My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you remember the 11 planets in our solar system! Apparently a 10 year old girl came up with this mnemonic to recall the names of the 11 planets which are, in order of distance from the sun:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris.

You can read about it here: Mnemonic for the 11 planets

Mnemonics are very popular amongst medical students. I definitely remember the one about the 12 cranial nerves. The one that goes:

Oh!, oh!, oh!, to touch and feel a girl’s vag…… (heh, heh, better not tell all, otherwise, I would lose my PG rating for this blog).

They even have one for female med students who might feel icky about touching and feeling a girl’s *sic*…

It goes like this:

Oh!, oh!, oh!, to touch and feel a Guy’s vit …. (oh, never mind! heh! heh!)

Things sure have changed, back when I was young-er, there were only 9 planets!

Fri, 290208 @ 0700; post call! Hallelujah!

For those interested in downloading a FREE comprehensive set of medical mnemonics for PDAs, you can go to: Medical Mnemonics . Credit goes to Palmdoc.

C2/05 ~ well done!

I just came back from the ‘Oath Taking Ceremony’. Like the previous one which I attended in August 2007, this one was expectedly, emotionally charged. As I walked down the stairs heading to the hall, I saw a student, head buried in his hands, sobbing quietly, beside him were a few of his fellow students, trying to console him. When I came out of the men’s room, I saw another student, tears streaming down his cheeks as he shook my hand. I didn’t see the other girl.

They were the ones who did not make it this time round. I know the feeling. It’s heart breaking. I failed in my MMed Part 1 and my world came crashing down (I’ve never failed before that). All I could say to the 2nd guy was, “I know, I know…”

When I entered the hall, 15 minutes before the ceremony was due to start, there were many happy faces, as expected. But there was a palpable sense of restrained joy. I think it was because as a whole, the others felt it would be quite wrong to be jubilant when some of their colleagues have fallen. How much better if everyone cleared the exam!

Some came to shake my hands. I shook some of the others. I gave lots of thumbs up signs, which tells them: “Well done, I’m darn proud of you guys!!” Lots of “thank you -s “ were said. I said a lot of “thank you-s” in return, because believe it or not, I gained as much, if not more, from teaching them than what they gained from me. My eyes are already ‘berkaca-kaca’ as I write this.

In order to avoid people complaining about the smaller-than-small pics I took the last time, I took pictures of the whole group in sequence here. See if you know any of them. Sorry for the blurry pics, it’ s hard to hold the camera steady when you have ‘emotional tremors!’

Hmm, I wonder whose heads are those….

Anyway, let me say again, I’m very proud of all of you! Well done! You guys are now licensed to kill, errr….I mean, HEAL. So, my fellow doctors, go forth and HEAL!

And to my 3 friends who went down, take some time off, cry if you must (I did when I failed), then take a little time to rest, think, and finally, resolve to come back stronger and better. Failure made me a much better person, it may be hard for you to believe me now, but you will see my words are true in time to come.

Here’s a song for all of you, C2/05. I wish I could sing well and sing it for you guys on the stage but hey, my voice is only good for teaching and ward rounds la. So take a listen here: FIND YOUR WINGS.

Thurs, 280208 @ 1333

Fights men avoid

Picture taken from leejagers@wordpress.com

I read this online article in Yahoo Health today about the 4 Fights that a man would rather avoid, namely:

1. The Blackberry Fight

2. The ‘Ex’ Fight

3. The ‘Finale’ Fight

4. The ‘Wedding’ Fights

Take a read here: 4 Fights That Men Fear

Thankfully, I don’t have number 2, 3, and 4 to worry about. As for number ’1′, well, ummm…, the wife did ask me a couple of times, “why are you always fiddling with your pda?” !!!

Ooooooo……early rumblings??!!!

Thurs, 280208 @ 0733; on call, sigh.

Inovasi 2

I got to hand it to my nurses in the ward for their ingenuity in innovation! 

What do you do when those old pre-war Xray viewing boxes no longer hold the Xray films properly?

Why, you wedge it with the a plastic cap of an iv medication bottle, of course! Like the one below:

I think it’s pretty innovative, even if it’s rather simple and unrefined!

Wed, 270208 @ 0811; another one more day to end of exams, after that my adrenals can take a break.

Related link: Inovasi

Gaji today!

Gaji (salary) is in!

Thank God! We almost starved!

And thank God, February has only 28 days! No, wait! It’s 29 days this year! Gaargh!

Here’s my little jingle:

Gaji is in today, I can still keep the ‘Ah Longs*’ at bay!

It’s another month till the next one, so don’t play-play!!!

Tues, 260208 @ 1000

*unlicensed moneylenders ~ very unfriendly people especially if you don’t pay them!

Briefing Room

I took this picture outside the room the other day while waiting for the Borderline OSCE student (who was inside being grilled/massacred/sacrificed/crucified/hung upside down/tortured/disembowelled/etc, etc) to come out.

An idle and tired mind gives rise to all kinds of weird thoughts. Like this one:

Briefing Room: Place to change into your inner wear.

To change out of it, go to the De-brief-ing Room.

Sorry, it’s a lame joke I know.

Tues, 260208 @ 0700

How do you trap a cat?

Previously I had a rat problem.

Now, I have a cat problem. Or rather, should I say, CATS!

My neighbour from hell decided to rear 2 Siamese cats (yes, male and female) a few years ago, after they decided to move their 3 dogs (one was a Rotweiler) elsewhere.

I think my neighbour considers the cats as accessories, much like Paris Hilton considers her 16 dogs (I heard it on the radio). The cats are not cleaned, they are not fed and they are left to roam the streets.

And these cats are hyperfertile and super-promiscuous.

It wasn’t long before they were mating with anything that moves in the neighbourhood resulting in late night feline conversations like this:

Cat 1 (male): mmmmMMMaaaaaaUUUUU!

Cat 2 (female): tak mmmmMMMMMAAAAUUUU!

Cat 1 (male): mmmMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUU!!!!

Cat 2 (female): I said tak MMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUU!!!

Ummm, hello? We’re all blokes here. Get off my back!
Picture from: http://www.last.fm/user/raza9/journal/2006/06/12/155179/

And there were cat fights of course. Especially when Cat number 3,4 and 5 join in the amorous chorus.

And so, in the cycle of (a cat’s life), it goes like this:

Eat, sleep, groom itself, sh*t (then bury the mess, usually in MY garden), eat some more, groom some more, mate, mate, mate!

And voila, we have kittens! Lots of them, that soon grow up and being bestowed with hyperfertile and super-promiscuous genes, will do the same things and the cycle begins all over again.

There are so many of them, even the dogs have relocated.

Get out of my face! MeeooooWWWWRRRRR!
Picture from: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=300462&page=2

All that I can tolerate. I don’t mind the noise, the mating, the fighting, the sh*ting.

What I DO mind is THIS:

Cat paw prints on my washed weekly car’s windscreen and cat’s pee on the wipers!!

Apparently the cats love to sleep on the top of my car (or my wife’s car) and while coming down from the top, it (or they, I can’t really tell, for all I know the whole gang could be having a mating session on my car roof) would slide on the windscreen. I believe it (or they) also has/have urinary incontinence because as it/they slide/s down, it/they would pee! All the way! I’m not sure if it’s to lubricate their way down.

I hate them cats.

Picture from: http://forum.narutochaos.com/showthread.php?t=12775&page=2

So, tell me, how do you catch and deal with these felines?

Mon, 250208 @ 0700

Jimbo’s got a new Toy!

It was in of those insane moments that I got this. Not sure what I want to do with it though…

Sun, 240208 @ 0700

Future Angkasawan

Ryan’s doodle. No one taught his to draw these.

My son has a great future. He is already showing signs that he will be the next Angkasawan. I guarantee he will do better ‘research’ up there in space than his predecessors.

Sat, 230207 @ 0700; and I have to work. Sigh.

Support Group

19 January 2008.

That evening, a group of people, 19 in total, gathered in a house somewhere in Seremban 2. Eight (including me) are from Seremban, 1 from Manipur India but based in Chiang Mai, Thailand (affiliated to HDN), another from one of the South Pacific Islands (affliated to The 7 Sisters) and 9 others from KLASS.

The people present were as different as fire and ice, East from West, Heaven and Hell…

There were

Ex/Current-drug addicts.

MSMs.

Couples.

Volunteers.

Different ages.

Different races.

Different religions and beliefs.

Physician (me la)

But we have one thing in common: HIV and AIDS.

That meeting marked the beginning of the support group for PLWHA (People Living with HIV and AIDS) in Seremban, something that I’ve dreamt of and worked hard at getting off the ground for the last one year.

Like any new beginnings. It was awkward. A couple who promised to come did not show up. Conversations were hard to initiate. People were suspicious or shy. Some spoke only Chinese. Others only Malay. Sharing was tough.

You must understand that it took immense courage for these people to come and ‘expose’ themselves to each other.

The food was good and it did a lot to break some ice.

By the end of the meeting, stories were shared (some quite heart breaking), spirits were lifted (especially one shared he is now 19 years post diagnosis! Everyone was amazed) and business cards and phone numbers exchanged.

Was it a success?

I’d like to think it was.

As I drove 2 of the people back to where their car was parked that night, one said to me:

“I am amazed that there are so many young, healthy looking, talented people who have what I have. I don’t feel so alone anymore.”

I think history was made on 19 January 2008.

Fri, 220207 @ 0700