6-week update!
Wow, ages since I last posted a new entry. Time sure felt like it's flown by, looking back at it. But looking forward, the next 6 weeks seem to stretch to eternity...
So much has happened lately. I'll only write about the major events, plus some of the latest events I can remember off the top of my head.
I separated from my girlfriend of 4+ years some weeks back. It was inevitable - we'd been drifting apart more and more as time went by. We aren't as compatible and comfortable with each other as we would like, and we're basically looking for something else in a life partner. We had many good times, and we parted as good friends. Still keeping in close touch, which was the best case scenario :) No regrets starting this relationship, and no regrets ending it. Time to move on...
On the work front, all us rotators were told of our permanent postings last Tue. I'm supposed to stay in the same place, but a girl who was told she'd be going to inpatients really can't bear the place, so I might swap with her. This is supposed to be our last week in our current centres, before we move on for good. For me, I must say I dislike my current place the most, so I might not mind the swap.
Thanks to my hard work in the committee I joined, a couple of other options have suddenly opened up before me. Once our consultants leave in July, a small group of us (3-4ppl) are supposed to form a full-time team for at least a year and carry on their good work. I've been shortlisted to be in this team, but they've been quiet about this all week so I dunno what the plan is. Still hopeful, but at the same time, I don't want to get my hopes up too high. I reckon if they disregard my relative lack of work experience, I'm a shoo-in. It's gonna be one hell of a challenge though, and sometimes I wonder if I'm up to it. But if I'm given the chance, I'm going to go for it, no regrets.
At the same time, I've applied for a management traineeship post. Interview with COO (who happens to be in charge of both the committee I'm in and this traineeship programme, lucky me) on Sat morning. Less likely for me to get this post, since it's open to the entire hospital. But if I get in, I'm pretty confident of my ability to make myself a success. So we'll see how.
Haven't salsa'd at all since my last lesson last month. Always coming up with excuses and reasons not to go. I guess I'm in a slacking mood at the moment. Promise myself to dance this week onwards tho! Planning to go for pre-intermediate classes, and int1 after that. Hope to start with those of you who've professed interest in going for int1 with me :D
One more lesson to go and i'm done with my first term of french at AF. Gonna take a break for now, and go for the 2nd term in 2 or 4 months' time. I should be able to gauge how busy I am then and how many evening/weekend activities I can afford.
Arts Fest outreach programmes all over the island. i went to watch Circle of Rhythm at SGH on Fri evening. Cool percussion trio from Australia. They play the tabla, the hang (tradiotional Swiss percussion instrument looking like 2 cast iron woks glued together, played by hitting small divots all along the circumference), drums and cymbals, tambourines, and even cups of water :) On Sat, watched jjsalsarengue. Wish I could dance like those guys. Wish I didn't need months/years of practice to do it :p
Pretty warm few days, I hope the rains come back and chase the mugginess and patients away :p
Ok, enough from me for now. Too lazy to write more. Might post about more stuff in next couple of days, if I feel up to it. Going for a dinner at Brewerkz with my committee team members and consultants on Monday. Should be fun, I'm gonna try all their house beers if possible :p For now, gonna bum away the little that remains of my weekend :D
Salsa Slump
Still haven't recovered from the one-week break from salsa. I've lost a bit of confidence in myself, stemming from lack of practice, which in itself was prob caused by a bit of complacency and lack of time/energy. Sorry mf, gonna up it a notch from now on. Still got a long way to go before I feel I'm ready to start Int 1.
Grace, we're gonna practice whenever we get the opportunity, ok? Let's improve together and have a blast on the dance floor!
Ok, gonna sleep now. Gdnite!
Busy...
Haven't updated in almost 2 weeks! Can't rem much of the past week. Think every night was spent doing work. I did go down to Union Sq on Thu with mf and her friend, Christine (am I correct? my memory for names is porous). After lack of of practice for 2 weeks, I couldn't dance for nuts! So disappointed, wanted to show mf how much I've progressed since she last taught me the basic step 2 months ago in union sq, but let her down. Nevermind, I will practice hard when I can and improve. Looking forward to dancing with you again! ;)
Went to Bintan on Sat/Sun. Fun, but everything's there costly. Tried out archery and air rifle. I seem to be a natural at them, so might pursue them further when the opportunity comes along. Had a manicure/pedicure for the heck of it. Shiny smooth nails now :p
Society chalet on Sun evening after I came back from Bintan. Along with grace, taught some of the rads a bit of salsa. A few of them joining or joined up already. Our rad salsa community is blossoming! Salsa nite event for SSR, anyone? :p
French phonics lesson last nite. Good stuff! But already forgetting what I learnt. Basic lessons start on Sat, hope to apply what I learnt to good use. I can already sorta enunciate the l'alphabet francaise now :)
Nursing inflamed gums atm. Bleah. Hope antiseptic gargle and panadol are enough to cure. Sigh.
Big meeting today. Our team presentation stank, honestly. My consultants want me to present for our team next month. Got big expectations to fill. Hope I'm up to it!
Might write more about past events if I feel like it. Later!
This week in my life...
The past week, I've been spending most of my evenings, usually to the
wee hours of the morning, doing analysis for my hospital committee.
Analysing 180 days of data in raw text files is no joke! Even after
importing to excel and using all the functions I could think of to
help, it still took ages and I had progressively less sleep as the week
wore on. Thankfully finished it by Fri morning and emailed it to my
team so it's their problem for the weekend ;)
Had to do the duty I really hated this week, but looking back, it wasn't so bad after all. Still hated it, but didn't really dread going to work every day to do it. Guess those bad memories of doing it, all those months ago, when I was new and my mentor called in sick for first couple of days and I had to figure out almost everything on my own, was worse than the reality. And I've gained a lot in confidence since then, so I was positively buzzing by Fri, even with just 3 hrs of sleep the night before. The work seems a lot easier these days. But still feel very bored and demotivated to do it.
Salsa on Mon as usual. Did pretty well for this lesson, could execute the turn pattern we learnt fairly smoothly. Legs felt a bit leaden so I must have dragged my feet that evening, but still was fun. Learnt CBL right - not much for the guys to do anyway. Basically same as CBL :)
Went down to union sq the same night. Managed to dance with Liz, Mag and Grace this time. Also asked who I thought was a fellow B2 student, but she turned out to be intermediate lvl already. Oops. My lousy memory for names and faces strikes again! Felt a bit awkward leading her, our timings and reactions seem to be slightly off. I must be too used to dancing with my fellow salsa classmates. Need to dance with others so I can adapt and solidify my lead. Any takers out there? :D
On tue nite, we accompanied our friend to Suman's free salsa appreciation lesson. It was free for zo card holders, so I rushed down to Orchard the evening before to get some. Silly me, she already had like 4-5 of the cards herself! No need for me to get any. Should have asked. :p
We thought it would be similar to the first lesson he normally gives for basic 1, where he teaches us the fundamental of the music, and maybe the basic step. But he taught us the basic, simple r turn and CBL, and got everyone to partner up. I must admit, fun to dance with absolute beginners. They usually seemed so surprised when they can execute the simple turn patterns and walk away with a smile on their face :) There were a few other non-beginners there, prob to accompany their friends, like we did. Ade signed up for the next basic 1, so we have at least 2 friends learning it not. Yeah!
Played badminton on Sat for the first time in 2months! Had a solid 1.5hr session. Now my butt and legs are aching madly! Can squeeze them and feel the tightness. Lol. Watched American Pie 3 afterwards, pretty fun and lol movie, gotta catch AP 1 and 2 soon. Dinner at Seoul Garden. Thought it was pretty cheap, at 17.99+++ for Sat nite, but they now charge for the soup to cook food in, the towels, and the drinks. Bloody heck, paid 57 bucks for everything. I'm not gonna eat there again unless I'm really hungry and I've starved myself for a day. Quite liked the beef bulgogi tho. Gonna have more beef than chicken next time. Starting to develop a fondness for cooked quality beef :)
And now it's Sun. Gotta clean up place a bit, mum coming over in the late afternoon for inspection :p Ciao!
Students...
Wow, been a while since I last posted. Past couple of weeks have been hectic. Managed to finish the website project last Thu, and took Fri-Sun to recover from lack of sleep. Can't recall doing much outside of work.
Had 3 first-yr students with me in the room, sometimes 4 or even 5! The new batch is really large, almost 3 times bigger than previous batches, so it must be difficult finding places for all of them to be attached to. The 3 I worked with - C, H and S, were all smart and hardworking individuals so I didn't have much trouble with them. C in particularly was very proactive, while H and S were slightly shy. They did warm up by the end of the week, though :) Pretty happy to work with all 3.
Had our last basic 1 salsa lesson on Sat. I did pretty ok, but he taught us 2 turn patterns and by the end of the lesson, I couldn't recall the exact sequence of the patterns anymore :p Oh darn, can't try them out on the dancefloor. Only a vague recollection of the beginning, the end, but can't figure out what we did in between :p
Can't rem Sun. Must have bummed the whole day away...
Celebrity patient
Guess who I irradiated today? Denise Lorraine Keller :D Yeah, MTV Asia VJ, former model and current Eye For A Guy 2 babe. She's quite pretty in person :) One of my students told me that it came out in the papers she's suffering from dengue fever atm. 2nd time's she gotten it too. Poor girl. Ok, cannot say any more, gotta respect patient confidentiality and what-not.
Back to my website project. Deadline now 1 month 1 day past :p
Deadlines...
Trying to finish a website project I volunteered for ages ago....Kinda overdue by a month (though it was a deadline I set myself). Will blog again after I safely submit it for vetting and it becomes someone else's problem ;)
Quick update - Started salsa basic 2 lessons this week. Yeah, even before I finished basic 1. Kinda impatient I know, but if I don't do this now, I won't be able to go for fixed lessons for another few months at least. Doing shifts again come late-May.
Trying to negotitate for a particular centre in my next rotation. 1 in 2 chance. It has a slightly more flexible rostering arrangement. If I get it, I'll start French lessons in May. Will know by the end of the week, hopefully!
Team America..f*** yeah!
Ok, Blogger decided to eat my post after I clicked on the publish button, so I'm gonna try to type from memory, and I'm not gonna bother thinking so hard about how to phrase my words. Sorry about the rushed feel of this post :(
Had Liz over for tea on Tue afternoon. It's cool that there's a direct bus from her place to mine, and vice-versa. Must drop by one day, while I still live here ;) Cooked some chicken sausage spaghetti (I don't agree that onions and peppers enhance the flavour :p) and we watched Team America World Police. Not a movie for the humour-deficient. The movie's full of cr** and LOL moments. Produced by the same people who made South Park, it's not surprising that they poked fun at everything and everyone. I wonder how many people put a jihad on Matt Stone and Trey Parker after this movie came out :p
Some highlights:
* Susan (the oriental team member) calling out for Gary in her sweet voice, mowing everyone in the tavern down with a chaingun, then calling for Gary again in the same voice.
* The puppet sex scene (was this uncensored in the local cinemas?).
* Gary's speech at the end.
* Kim Jong Il singing.
Too bad Liz had to leave shortly after. Yeah, it was a nice rainy day, soothing and a welcome break from the sweltering heat of March.
Watched Bowling from Columbine later that evening. The Michael Moore 'documentary' about gun murders in the US, and a couple of tragic events in a high school and an elementary school. Initially I thought he wanted to put the point across that lax gun controls was mainly responsible for the violence, but the movie soon focused on the media and politicians' roles in fanning the flames of hatred and fear in the states. Yeah, if everytime you turned on the news and listened to yet another murder or violent crime happening to ordinary folks like you and me, and perpetrated by say, a racial stereotype, wouldn't you be locking your doors and clutching that loaded gun too? Of course, the answer isn't that simple either. Showing positive news and having leaders come out with messages of peace won't solve the problem. And of course, we all know which sells better - good news or bad news.
Blogger better not lose this post too. Grr...
