fatigue

i'm quite exhausted from writing the clinical seminar report and preparing my surgical report and grand round (before the dog even has the surgery!) anyhow, i was looking up journals, and this one popped up: International Journal of Fatigue. at first sight i thought it was about being tired, like me. i laughed my head of in front of my desk and was wondering who the hell write a journal of fatigue. do we talked about cramming exam? driving for 3 hours? standing in neurosurgery for 8 hours? bad mattress? or listening to my mother in a long queue in HSBC on a monday lunch time?

it was about surgical implants biomechanical fatigue. boring. i like my understanding of J Fatigue more.

spoiled

this is a bigger suitcase than depicted. it looks relatively small compared to the size of my cat. i am so busy doing my things these days i've neglected my babies. to compensate i feed them a lot. and now that's what my cat becomes: fur wrapped adipocytes. he'll be on a strict diet starting... hmm... Apr 15, when i shall return melbourne.

Babies

Above: I was packing so I emptied one of the storage boxes. Boo boo took the chance and curled up in there for a nice lil nap. He can appear much smaller than he actually is.

Below: Mocha never pays any attention to this kennel until Boo boo starts thinking it's a shady place. Now Mocha wants a piece.

my lateral thinking

i was listening to music, TOP 100 HipHop R-B Billboard 2006 (newly downloaded old songs, i know). then i came across some lyrics that i don't quite get. so i go to urban dictionary. and on their front page they have words of the day. i learn something new:

BiPodding:
Sharing a single set of headphones attached to one iPod. One person holds the iPod and takes teh left earbud, the other takes the right earbud. Can be performed while moving.

Dave and Wallis are bipodding in the train to work.

MC:
1. A prefix to almost any term. Used in comical situations to describe almost eerything.
2. Sarcastic mockage of McDonald's operators. Used whilst ordering at McDonalds.

1. Mc-Dave went to mc-get me some mc-donalds.
2. "Hi welcome to McDonalds how may I take your order?" "I'd mc-like to mc-order a mc-chicken mc-cheese mc-burger. Hold the mc-cheese. Hang on I need to mc-go to the mc-toilet. Mc-scuse me... mc mc mc..."

I didn't mc-say I wasn't mc-bored at mc-home. Why mc-else would I mc-look at mc-urban dictionary? Funny how mc-hiphop mc-music can mc-lead to so much mc-bulcrap. My mc-lateral mc-thinking.

asia miles

i really appreciate my travel agent. he could have easily sold me a full price one way ticket and make a good profit. but instead he helped me redeem a free ticket from asia miles and paid the airport tax through the company account. so i already got a e-ticket in my comp without paying a cent. (i saved AUD 1100, amazing!)

dave insisted one of the agents has a crash on me, but this time's a different guy. i think it's company policy to be helpful to long term customer (i've been buying from them for 5 years)

a smooth day

finally did my radiography reading quiz today. three students were allocated to do the reading this afternoon. roger made it such that the later you do the reading, the harder it would be. fortunately i usually go first (well, nothing to lose; besides, i don't like to look bad following a very good presentation) and so i had the first radiograph. it was a pneumothorax. easy. but i forgot the term tension pneumothorax (i was under some tension myself at that time), but i did manage to describe it. then it became harder and harder, and the last radiograph was impossible. every seemingly abnormal finding was "changes that can happen but not significant or within normal limit of variations" lucky i went first.

i think i did ok
thank god it wasn't a horse limb, and extra thank you god that wasn't a horse hindlimb

Flying Colors

Steve Holloway (the maestro of internal medicine, disciple of the great Russel Mitten) gave me one short line of commentary on LMS:

excellent case report Wallis



that's all i need to know, concise

smiles

the top ranking scenes that make people smile from their heart:
1. baby smiles
2. puppies
3. kittens
let me present you with all three

you smiled?

Bad Day - Daniel Powter

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You Stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carry' on

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

(Oooh... a holiday...)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

You had a bad day
You had a bad day

We'll be just fine, trust me

honors

i finally gether myself to ask about how to graduate with honor. apparently it's a percentile system, including people from previous 4 year levels. it's a complicated thing. but when i asked about my chances of getting an honor degree, the response was "you have a fair chance". now what the hell does that mean?! i guess it means if i work my arse off this year and the next then i can get it. but do i want to? that brings me to another question, do i believe i deserve to graduate with honor? most people do heaps more work than me. is it fair for me to graduate with honor? probably not. but i still have this remote hope in the back of my mind. so far i'm traveling smoothly. but i skip most rotation and leave my assignments last minutes. so i guess the answer i always know is: no i shouldn't be an honor gruduate but i still want to be one. conflict (yea, it's the left and right brain again)

another contributing factor to my insomnia, and from personal experience, temazepam doesn't work, so do not premed an animal with benzodiazepam along, waste of time (hang on, they may have less complicated thinking, so who knows ^.^?)

cerebral vascular accident

sorry it's been a while. i wasn't lazy but nothing much happened worth writing. the last week passed like a blur, probably because i lived like a zombie. so emotionally and physically drained. my body finally gave in and gave me this massive headache. i could feel my pulses on my forehead, back of my neck and my eyelids. my eyes are painful, i was suspecting glaucoma. worst of all i had double vision (luckily only for a few seconds). thought i was going to have a stroke (more correctly cerebral vascular accident). i dunno why i thought of a stroke, i guess the tv has been repeatedly telling people to watch for signs pre-stroke. i realize it was probably tension headache and the pain contributed to the blurry vision (maybe i have increase IOP?). why do i get tension headache? i guess my left brain (the logical part) and my right brain (the care-free part) had a fight. Right brain, obviously, really wants time to pass quicker so i can be back in hk sooner; left brain, being the logical center, tells me i shouldn't wish time to pass because heaps of matters are not resolved yet in hk. like dave still need to find a place to stay and so far the bargaining are not looking good. we keep increasing our budget from 7k to 8k to 9k. and that's as much as we'd go. but any kind of decent place wants 10k; damn, 1k makes all the difference in the world. things will be so much smoother if i work too. i really can't wait to get into the working force and start building our life together. right now, i want to make a wish, and time suddenly passed and it's next thursday and everything is done and settled and i just need to fly back. sigh, growing up is PAINFUL!

Do Did Done

finally it's end of the week and i successfully crammed through all the academic work i needed to do; i did moderately well (i hope). however being absent 2 days out of 5 and late in the friday grand round and had my phone rang (stupid groupmate called) in the consult, i may score low in my performance part. anyway, it's all over. now i can do something relaxing. like drink my coffee because i like the taste of it but not for its caffeine.

(why do people say do did done, how bout doing?)

Babyface

I don't wanna die tonight, but I think I might be going down
'Casue the only one I ever cared about is nowhere to be found
I don't wanna close my eyes 'cause I might not see the light of day
I'm almost out of air
You're my reason for breathing
You're my reason for breathing

So I'm reaching out on this distant line
Hoping deep inside your heart's gonna find a reason
To keep me breathing
But I'm lost in this pain and I don't have much time
I'm so tired of walking this same old line
So I'm taking my pride, gonna throw it aside
Please let me breathe baby, I'm sorry

procrastinator

that's me! i knew i had to do a case report and grand round before this week, i told myself i would do it after clinsem. then i decided to take a break because there was no case and i needed to reward myself; then i got a case today. i really should be researching. but nah, i decided to sleep early. i hate it when i'm feeling lazy and guilty at the same time.

muffin

I LOVE MY MUFFIN

I LOVE IT SOFT AND WARM

AND I LOVE IT WHEN THE AROMA FILLS THE ROOM

HMMM... MUFFIN

urban dictionary

one of the earlier post title was 'slam dunk'. a funny thought came into my head, what if it means something i totally NOT intend it to mean (after all my street english's not that good, i'm not hip enuf) so i double check with the urban dictionary (define your world, at least that's what they claim)

Slam Dunk

1. the high-percentage shot in basketball. performed by stuffing the ball down thru the rim, and generally done with some force. can be done in a number of creative ways (yes they do)

2. a sure thing, even money, in the bag (this definition is more confuse than those in oxford concise)

3. what they said (wtf??)

4. codename for a girl/girls who you don't know but talk to

5. one of the greatest sport comics

6. (noun) a person who has testes and a vagina, but has no penis (that would be a male pseudohermaphroditism, bunch of dunno jack ppl on urban dictionary)

and finally

7. the act of forcing a woman's head into the toilet while slamming her either doggy style or in the ass. the head dunk is usually accomanied by a flush or two (i most certainly DID NOT mean this)

new found love

since i came to the self realization of watching too much tv shows, pardon me, too much english tv shows, i decided it's time for a switch: korean tv, show time! this one's love comedy which an old virgin (30), working as adult magazine writer, falling in love with a young guy (21) that she used to tutor. hilarious. but i'm taking it easy, only gone thru 2 episodes tonight. i suppose i could be writing those case reports and grand round speech, but i oughta reward myself for being good earlier this morning. (smiles)

extra spending

i always overspend when i do my grocery shopping. when i went out this evening i had 4 things on my shopping list: coffee, make up cotton, milk, puppy litter. 4 things. i ended up spending more than $120 buying a lot of extra stuffs. and the most unnecessary thing would be the casserole recipe book. but since dave promised me an oven, i may as well buy magazine-style recipe book here rather than spending a fortune in hk page one. that makes sense (self-convinced)

slam dunk

clinical seminar was a huuuuuuge success; at least i think for the effort i put it was prettt great; audience all clapsed. all the questions were answered from adequately to very well (pet on my back) i think getting an h1 on the oral presentation wouldn't be a problem. however there's still this 5 pages long written case report due by 14 days time. oh well.

then it's about referral. i follow robyn (yea and i think he's gay as), i wasn't saying much coz it was a boring day but when he asked about differentials i promptly gave the top 2 ddx of ibd and small cell lymphoma (oh well it's a chronic v+ d+ weight loss cat without diabetes) and he said very good; i also asked him bout thiamine deficiency in cat, just small talks in between consult. i most likely will get a h2a but not h1 for my referral rotation but i'm happy coz things just flows today, smoothly.

TV shows

when i was editing this blog, i put in some new elements, like on the left hand side i put in a list of my favorite tv shows. oh my god i cannot believe my eyes. i am actually quite addicted to tv series. i am finishing all SIX seasons of scrubs tonight, then i'll start on grey's anatomy (which i have a complete box set), then 24 (i also have dvd box set, i know!) am i really that bored? i have never go through dvd as quickly as i did the last month (for the love of god i've been back 1 month 8 days and i maxed out my download limit of 25Gb) but i did make tv shows educational. i learned new english, say 'man-girls' 'boy-toy' and 'peace out' were not on my vocab list last month. now they're common terms.

Later tonight @9.30pm: it feels so empty to finish the whole show

clinical seminar

i'm trying my best to not look at the written speech. i think i'm good at public speaking, but i'm a bit worried when it's in the large lecture thearter with up to 150 people and random clinician and lecturers. at home i can recite more than 90% of my speech, but if panic attack strikes, i may only retain 60% of what i intend to say and my funny accent will totally surface. i have to do this right, it's 15% of my professional practice mark, and i score with pp (the only subject i think i can get H2A). cannot mess up. my macbook is waiting (new os out before june, yeah!)

LOST

dave lost his cell phone last night going to supper. it's quite upsetting really; we used to be a phone call away, now we've no way of contacting each other. anyway, he is going to macau today, we couldn't have text each other anyway. i almost screamed at him this morning when he told me, but i held back; he never sounded so apologetic before. hopefully things will work out for us. (in melbourne, you can probably try calling your own phone, someone may actually give it back to you; fat chance in hk) BYE BYE phone

glasses

for a change today i brought mocha for a proper walk; well not that i've been mistreating him, the chihuahua guide said 5 min a day exercise is sufficient. anyhow, i decided it was a nice thing to do if i brought him for a longer walk. so i went around the primary school, go to the caltex in the round about, turn left back into our area, and walked back home via a different route. and i discovered werribee is indeed a very strange neighborhood. what on earth are people here thinking? i have honestly never seen so much broken beer bottle scattered around a neighborhood. walking a dog suppose to be easy and enjoyable, but not when i have to constantly pick him up and carry him over pile and pile of broken/non-broken glass. broken glasses can ambush us on pedestrian footpath, in the median strip, in the middle of the road and just sitting around randomly. and i have a dog stupid enough to walk right pass broken glasses (he really needs to get hurt once to learn but i decided to carry him anyway). i can't leave him off-leash, which i usually do if i walk him somewhere in the eastern suburbs. oh mocha, we're getting out of this hellish hood soon, mummy promise.

naked chef

i can't wait to go back to hong kong for good; but i know i will miss the lifestyle in melbourne. the space, so much space. i've been into cooking for a while now, and probably coz i started in melbourne, i've been doing quite a lot of western dishes that require an oven. but what space do i have in hk to fit in an underbench oven? i suppose i can compromise to bench top style oven, but i NEED (nb not want) one that can fit in a casserole. that'd be bigger than a standard microwave, but i can't live without a microwave. one day when i have my own house, definitely go for custom design kitchen, especially if i have kids. and if space allow, maybe i'll get a dishwasher too. hey, i said i love cooking, a girl can still hate washing!

(click on recipe to enlarge but do not salivate on keyboard)

centrum

i'm trying to be healthy. the first thing i do when i wake up is to take a centrum. although i don't like the fact that the pill's bigger than my throat and when it goes down horizontally, i can almost choke (happened more than once) "do you feel 100% today?"

o hard work

clinical seminar is on tuesday, i'm still in the beginning stage. feels like it has been creeping up on me despite the fact that i knew i was coming probably since october. but who'd give a crap when it's summer holiday? anyway, now i'm stuck at home, having the thickest book known to man (the internal medicine) on my lap, reading and typing. oh god, i feel like i'm making up more and more info as i go. and when i look to my right, i see lil doggy sleeping peacefully in his basket (which he stole from lil kitty) and when i approach him for a cuddle he demanded tummy scratch. wouldn't it be nice if i can exchange identity with him for a day? (except i dun want to pee on newspaper pellets) maybe i can be kitty too. oh work work work.

good food competition

ever since dave was gone we've been on this good food competition; we show off in front of each other, what we ate, how tasty the food was, and rub it in each other's face. i had lamb kebab with extra garlic sauce this lunch, and i couldn't wait to text him in lecture how tasty it was. so 'lambie'. but then he's going to macau tomorrow, he'll probably kill me with all the portugese egg tart, pork chop bun, beef jerky etc etc. oh boy, i'm salivating. but he can never win. coz i'm here, and his mum's here. the two food he likes most, my cooking and his mum's cooking. now beat that! i was going to eat my meatball pasta in front of him (via webcam, of course) but i couldn't wait until he finish work (i'm starving). so, i took a picture of the pasta, and EAT!! (oh and i forgot to say i burn my tongue on the first bite... and the second bite, and the third bite... ... ... )

warm and fuzzy

its nice to work in the primary clinic; so many puppy talks recently, probably because it's end of spring, that time of the year. i like doing puppy consults, give me this warm and fussy feeling, life's good. gotta cherish the good part of being a vet. better than advising people to put down their 18 year old dog. and even then, it may not be all that bad. there's this owner, she brought her very old very sick dog in on monday, the primary vet adviced her to have the dog put down, and we did; the owner came back today, with a big bunch of flower, for the vet. apparently we helped, to let go and to realize quality is more important than quantity. i'm wondering, when will i get my first thank you note from a client.

La La

You make me wanna la la
in the kitchen on the floor
I'll be your french maid
When I'll meet you at the door
I'm like an alley cat
Drink the milk up I want more
You make me wanna
You make me wanna scream

I feel safe with you
I can be myself tonight
It's alright, with you
Coz you hold, my secrets tight
You do, You do

You make me wanna la la, la la la, la la, la la la la la la la la la
You make me wanna la la, la la la

Jet Pet Dies After Five-Hour Delay

The dog, a four-year-old Golden Retriever named Phoebe, was found dead in the hold of the Qantas passenger jet after it touched down in Singapore last Wednesday. Phoebe's owners are on their way to Norway for a holiday and had brought their dog with them. The flight, QF9, was due to depart at 5.10pm but was delayed in Melbourne for five hours. The owners claim their pet was left on tarmac for more than five hours as the temperature hit 32C. Qantas associated businesses executive general manager Grant Fenn said the flight was delayed, but two other dogs on the same flight arrived safely.

The airline carries thousands of live animals every year.

The autopsy result indicates that the dog died of heat exhaustion. "We understand this has been extremely upsetting for the dog's owners, " Mr Fenn said.

(we are definitely flying cathay pacific)

flying dog and flying cat

the AQUIS vet was finally able to get in touch with me. we talked about time frame and procedures and paper work for mocha and boo boo going back to hong kong; it all sounded relatively simple. only 2 health checks: the first one about 1 month before departure, certifying their health status and vaccination history; the 2nd one 3 days before departure, certifying they dun have any overt sign of disease, sign 'em off. details of what to do and which paper to fill out will be talked over in our first visit. this is relatively cheap and easy. he reassured me that they can return to australia. oh and the vet fee is relatively cheap, compare to the special cages (which comply with airline specifics) that i will need to buy (omg more than AUD100 each, esp i have a fat cat) but i'm so looking forward to this

our lil trip

today i took mocha around the block for a short walk, quite literally around the block. i pass my dreadful neighbor, the dangerous/annoying construction sites, down to the residential path where cars and houses even front yards look substantially nicer. we passed a little girl, probably three, and she gave me a vague smile but gave mocha a good long pet. we were home within 10 minutes. i'm quite sure of the time coz the ipod only manage to play 3 songs. the weather was nice. i can do this again tomorrow. this is the first time i walk mocha in 3 weeks. the last time was 5 minutes too. if i didn't get out for 3 weeks, i probably be crazier than just eating cat poo. guess i can't blame that silly lil dog after all (but eating cat droppings still deserve a good long teeth brushing)

how does a pot of soup cross the road

put into a vacuum pot wrapped around a towel put into a box tucked under the passenger seat in an echo watched over by a dog and driven 20k less than speed limit all the way thru highway, that's how a pot a soup cross the road

25 Days

1 carat perfect diamond

the 4 C's: Carat, Color, Clarity, Cut

the term carat refers to a unit of weight equivalent to 200 milligrams or 0.2 grams
the weight of a diamond is an important factor to its cost

color grading arbitrarily begins with D (or 97), A to C (or 100-98) are assumed non-existence but leave room in finding them one day. D-F are the finest and brightest colorless diamonds, usually for the discriminating customer who can afford the most beautiful and the rare. and of course there are fancy colors with pink being the most expensive (and my favorite color)

in plain term clarity is 'how much stuff' is inside a diamond, and the less stuff the more a diamond cost. top of the list is FL (flawless, describes diamonds in which a gemologist under favorable lighting conditions, cannot see any inclusions at ten power magnification), following will be IF (internally flawness, but have minor surface blemishes that do not penetrate the stone)

cut is the most important charcteristic of a diamond. it determines how much light that comes in will be reflected out. a mathematician came up with an 'ideal cut' for round diamond. a 1 carat diamond in round cut is 6.5mm in width.

a perfect 1 carat diamond is worth $168,000 HKD

i'm waiting

Garlic Radio News

Today angry girlfriend Wallis Chan aged 27, decided to chop off her long term boyfriend, David Quach, also 27, penise, after a bitter argument of when should they get married. Male witness said the sence was mortifying and barbaric while female witness said it was overdone but can be identified and justifiable. "I am so sick of waiting, I just need a date!" Wallis screamed while being taken into custody by the police. Expert psychologist Dr. Phil said this is a typical case of boyfriend waiting too long to propose causing a rebound aggression on the girl's part. He also advice long term relation couples to seek his advice on his new TV show. From the Garlic Radio News, this is Mocha McBoo reporting.

heart-warming food

doesn't matter how bad things are, family and food always cheer you up. indulging comfort food is not a sin. sometimes you just need it. just like yesterday. now is my turn to reciprocate. double ginseng chicken soup. chinese medicine believes that it restores inner balance, nourishes the lungs and spleen, promotes hemopoesis, and especially good for people in convalescent phase. to me, it's tasty and it warms my stomach. oh, and it's good in scoring points in front of to-be-in-laws too.

my ticket to dream

the weather's so bad: hot, humid, warm wind with thunderstorm. i was driving towards the city, getting my ticket to hong kong and visiting dave's family. i saw lightening struck at what seemed like a hundred meters away when i was on the west gate bridge. then the thunder followed. the whole bridge vibrated. then another lightening came right down. "it really looks like statics on an x-ray film", i thought to myself. "oh no, do not lose concentration, not now", i told myself off. "better switch off the music too, in case i start singing along and crash", i reminded myself. oh god, i wish i didn't forget my glasses. the sky was gray, the clouds were thick and dense. there's this smell in the air, the smell of bad weather. city traffic was no better. i passed by two accidents five minutes into entering the city. i managed to park, leaving my little doggy in the car, and bravely marched out. i didn't have an umbrella. i ran towards the atm, dirty city street water getting into my sandals, and i was wobbly on thin heels. why did i chose this ultra long pair of jeans this morning? i hate the feeling of wet jean on ankles. after i got my money i headed straight to the travel agent. i was a downhill road. i wished i could run, the rain was pouring down. but i couldn't, not with those heels on wet ground. in fact, i had to be extra cautious and walk slowly to not hurt myself. finally, in the building. i almost had a heart attack when the agent door was closed. luckily it was just a toilet break, false alarm. i had to endure the same pouring rain and fetid air on my way back to my car, only this time it was uphill. when i eventually sat on my driver seat, little doggy came wagging his tail welcomed me, and i waved my ticket in front of him triumphantly, and i told him "mummy is going to see daddy!"

will power

my mind is weak. i really don't want to go through the the computer tute.
but look at this BABY! music photo video dvd and a remote control. i got to be strong for this baby. i have so much footage, dave's hk trip, jess 16th, dave's graduation, mocha's 1st birthday etc etc, all in raw film. not to mention to several gigabytes of photos that i have. got to make them into a coffee table book, or at least a nice slide show on dvd with music and caption. last but not least i need a mac to go with my ipod, afterall dave bought me the ipod, i have to use it to the fullest to show my appreciation (smile)
god, i need some serious will power
i'll give myself a pass if i read the musculoskeletal section and learn about limbs. stupid horse people, name every bone differently. fetlock hock pastern carpal bones can all kiss my big fat asian buttom, hate 'em!