20 Years

20 years since we took the Final Exam.


20 years since we walked up on stage to receive that much-worked for piece of paper that made it official that we were finally doctors.


20 years since the first time I heard myself being addressed as Dr So-and-So; it felt strange & awkward, a bit like a new pair of shoes that needed some time to be worn in & gotten used to.


20 years since the first call, & feeling petrified/exhausted/exhilarated/hungry/thirsty/sticky (no shower for me that day - no time).


20 years.


I am heading back for our reunion this coming week.

It will be interesting.

Random Musings

It's been an incredibly busy past few weeks for me, as we went away for a short break, & I was involved in the planning of an International Day in my kids' school.

It's hard to know what to blog about these days. I started this blog partly as a creative outlet for my right brain, & partly as a vent for my woes as a physician. Now that I am not practicing clinical medicine, I find myself busy & enjoying my busy-ness volunteering in school, helping to organize events, updating websites, creating poster & flyers & endless other tasks. What a difference it is to be busy & not feel miserable about it like in my previous life!

People ask me occasionally whether I miss it (my practice, that is) - & more often than not, the answer is no. Admittedly, I sometimes feel a slight pull to start working again. But then this lasts for perhaps, a nanosecond before I brush it off & immerse myself back into the role of parent volunteer again.


On a different note, I think Chinese drivers are the worst in the world. Yesterday, I was stuck in a gridlock when the Airport Expressway was closed for the arrival of dignitaries into Beijing for the Asia-Europe summit to discuss the horrendous world economic situation.

Drivers here do not understand the concept of giving way. Neither do they pay any attention to the concept of a two-way street. Long line of cars? Never mind, they think, just go onto the opposite lane to create a nearly impossible situation of cars going every which way, that takes an expert in the game of Rush Hour to solve.


The US elections are on the minds of many these days, & not just the Americans. My husband asked my opinion last week on who he should vote for, as it was & is a tough decision. If I could vote, I think I would go for Barack. McCain looks like a good guy, but the thought that if he dies (he IS in his 70's after all) & Sarah Palin taking over doesn't really sit well with me!



I finally watched Mamma Mia last week (on bootleg DVD of course, where else) & throughly enjoyed reliving the music of ABBA. I was rather put off by Pierce Brosnan's singing though & was cringing through the bits when he had to whine his way through duets with Meryl Streep, who had a very pleasant voice. I also caught "The Rocker", a "School of Rock" copycat which held its own with Rainn Wilson being hilariously funny as a has been rocker/drummer from the 80's trying to regain his fame with a teenage rock band. Next up on my list of DVDs To Watch include "Wall-E", "The Adventures of Zohan" (which probably contains mostly juvenile slapstick humor - but in these days of economic doom & gloom, I need the laughs), & season 4 of Gray's Anatomy.

Impressions from China - Fairyland

Jiuzhaigou - oftentimes referred to as the "fairyland" of China.

It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site; this is not surprising, having seen for myself the magnificent vistas & extraordinary colors of the rivers & lakes in the region. We were in Sichuan last week visiting Chengdu, Huanglong & Jiuzhaigou. Visitor numbers are down this year because of the earthquake. This made our visit more pleasant as we didn't have to fight with crowds for photo opps, although there were still certain areas which were pretty jammed with people, by Singapore standards!

Huanglong, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is located at an altitude of 3,500 m is known for it's unusual colored multitiered pools which look like craters. With powdery blue colored water, they almost seem as if they are man made. But it is the mineral deposits in the pools that cause the reflection to be that color. Many of us were hit by altitude sickness to varying degrees. Some were merely breathless, while others had headaches & nausea. A few took the Chinese herb Hong Jing Tian (I think the English name for this is Rhodiola Rosea) which is a TCM remedy for altitude sickness. Say what you will about TCM, but those who took this herb seemed to do very well up there!

Jiuzhaigou, the highlight of our trip, lived up to its name. The unusual high mineral content of the area contributes to the colors of the lake & the distinct lack of marine life in the waters there. In fact, if we humans drink that water straight from the rivers, it would probably have the same effect as drinking this.

Pictures do much better than words to describe the beauty of the region. So here are some...(I swear, I did not Photoshop any of the pictures...the colors are all real!)

Huanglong

Going up the mountain roads to Huanglong, you see a lot of these "snow clouds".

Multi-tiered pools that is characteristic in Huanglong. Lovely blue color; some have streaks of golden-brown (right side of picture).

Autumn colors surround the pools

Typical view in Jiuzhaigou

Very good feng shui - mountains & lakes!












The pride of Jiuzhaigou - Sparkle Lake - supposed to contain 5 colors - blue, green, yellow, purple, red.













Lone mallard swimming on Mirror Lake - named such for obvious reasons.

One of many waterfalls in the park

Toilet talk

I want to meet Mr Sim....he sounds like an interesting person with a good sense of humor...

:)

Don't laugh, a successful 'big job' is a big deal

THE National Cancer Centre notes that colon cancer is the most common and fastest growing cancer in Singapore, but experts are still unsure why and how to prevent it.

I want to offer a common-sense approach to the colon question from the toilet viewpoint. Don't laugh.

I suspect the busy lifestyle of Singaporeans has resulted in little to no time for proper toilet visits, as well as higher levels of stress, leading to more cases of constipation. These may be the contributing factors to the high incidence of colon cancer in Singapore.

We commonly eat three meals a day. Our first meal, processed by the digestive system, would arrive in our colon roughly 16 hours later. If we defecate only once a day, that first meal stays in the colon, and possibly gets added to by the processed remains from the other two meals about 12 hours later. This means the excreta from the meals stay in our colon and may contaminate it as it tries to re-absorb the toxic material in our waste.

My tai-chi teacher taught me that even if we defecate twice a day, we are still mildly constipated, because logically, we need to release the processed remains of earlier meals.

I advise all readers to do the "big one" three times a day and stay healthy. Even if you do not think this is a scientific approach, there is common sense to it and there is no harm to your body when you do so.

After it becomes a habit, I assure you that you'll enjoy the routine and become a happier person.

In return for my free advice, may I also request you demand for clean toilets because that is another reason you could be holding back your urge and that is so unfair to your colon.

Jack Sim

Founder, Restroom Association of Singapore, World Toilet Organisation, World Toilet College

Impressions from China - Inside the Nest

We finally made it into the Bird's Nest on Monday. The structure is impressive albeit smaller than it looks in pictures & on TV. The Olympic Green is vast, containing not only the Bird's Nest & Water Cube, but also the National Indoor Stadium (left in pic below) & the Fencing Hall (right in pic below).

Inside the Nest

Being a public holiday (Mid-Autumn Festival), it was stupendously crowded but surprisingly, the lines going through security were civilised with none of that queue-cutting business that can be so prevalent in China.No points for guessing what this structure is!

We watched the Paralympians compete: the amputees, the visually-impaired, the ones with CP, the vertically challenged (I don't know of a politically correct way of saying "short" people :)...sorry), & some whom, for the life of me, I couldn't tell that they had any kind of disability, they were running so fast!

Shot-putt athletes - vertically challenged category

Seeing the Olympic torch in person was pretty awe-inspiring. I can't imagine what it must have been like at both Opening ceremonies when the torch was so dramatically lit.



London has a REALLY tough act to follow...

Impressions from China - Tainted Milk (again)

What is WRONG with these people???!!!

Once again, China is embroiled in another food tainting scandal, again, affecting babies mostly. Milk is the most fundamental nutritional necessity for young children, & yet, China's wonderfully ethical people are willing to risk these young lives for the sake of the almighty Yuan. Sorry if I am generalizing but this has me fuming.

No matter how wonderful the Beijing Olympics may have been at face value, underneath it all, these detestable acts are still going on. One of the affected brands, Yili, is even a Beijing Olympic sponsor & bears this logo
on its packaging, which means that this product was produced in an environmentally friendly way. Yeah, right. Save the environment; kill the babies.

Sorry if I sound so skeptical. But I am in a crummy mood.

Impressions from China - Beijing Paralympics 2008 - Cycling

I went to the Beijing Olympics Velodrome today to watch the Cycling event of the Paralympics. I figured it was a great way to check out the venue & at the same time, watch these amazing athletes who don't let their disabilities hold them back from what they want to do & excel at it.

The Velodrome

The Velodrome is situated in the south-western part of Beijing - it took us over an hour & a half to get there! The heavy traffic didn't make it any easier - so much for the odd-even number arrangement (which is still in place till at least Sept 20). In any case, the first sight of the Velodrome was an awesome one. It resembles a UFO. Inside, it's spanking new, but the seats are not for the acrophobic as there are no banisters to help you climb up the steps in the spectator seats, & nothing to prevent you from falling down to the lower levels of the seats!

Inside the UFO

It was amazing (& humbling) watching the parathletes compete; some were amputees, cycling with only one arm & one leg; others were visually impaired, riding on tandem bikes with a pilot in front to guide the way; yet others had cerebral palsy of varying severity. All rode at speeds faster than what I could ever probably achieve!

Outside the Velodrome

At times, we were trying to figure out what kind of disability they had. We didn't mean to be insensitive, but they were so good, that it was sometimes hard to tell that they even HAD any disability!

Amputee -Category LC3

Visually Impaired - Category B/VI

Video of part of the LC3 event (this cyclist only had one arm & one leg...but look at him go!!!)

Medal Ceremony

We watched the Medal Ceremony of the Cerebral Palsy category in which Great Britain won, & I believe, broke the world record! Somehow, something about seeing the flags going up as the national anthem of whichever country won the gold medal brings up the emotions in me & makes me tear up!

Next up - the Bird's Nest athletics event next week! Stay tuned!

Whew

It's been a crazily busy summer. Hence my infrequent blogging entries.

Two trips to opposite sides of the world - visiting colleges, visiting family, sightseeing; moving house (note to self - it doesn't matter if you move halfway across the world or just around the corner, packing/unpacking/sorting stuff out involves pretty much the same amount of work) ; a health scare within the family which has turned out well in the end, thank God, & last week, a busy busy week welcoming new families to school (I volunteer in the PTA).

I can finally breathe, & I now need a vacation (planning one now...hopefully will work out & we will get to see one of the natural wonders of the world: Jiuzhaigou in October)

:)

Waxy Buildup

This article I read today (click the title of this entry to link to it) brought back not so pleasant memories of one of the less desirable tasks I had while working in the polyclinic/GP clinic/even A & E...that of having to remove impacted ear wax. Ugh.

Some people just have this tendency to produce lots of ear wax which eventually just clog up the whole ear canal & create discomfort, itching, & hear loss. Sometimes giving them olive oil or Waxsol helps to soften & dislodge it, but occasionally (too often for comfort - mine, that is) even that doesn't help & they would subsequently come to see me to get it syringed out. Yuck.

I tell you, the sight of pieces of ear wax floating in the waste water that gets flushed out ain't pleasant at all. And I swear to God, some of those pieces are as large as one of my distal phalanges! Eew.

Impressions from China: Fake Goods & Face Value

We know that China has the dubious honor of being the land of pirated goods, be it DVDs, software, electronics, handbags or tee-shirts. So I shouldn't have been surprised by the revelation that the little girl "singing" at the Olympics opening ceremony was only lip-synching.

However, I don't think that the lip-synching was the issue; it was the reason given (the real singer was not "cute enough???!!!) & the fact that this was not revealed in the first place.

By trying to put on a "perfect" face for the world to see, China has lost face, & shown herself to be dishonest & shallow. Yes, appearance is important, but not the most important thing in the world. When China realizes this, they will, then, truly be respected.

Having lived in China for the last 1 & a half years, I have come to the realization that much of what they do, & the attitudes of the common people is based on "saving face" & showing the appearance of perfection. But underneath that perfection, one sees that inside, things are far from perfect, & the Chinese still have a long way to go before they become something that not only looks good, but also feels good.

A Whole Lot of Diggin' Goin' On

Since coming back to Singapore for the summer holiday (& to get away from the Olympics), I've noticed a lot of digging happening along many streets. It seems as if every road I happen to drive on has barriers, lanes blocked off, lines being laid, pipes being buried etc. Many familiar buildings are gone, to be replaced by construction sites hidden behind wooden barricades advertising "New Developments!"

Cranes (the mechanical kind) are fast becoming the National Bird of Singapore, as they inundate the landscape.

I've also noticed an increased number of foreign workers, not just the manual labourers, but also in the service industry. Not that this is bad, but honestly, it's often quite hard to understand what they are saying especially if they are speaking "English" (quotation marks deliberate).

Hmm, there may be a market for English language schools here in the near future, catering to teaching Proper Spoken English (which would also be useful for many Singaporeans :)).

Money Money Money

Bad form, I say...bad form, Dr Pant.

Who wants to bet that money is the underlying root of his complaint here?

When doctors go public to criticise their compatriots, who have donated their time in helping the less fortunate, it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. He could very well have used his time & energy to work WITH the Singapore doctors/custodians of the funds to see how arrangments can be made to help Ganga.

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like plain whinging to me. Not at all professional.

Bad form, Dr Pant.

Lethargy

OK, I plead guilty. I've just been plain lazy.

After a rather eventful, busy & tiring month June/July, I have just wanted to chill & do NOTHING in Singapore. What with

1) Pre-packing for our move;
2) an almost 3 week vacation in the US during which we walked what seemed like hundreds of miles doing college visits;
3) returning to Beijing & moving house;
4) unpacking & sorting through our stuff at the new house;
I guess my lethargy is understandable. And the humidity & heat (both in Beijing & here in Singapore) don't help either.

Many are surprised that we are here in Singapore away from all the Olympic excitement in Beijing. But it really has been rather inconvenient for Beijing residents. Especially if you don't live in an area that is easily accessible via public transport. And despite all the measures, it looks like air pollution remains a problem - too little, too late some say.

So here we are, catching up with family & friends (& food!), enjoying movies (in theatres, not on pirated DVDs!), enjoying unfettered Internet access, & being just plain lazy.

:)

Impressions from China - And It Begins...

Whoa. Talk about clampdown.

Today - July 20, 2008.

Beijing starts its odd-day-even-day car plate traffic restrictions. You can only drive your car on even days if your license plate ends with an even number & vice versa for odd days.

No more major construction in the city. Which means no work for construction workers.

No more trucks bringing in goods into the city.

It also looks like our satellite TV channels (probably not so legal) has been cut off. Which means no more Star World. AXN, Second Avenue (which has current TV programming from the US) etc.

This is supposed to go on for the next 2 months. Just as well that we will be away for one of those months.

Travelog - Jersey Boys

I love musicals, & always have, whether on the big screen or live on stage.

It was with eager anticipation that I went to the Broadway musical Jersey Boys, which is based on Frankie Valli & his career with the Four Seasons.

I loved it.

Even my husband & two boys, who are usually averse to watching musicals were enthralled almost from start to finish, so much so that once the curtains closed, the first thing my 14-year-old said was, "Let's watch it again." We even bought the CD recording of the music & now, included in their iTunes playlist are Four Seasons classics like Walk Like A Man, Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry etc!

Listening to the CD which had John Lloyd Young playing the role of Frankie Valli, I think I much prefer Young's voice to Michael Longoria's, whose falsetto, honestly speaking, sounded rather chipmunk-ish at times.

Christian Hoff (who played Tommy DeVito) was brilliant. I could see why he won the Tony for this role in 2006. Peter Gregus , who played the "happy" (*ahem*) manager Bob Crewe was also very enjoyable.

For anyone hoping to catch a Broadway show while in New York, this is HIGHLY recommended!

Here's a snippet taken from the David Letterman show, featuring the original cast doing a medley from the show, with a very enthusiastic review from Paul Schaeffer...

Stuff

I hate moving house.

We recently moved to another house in the same compound due to issues with the old house. This is the umpteenth time we've moved. And moving just one street over doesn't make the process any easier. All that packing, then unpacking then sorting out & putting stuff away...it makes you realize just how much stuff one accumulates (let alone FOUR people) in a lifetime.

Moving into a new house is kinda like getting to know a new acquaintance. We have to figure out how things work & where things belong & all those idiosyncrasies that go with the new place. An added challenge now, that comes with age, is putting things away & being able to remember at a lated date, where these things are! Ah, the joys of aging.

Gray

I've blogged about this.

Mr Wang, Dr Huang, and Angrydoc have all blogged about it too.

This letter in today's ST Forum, together with several others, tells it from the viewpoint of the patient.

It's a tough call to make. As doctors, we tend to look at the world through rose-tinted glasses, where altruism is the best way to get things done (well, maybe not so much anymore in today's society). But till we can walk in the shoes of someone who is actually suffering through organ failure, are we equipped to moralize & lecture on what is right or wrong about $$$ being involved in organ transplants?

As I've said before, this needs to be looked at from different perspectives...

Impressions from China - Back in BJ

We arrived back in Beijing last weekend to sweltering heat, humidity & torrential rain. As we landed, we could hardly make out the terminal buildings because of the haze (and there are how many more days to go before the Olympics, hmm?)

Entering the spanking new terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport was like entering a greenhouse. True it has lovely architectural design, beautiful lines & is shaped like a dragon. But when it is mostly covered with glass, & the airconditioning doesn't work properly... well, you can imagine.

This is the Departure Hall. Beautiful, isn't it?

It certainly didn't prepare us for our arrival back!

I thought that with all that extra space, getting out of baggage claim wouldn't be such a crush compared to crummy old terminal 1. But the same old bottleneck happened. It seemed like everyone arriving there was exiting through the same door surrounded by throngs of people holding signs with names of the guests they were waiting for.

Some things never change.

Yup, we're back in China.

Travelog - College Visits

Stanford.

Berkeley.

New York University.

Columbia University.

Princeton University.

These were the colleges we visited during our trip. We wanted to give our older boy a feel of these higher institutions of learning, since he will start his college applications process in the coming two years.

Columbia University

I know, I know...very lofty aspirations we parents have for our children, but hopefully, by showing our boys what's out there, they may be inspired to reach for the heights! Haha, just kidding. Seriously, these colleges are just a handful of so many excellent schools here in the US, not just Ivy Leagues, but also smaller & academically rigorous ones like Lehigh, Renselaar, Colgate, just to name a few.

Stanford - Corridors of learning

The ones we visited this time ranged from State universities (Berkeley) to private ones (NYU & Stanford) to traditional Ivy Leagues (Columbia & Princeton). All were excellent schools but had very different curricula with foci on different aspects of education. The Ivy Leagues tend to be more liberal arts-centric while the private universities had more professional courses to offer.

UC Berkeley

They all offered information sessions for students & parents, which outlined their curricula, admissions process (generally holistic although given the kind of applications they get, scoring at least 1400 in the SATs is the norm rather than the exception!) & financial aid. College costs are hefty - in these colleges, they were around the USD50K per annum ballpark. Hence schools which give a lot of grants & scholarships (to US citizens) like Stanford & NYU sound very attractive to us parents!

Campus tours were also useful in giving the potential students a sense of the size of the school as well as the atmosphere. For me, I found Stanford, located on over 8,000 acres of land (!) to be less "cosy" than Berkeley or Columbia, while NYU was very vibrant, since its buildings are not confined within the typical college campus, but rather, become part of the landscape of the Village in NYC. Basically, you step out of a school building on to the New York city sidewalk!

Columbia, with its old historical buildings & Grecian columns, had a very academic feel to it. For those looking for a good liberal arts curriculum, this is the place for you.

My personal favorite is Princeton. With a smaller campus than Columbia, it had a more homey feel to it, with the added plus of being surrounded by quaint neighborhoods & nice restaurants :). If I had to do it all over again, this would be my first choice (assuming that I could get in!!!)

Princeton - my favorite!

Movie-palooza

We were in the US for about 2 & a half weeks.

And watched SIX movies in that time. Told ya we were movie buffs.

Indiana Jones 4 - watched it for the sake of nostalgia (and Harrison Ford, of course!). Thoroughly entertaining.

The Incredible Hulk - I preferred this version to the Ang Lee one. I still prefer Spidey, the FF & the X-Men though, among the Marvel movies.

Get Smart - rather juvenile humor, if you ask me. That's why my two teenage boys liked it. I wish there could have been smarter dialog...Steve Carrell is such a great comedian, his talent was wasted in this one.

Iron Man - we liked it so much the first time around, we couldn't resist watching it again. And enjoyed it just as much!

Wanted - I'm not a huge fan of graphic violence but was outvoted (perils of being the minority in a testosterone-laden family). James McAvoy was great in it, but I really didn't have to watch bullets piercing heads, knives slashing flesh etc etc in slow-mo. I know it sounds strange coming from a doctor, but I hate watching gore. Performing surgery, I can deal with. Watching traumatic injuries on the big screen...ugh.

Hancock - disappointing despite all the hype. The storyline just didn't cut it for me, although Will Smith & Jason Bateman did the best they could with the material.

We would have watched Wall-E, the Love Guru & The Happening if we had more time, but we didn't so I guess we'll just have to make do with the DVD versions.

We look forward to more movie-watching in Singapore. More specifically, The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (yay, Brendan Fraser!), The Dark Knight (in the trailers, it looks like the late Heath Ledger did a tremendous acting job in this) , Mamma Mia (yay! I watched this 3 times in 3 different countries & thoroughly enjoyed myself each & everytime. It's such a fun musical, that makes you just want to sing & dance along. I guess for those of us who grew up in the 70's & 80's when ABBA was HUGE, it's more meaningful), Journey to the Center of the Earth (Brendan Fraser again :)), The X-Files (I watched every single episode of the TV series). A couple of quirky looking films also look promising when we saw the trailers : Burn After Reading, a Coen Brothers film starring George Clooney & John Malkovich; and Step Brothers, starring Will Farrell & John C. Reilly