spent sleeping, eating, chatting with Sweetie and catching up on DVDs that I have bought but have yet to watch. This includes The Prestige, Superman Returns, The Constant Gardener and Nobody Knows.

The last movie was one of the most random purchases I've made; I just happened to have glanced at it whilst buying Howl's Moving Castle, and the fact that the lead won the Best Actor award at Cannes caught my attention. And seeing how I was in DVD-buying-mode, I figured why the heck not.

Turns out that this Japanese movie was beautifully-made and heart-wrenchingly poetic. The premise is based on an incident in the 1980s, in which a mother left her four kids to fend for themselves, with the eldest 12-year-old child acting as surrogate parent. So you have 4 of the most adorable kids trying to live as normal in a box-like apartment, initially surviving on takeaways before moving down to mixing rice with their instant-noodle soup to munching on paper to keep hunger at bay. Although slightly long, the movie is made in such a way that we view the unfolding of the story through the eyes of the children; both literally (e.g. when looking at close-ups of feet and little toys) and when considering the psychological changes that the children were going through.

Apparently, it was reported that when the kids were found, the eldest was beset with grief because he thought he had failed in his duty to look after his siblings. Instead of blaming his bitch of a mum, who deserves to be publicly flayed and hung upside down from a lamp post.

I get really annoyed with mums who don't look after their babies. Especially in a country like the UK, where poverty isn't really an issue. Even if said mum was from the lowest socioeconomic class, there are loads of support put in place by the government to help them out especially with regards to behavioural changes like quitting smoking or drinking less alcohol. But no... it's just too much to ask. Who cares if baby is born too early or develops asthma at an early age?

Of course, some women should just be banned from the labour ward. This includes people like Siti Nurhaliza, as she might watch a father lovingly cradle his newborn baby and fall in love with him. =P

Hip hip hooray!

Yesterday, I felt like a cat had jumped onto a blackboard and decided to slowly and deliberately drag its claws across the surface to give me that spine-tingling, shoulder-shuddering feeling that something was not quite right in the world today. And I realised that the voyeuristic, IQ-decreasing phenomenon that is Big Brother is back on the telly.

How anyone can make an event out of this piece of rubbish is beyond my imagination. But one must admit that it's a convenient way of dulling the masses - why would anyone start to question foreign policy when it's oh-so-much-more-fun to discuss what nikki or paul or some other character had for dinner? You mean she had carrots AGAIN? Oh-my-gawd...

Someone once told me that in order to 'connect', one must always be in touch with the lowest common denominator. Which probably explains why the best selling newspaper in the country is The Sun. And why 'celebrities' like Paris Hilton are splashed across the papers as opposed to events that might actually make a difference to someone's life.

I am currently 'enjoying' O&G so much that for the first time in my life, I'm actually volunteering to assist in theatre so that I can avoid clinics. It is so much more fun than listening to women talk about the latest discharge from their vagina or about how sex doesn't seem so much fun anymore, especially when I get to do the anaesthetic bit e.g. intubate the patients as well.

Tonight is #2 on my week of nights. The most exciting thing to happen so far is the fact that I realised I could actually SEE the pulse in my foot as opposed to just feeling it. Things were that sad until I checked my e-mail, after which I became deliriously overcome with joy. I actually felt like jumping around the room at one point.

I should perhaps take this opportunity to thank Sweetie and my friends (you know who you are!) who've been so very supportive and understanding during the past few months when I've swung from extremes in mood and confidence. To reach this stage is a blessing and is merely the beginning of the next chapter, but I would never have got here without you guys.