I'll get one next year :D
This week has been a rather interesting week. It started off rather busy as the previous resident and registrar in my ward (Geriatric Rehab) were replaced by another pair of doctors.
Goodbye Adam and James. Adam is a pretty cool doc, really friendly dude, he was from penang too. And James, who is cynical like Dr House, but very funny. And hello Alice and Leyla, our new supervising docs.
As I said, Monday was pretty busy as the docs got me to do discharge summaries for the patients about to leave. Ward rounds took longer than usual as the new docs were familiarizing themselves with the patients. The patients at my ward are old timers, and some have interesting stories to tell. One elderly gentleman, Frank, is a veteran who fought in WW2 against the Japanese stationed on Borneo.
Tuesday was pretty interesting. I went to Dandenong town, and basically explored the area. I walked into one of the shops and guess what I found?
A dumbell.
Just what I needed to keep in shape! And at 11 dollars, it was a bargain :)
I realised I had to present my patient's case to the other final year students later in the afternoon, so I hopped onto a bus labeled "Station", assuming it will take me back to Dandenong station, where I can take another bus to the hospital. That was smart of me...
Instead, I ended up stranded on a bus sign in the middle of nowhere. It was 1pm and the Aussie summer sun was scorching hot. The next bus arrival was half an hour away. There was no shade around, and all I had was a useless dumbell I had just purchased. There seemed to be no one around, so I took off my shirt and tie (as the heat was unbearable) and started doing exercises with the dumbell (because I had nothing else to do). Anyone passing by would have noticed a strange shirtless Asian dude lifting weights on the roadside! But I wasn't that self conscious to bother. The endorphins from the exercise made the wait more bearable plus I got a nice tan (unintentionally).
I arrived at Dandenong hospital just in the nick of time as the case presentations were just beginning. I screwed up my presentation a little as I told everyone my patient had hypokalemia, even though his potassium level on my powerpoint slide was normal. How can I ever be a good doctor next year if I can screw up something so basic! Well don't ask me...
I was free today so I woke up late and headed down to the suburb of Oakleigh to buy some groceries. I bumped into an old friend of mine, Melissa, on the train! I hopped off at Oakleigh station and walked around town. Oakleigh is a town with many immigrants from the Mediterranean. There are many Greek coffee houses and butchers in this quaint town. It hasn't really changed much since I last left Melbourne 4 years ago. I bought blackcurrants (awesome stuff), king prawns (pricey stuff, 32 AUD a kilo), 3 boxes of bacon (only 2 dollars!) and some Greek pastries (baklava, eclairs etc.)
Tomorrow's gonna be another long day. I'll be having law tutorials on campus. Yawn. Law.
And my brother Fred is flying down to Melbourne tomorrow! Can't wait to show him around the city.
I'm beginning to love my new iPhone. Yeah, I'm hard to please when it comes to gadgets. But I'm glad it hasn't disappointed me yet. I had it jailbroken within the hour I had it and now it has all the apps and games I would ever want. Hundreds of dollars worth of medical applications and games (actually worth more than the phone's price) for FREE...shhhh :P Amazing little gadget!
2010.
Ah. I do not know where to begin.
First off, Australia. I week in, and I have begun to readjust my life to the local Aussie ways. It's been about 2 weeks now, and I have a lot of things to tell about what's going on in my life now. It's been a season of reunions with old friends, meeting new and awesome (and less than awesome) people, and trying to lead a relatively normal life as a final year student doctor in a country I'm barely acquainted with.
My ex :)
It's way different here than it is in Malaysia. Firstly, all shops close by 5pm. It's summer now, so the sun rises at 6am and sets at 9pm! So we see shops closing in broad daylight. The weather bearable even on the hottest days because it isn't humid like Malaysia. A shower a day is usually enough :D
Can't you believe it's frikkin 8pm?
It really feels awesome to be hanging out again with the old pals I met in med school when I first came to Melbourne in 2006. It been 4 years, frikkin 4 years!
1. Been hanging out a lot with a buddy of mine, Brian a.k.a. The Bulgogi Master. To be fair, he can cook up fairly awesome bulgogi. He sticks proudly to his Korean roots even though he's lived away from the motherland for more than a decade. This guy is true blue and I can see many more exciting years (and adventures) to come.
Hot Chocolate with Chillies @ Chadstone
2. I managed to hang out with some other old pals. Steph and Angela! Together with Shehara we hung out in Brunswick (or is it Fitzroy?), had a nice dinner at a vegetarian place (but I still love meat) and visited Angela's messy (an understatement) place in Carlton and played snooker along with her sis. Steph and Angela played way better than me that night (even though I first showed them how to play 4 years ago!). And I'm having my ex(guitar) back from Steph. Thanks Steph, you're awesome!
Steph and her imaginary paparazzi
Angela
3. Also got to hang out with another buddy of mine, Mano. Hung out in Clayton and went to a garage sale. We have a thing for bargains. Plus I got a poster for free. He's still one of the most funny dudes I know, and it never gets boring hanging out. Totally awesome.
This is hanging on my wall. Click to enlarge and enjoy.
4. Got to meet up with Aunt Bee Ling whom I first met at the Ong's. Went to Belmore Road Church of Christ with her family. Their worship session is in a capella and reminds me of Cornerstone COC in JB. Got acquainted with her son Cedric and his brother Nick. Cedric's a pretty cool dude. He can fix cars up and apparently went to kung fu school(how awesome is that!) Aunt Bee Ling made us satays for lunch and we played the Wii which was fun. Even though I kept losing @ Mario Kart to a 7 y.0. girl XD. And btw, I'm hearing a lot about liver flush and vitamins on both sides of the planet, thanks to Aunt Bee Ling and YOUR mum. U hear that Karyn? XD haha
So that's it for now. Next up, I'm gonna blog about what's going on at the hospitals. Lots of interesting stories so stay tuned!
P.S. This sums up my life right now
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