30.11.07
Stardust.
You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it, centuries and centuries of it, and it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All those wars. Pain, lies, hate... It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But when I see the way that mankind loves... You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing, and... What I'm trying to say, Tristan is... I think I love you. Is this love, Tristan? I never imagined I'd know it for myself. My heart... It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it's trying to escape because it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange - no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.
i fluttered by;
7:42 PM
29.11.07
Back once again :)
I must first clarify that if you're only in the know that I'm back in Singapore through this post, it is rather late news. I've been back for a week now actually ;p Am aware of my hiatus, and hence I have lots to tell!! !
But wait. Let's do this in chronological order. Went on a road trip to Strawberry Farm with the meddies after the exams. Handpicked some strawberries to savour, and tasted the best strawberry icecream ever (better than Haagen-Dazs').
Then to Wilson's Prom with the OCFers. Wilson's Prom was fantastic. Azure sky, clear cool blue waters. Heaven.
Inviting, ain't it? Makes one feel like diving in right this instance.
Do you know that Tasmania was once linked to Australia via Wilson's Prom? That was before sea levels started rising.
Manhandled!
A shot from the top.
Last but not least, I've been having much fun catching up in Singapore, but the fun has only just started. Am waiting on my babes to finish their exams before we wreck havoc!! ;p In the meanwhile, I have been hard at work at shaving wood. Yes, literally. Carpentry is hard work, but satisfying. Especially when the end product is your own neat clean shaven desk and cupboards! The previous owners left my built-in furniture in a really lousily maintained state - sticky parts of old stickers and hooks and ash tray marks and scratches and doodles and all, so I felt like I had to get my hands dirty and do something about it. All that sweat involved!! But now at last I can say that it's finally completed.
With this week nearly drawing to a close, I am so looking forward to next week :)
i fluttered by;
10:17 PM
13.11.07
More on.
It's not like me to harp on a article, but after reading Kerf's comment I must add that it IS indeed true that some of us don't know how to use/ don't use our full brain potential. The journalist who wrote the article was a spectator at the US Memory Contest or something along those lines, and the champion he approached to interview singled him out and took him under his wing. The author willingly accepted the invitation, as part of his quest in participatory journalism. Who would expect that, after a mere 1 year of training, the author ACTUALLY won the contest itself, and proceeded on to the UK to take part in its World Championships. Talk about unleashing our innate potential. Makes us further understand how each one of us COULD achieve something -anything- as long as we put our mind (no pun intended) to it.
As a side thought, this slice of information also made me wonder how much a journalist earns per article published in National Geographic. Should be quite a sum, considering how much effort is put into it. This statement is also based on a past read-up on Dewitt Jones, a photographer for National Geographic. His video was screened for us wide-eyed students both in RG and RJ, and boy was I awestruck each time. But that's elaboration for another post.
On another note, it is a MYTH that we use only 10% of our brains. Apparently advertising companies and self-helps use that just to influence us to buy their products!! And now it all makes sense - their claim isn't unfounded. We did afterall learn that there are 100 billion neurons in our brain, and 10 to 50 times as many glial cells (which support these neurons but which we 'don't use'). So to bring me back my point, my brain really has not enough space to store all the information it is inudated with right now!!! To be more scientifically correct, my neuronal pathways are not forming quick enough and permanently enough.
Ahh I guess this is what happens when you cram too much information at the last minute. Can't wait for the last paper to be over tomorrow!! Looking forward to all the post-exam activities, hopefully NOT with subs standing in the way.
But for now, my little break's over.
Ps. I did a search on Einstein's brain and here's a damn interesting article ;p
Me want less sulci in my brain too!
i fluttered by;
2:40 PM
11.11.07
In the archives of the brain, our lives linger or disappear.
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-11/memory/foer-text.html?fs=canyon
Pretty amazing. It's true when they say that tragedies and humiliations seem to be etched most sharply, often with the most unbearable exactitude, while those memories we think we really need—the name of the acquaintance, the time of the appointment, the location of the car keys—have a habit of evaporating. It's frustrating really, most of the time. But here's the deal, at least there's a tradeoff.
"There are good evolutionary reasons why our memories fail us in the specific ways they do. If everything we looked at, smelled, heard, or thought about was immediately filed away in the enormous database that is our long-term memory, we'd be drowning in irrelevant information."
Now that's why remembered birthdays and anniversaries make us feel special. And that's probably how we intrinsically filter out what is important, and later through remembering display what we cherish. And so possibly it's forgetting, not remembering, that makes us essentially human.
Of course, if I could specify to have that newly coined hyperthymestic syndrome specifically for medical knowledge, I would more than jump on it. But for now, I guess I shall live with my imperfect brain and spend more time trudging through my notes, and later scouring through my brain while I'm at my examination desk. Wish me luck!
i fluttered by;
2:18 PM
7.11.07
It is official. 
i fluttered by;
3:46 PM
1.11.07
90% of the doctor you're going to be, you already are.
Tonight, I just got reminded of this statement again.
You know how we medical students sometimes try to look into the future, and can't imagine how it would be like to bear responsibility over others' lives? Ok if you don't, good for you. You're that handful. But for most of us, sometimes we think about it, and it overwhelms us. Look at all those doctors around performing great and wonderous things. Like doctors without borders. Or even just the 'simplest' task, like delivering bad news. Especially a news such as death, or worse still, impending death. Executed perfectly, it greatly eases the pain of their loved ones. It's not just about impressing others, it's not just about climbing the corporate/medical ladder. It's not just about you. It's about other people and their health. And you know health is the most important thing (reads: should be, but many people aren't living like it is anyway) in people's lives. Riches can't buy you health. A doctor's mistakes can't be corrected by compensation.
And then someone comes up to you and says he knows you can do it. You say you hope so too, you want to. He says, more firmly this time, he KNOWs so. The medical course equips you for it, it teaches you what to do in different situations. But now, you've been training all your life. You have the motivation, you have the desire, you have the heart for others. And that is what it takes. That is the doctor you are going to be.
Wow.
i fluttered by;
9:58 PM
Take-home message from Good Luck Chuck:
The Gentoo penguin is strictly monogomous. Strictly monogomous.
And this penguin is still pondering about SMSmelbourne.
i fluttered by;
6:41 PM