Tarak Updates
Written on 30 August 2010 by Yee PeiA certain sunflower commented via email that my blog “tarak update” so here I am, talking about the lack of updates. :P
I doubt anyone still reads my blog (with its lack of anything new). Life has been pretty good lately, I am loving my current job. Psychiatry is very interesting when you meet the really unwell patients. Then again, I suppose that is the same with any specialty isn’t it?
Hmm… 4 months of psychiatry, then I get to decide if I want to apply for it. Hmmm… Interesting.
An Inspiration
Written on 15 August 2010 by Yee PeiIs the glass half full or half empty? :) This man is truly an inspiration.
Eight Months On
Written on 5 April 2010 by Yee PeiIt has been 8 months since work started in August and 4 to the end of my FY1/JHO year. Medical school teaches you nothing useful for work, but it does give you the basic skills you need for initial survival.
Time to start on a new rotation and with every different speciality, there are new challenges. I am really looking forward to it. :)
Little Superhero Girl
Written on 4 January 2010 by Yee PeiIf you have looked through the music collection on my computer or flicked through my iPod, you’ll know about the very random list of songs there is. No, till today, I have no idea what songs/albums are actually in there!
Anyway, I was listening to random things on the iPod when Corrine May’s “Little Superhero Girl” started playing. After a crazy week at work (loads of public holidays when staffing level was at its bare minimum and I was part of it), I can totally relate to the song.
I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world
Everybody wants a piece of me
And I just don’t know where to turn
I’ve got work piled up to my head
All I want to do is jump into bed
And wash away my troubles
with lemonade
Play hide and seek
with the boy next door
Take a trip to Singapore and
Imagine how I’ll make the world
a better place
All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I’m feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I’ve gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I’m gonna be a Superhero
Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah
If I were a little girl
Trying to clean up the whole wide world
I’d kick the bad boys back to school
Teach them fighting’s just not cool
I’d give every kid a teddy bear
Turn starving people into millionaires
Break glass ceilings with dynamite
sprinkle a little sugar and spice
Turn the bullies that terrorize
Into pink poodles that bark,
but don’t bite
All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I’m feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I’ve gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I’m gonna be a Superhero
Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah
Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me
Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me from myself
I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world
New Year Resolutions
Written on 4 January 2010 by Yee PeiYes, I know, been a long time… feels like I got lost in one of the hospital corridors and couldn’t make my way out. Poor abandoned blog. :P
New year resolution. Yes. The list you come up with once a year, then go on to regenerate a similar one a year later. Here’s mine:
1. Get back in contact with people - I’m totally useless at keeping in touch. The only reason I still have friends in Malaysia/Singapore is because there are wonderful people that I can clique right back in with despite having not seen/spoken to/emailed in years.
2. Update this blog
3. Lose weight - This is not just because I’m female, it’s ‘cos I’m fat. Ya. Bleh.
That’ll do for now. :)
People
Written on 8 October 2009 by Yee PeiIt is very difficult to decide about people in the working environment.
The one you thought was a foul tempered person initially can turn out to be a very competent and helpful colleague.
The one you thought was just a poor misunderstood soul can turn out to be a backstabbing bitch. (So she wasn’t misunderstood after all…)
The one you thought was a nice sweet dear can turn out to be the one who shafts you the most.
These are mere fictitious examples, of course, but you get the gist of it. The workplace can be quite complicated, don’t you think?
Still Alive A Month Later
Written on 5 September 2009 by Yee PeiI’ve been working for a month now and am proud to say I’m still very much alive, a year older too! :)
Let’s see, work has its ups and downs. One important thing I’ve learnt is to set boundaries and say no. This is especially important at night and over the weekends when the bleep keeps going off. There is always something to be done, and every nurse who bleeps will make the job he/she is handing over sound more important than the one before. Initially, it was difficult not to say, “yes, I’ll be there in 10 minutes”, but I quickly drove myself crazy doing that. Hehe.
For those who have been asking, no, I haven’t killed anyone. Thankfully. *gulp*
Because I was told to
Written on 11 August 2009 by Yee PeiBlog, I mean.
While on the phone with a very good friend some time last week, I was told to blog more often. To be perfectly honest, I have not been blogging nor reading others’ blogs much in the last 2 years. There is a multitude of excuses I can offer, but that would be a waste of time, and honestly, I don’t need to, right? After the said phone call, I sat and had a good think. A part of me truly miss the times when I could sit in front of the computer and type away and I remember enjoying that a lot. I also liked surfing my friends’ blogs and finding out how they were getting on… somehow, that all took second place when real life got busier and I just never came back.
Now… updates…
Work had started a week ago. I am feeling a lot more confident than I was a week ago, but still very very far away from being truly comfortable in my new role. Life as a junior doctor is harder work than being a student, but it would be unfair for me to whine because I don’t work half as much as my colleagues in Malaysia. To be honest, there is a part of me that is enjoying work life. As a medical student, there was a lot of waiting around and feeling like you’re in the way. Having a role and feeling remotely useful is very refreshing and I do like it.
Having said that, things may change by this time tomorrow. I go on nights today and yes, I am scared. :P
This is my new friend, we have a love hate relationship. I love it when it’s silent.
At The End Of The Tunnel
Written on 2 August 2009 by Yee PeiAbout 12 months ago, I was starting to worry about the then upcoming written finals in January, and then in April, the clinical finals and after that, results. Life was starting to take it’s toll on me and I couldn’t help wondering when I would see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, along came the reading of results and graduation. The white gloves made an appearance in May, everyone in the class who sat for clinical finals this year passed!! As a group, we have managed to find that light!
However, life is riddled with these tunnels and I am about to enter one of them. Come Wednesday, it will be the beginning of a new phase. I start work as a FY 1 (JHO, HO, intern… pick your terminology). Am I scared? Definitely!!! Although there will be seniors from whom I can get help, I’m no longer a student and need to start taking on proper responsibilities. Am I looking forward to it? Of course! :) It is going to be tough, and there will be times I regret my career choice or want to huddle up and cry but it is also going to be an exciting challenge.
Sitting in a whirlpool of anxiety and excitement, and fluctuating between the ups and downs that accompanies these sorts of waiting, I have resigned to telling myself to take each challenge and handle it to the best of my ability… Come on, what else can a person do, right?
Mosquitoes And Mr Sun
Written on 13 June 2009 by Yee PeiI hate mosquitoes… H-A-T-E.
As for Mr Sun, I think he is a little overworked here… should definitely take a break. A couple of day’s break would be good.
The Magic White Gloves
Written on 25 May 2009 by Yee PeiI firmly believe that medical school is bad for one’s mental health. Everything leading up to final year is pretty alright, then they throw you the huge bomb known was “THE FINALS”. It is quite mad, knowing that everything is dependent on this set of exams. Stress level: C-R-A-Z-Y. I believe I was very close to mental breakdown before and during my written finals in January. The waiting for results is another torture in itself.
In Queen’s there is a tradition… we have a reading of results after our clinical finals. This basically involves names being called out and then whether the person had passed, passed with distinction or passed with honours. If everyone who sat for the clinical finals passed, the person who reads out the names will wear a pair of white gloves. I don’t know where this tradition came from, but it is what happens.
This year, the white gloves made an appearance after 9 years’ absence. All that stress and worry… well, they melted away the moment those gloves appeared. WOOHOO!!!
Stress & Nightmares
Written on 20 April 2009 by Yee PeiThose clinical finals are in a week’s time and if all goes well, this will be my last set of exams as an undergraduate student. Compared to the written papers in January, I don’t think I’m as stressed up. This time ’round, there has not been any bouts of tears and sadness alternating with unexplainable euphoria (yeah, stress sends me into a cyclothymic state).
On the other hand, I have been having nightmares every night for the past week. It is getting quite ridiculous. There had been times when I’d wake up in the middle of the night feeling, for a lack of a better description, disturbed and uncomfortable, but I could not remember my dream. In the recent days, I have been having exam-related dreams. Things seem to go wrong in those dreams all the time… it ranges from me being late, to mixing up dates, or even just messing up the exams entirely.
I need to get through the next 11 days and then have a proper break. :-(
I’m not working as hard as I was for the writtens, and I cannot bring myself to. Don’t get me wrong, my study group meets up very regularly and we would work for a couple of hours each time… but this is just so different from the writtens. Hmm… Worrying?
