He, the enfant terrible of the classical world, came out into Melbourne concert hall like a swashbuckling pirate. Shaven head with spiked crown, oversized leather jacket with sewn patches and a white sash cloth around his waist. He created a titter when he came out, which was expected, i suppose.
Anyway, he played Mozart, beethoven, Bach, hungarian dances, jazz and purple haze by Jimi Hendrix.
well his classical pieces were good, his bowing well controlled and deft. Ive always found it amazing how he could be so bold and vibrant and yet so tender and sweet when the song required it to be. The whole song was under his control at all times and the notes just seem to glide out from his beautiful violin. Kennedy showed the difference between good and exceptional.
He played 2 duets of the hungarian dances with the lead violinist, which was again very well executed. The lead violinist was particularly impressive (the rest of the orchestra is dismal though), she matched him equally in speed, tone and guts. it was amazing to see 2 fantastic musicians playing their heart out and just letting rip.
But i find that kennedy has a major flaw. I appreciate him attempting to bring fun into the concert, after all this is what music is about: Enjoyment. So joking around with the orchestra and audience is fine, great even to create the intimate atmosphere BUT i felt that his theatrical antics got into the way as he completely butchered some of the other songs. And heres the worst bit, he performed an absolutely horrendous version of purple haze as the encore song ( i was just dying for Meditation from Thaiis by Massnet, which is my all time fave song from him) yeah im a snob and purist, i like my genres to be mutually exclusive. I mean you dont see rock stars performing operas right? theres a reason why purple haze is a rock song, you need the guitars, drums, the atmosphere, to rework it into a classical song is just GARH.
Thus, although it was technically brilliant, the whole thing just lacked magic. I just couldnt feel it, not like when Sarah chang played with LSO, that was a real winner (although Sarah chang has played with Sir Colin Davis for more than 15 tears, so i guess they know each other really well and complement each other). well, so yeah rather disappointing this time, about 8/10 i reckon (would have been more if he played meditation or didnt play that terrible purple haze)
another point of note: Melbournians have terrible sense of appropriateness. people actually turned up in t-shirt and jeans to the concert hall. yeah go figure.
here's a short transcript of a conversation in a STD clinic
Doctor (D): Hows it going mate?
Patient (P): Not so good, i think i have gonorrhoea
D: oh okay, we'd have a look at it later. and on my record you had herpes the last time too?
P: yeah that was a while back, i think 3 years ago.
D: okay good so no more troubles there. So how is your chlamydia infection coming along?
P: its clearing up i think
D: And is your genital warts still bothering you?
P: Yeah thats the other thing i wanted you to look at too.
and unfortunately, at this point emma who was with me in the clinic burst out laughing (although she did try to smother it as a cough...but it was still pretty obvious) but hello! this bloke has almost all the STDs ever, except maybe HIV and syphilis (or maybe just not yet)...how gross is that?
movie plug--ps i love you is a fantastic movie! its about this guy (played by the absolutely gorgeous gerard butler) who dies and leaves his wife (hilary swank) a couple of letters to help her cope with his death. it was sweet, funny, heartwarming and very emotional. i totally bawled my eyes out which isnt something i usually do, or maybe im just hormonal? hmm.. haha but no seriously its a FANTASTIC show, everyone should go see it
and the oscars! yay!! i was really worried it wouldnt happen with the writer's strike (PHEW!) glad that was sorted out in time and didnt deprive me of my favorite yearly entertainment. actually, its the front bit that i like, watching them come in their nice dresses and gorgeous tuxes, and the opening statements (which jon stewart whom i totally love, did a fantastic job, hes just so hilarious. his daily show is the best :p) although billy crystal is still my favorite, i love his little songs about the best pictures,
but nonetheless, there were lots of crazy moments from jon stewart (the one about hilary clinton and away with her is the best i reckon). and jack nicholson. what a legend that guy. haha he just has to be standing there to be hilarious.
and im well chuffed that marion cotillard won for la vie en rose. hooray! it was SENSATIONAL... maybe im biased because im such a big fan of madame edith piaf (who isnt really?) but then again to play a legend takes real guts and talent because there's so much expectation and people have preconceived notions on how she should be portrayed. and marion was really good in that show, the singing was perfect and portraying the young innocent edith till the drug riddled, wan edith who has too much regrets and misfortune in her life. wow. like the reviews have said, it was really like ms piaf was gracing the stage once more. i really loved that show...
i cant really comment on the rest of the nominees since i havent watched the rest. away with her looks interesting, cant wait to watch that but No country for old men and there will be blood both seem really REALLY HEAVY shows, not something that i want to tax my brain at the moment. daniel day lewis is generally a safe bet BUT i wanted george clooney to win...bah. he would have been the best looking oscar winner ever....:)
i have a slight complain tho. JUNO?! hello!!! that was the dumbest movie of all time (sorry anna dont kill me haha) it is just so weird, and i was half asleep before even halfway through the show. how could they put ellen page on the same list as julie christie, cate blanchett and MARION?! those people must be crazy. and even to nominate as best show...bonkers all of them. i hated it, it was fluff, typical hollywood churned out popcorn fluff. tweak the pregnancy cum love story a wee bit and they call it best picture?! and amy adams (for those who watched the show, how many of you wanted to kill her for singing that ridiculous enchanted song??!) god, she and the stupid yet another hollywood fluff of a movie enchanted were so irritating. they had 3 songs performed! like seriously, 3 from 1 dumb show? come on..could have done better than that no?
so yes that's the oscars summed up. cant wait for the next year's one :P ok thats it for now, cheers.
today, after nearly 5 years in australia (not including when i came here for holidays much younger), was my first time experiencing some form of racial discrimination.
i was just walking along the yarra river from the train station, and this group of young girls, who really wear too much eyeliner and have too many holes in their body, shouted hey fucking asian, just keep walking fucker etc and lots of other f words in the sentence. haha the word was literally used as an adjective, verb, pronoun. i wasnt shocked/upset actually, and my lack of emotion towards that did surprise me. maybe its because they were the 'act cool punks' so you dont actually expect anything that intelligent from them or maybe its because there was always that slight bigotry in the social undercurrents?
i mean everyone in med has been fantastic. from the tutors to friends to patients. But beyond that safety circle, sometimes you just feel that there's something more beneath all the superficial niceness. Im not saying that my aussie friends/tutors arent really that nice, but hmm, maybe im in my cynical mood. But i think that could be the reason why ive never really felt comfortable in australia. no doubt its a fantastic place, free health system, quite cosmopolitan, wide variety of sports, fresh incredible food etc but there is something inherently wrong, which i cant pinpoint exactly, with this place. However, my theory is that any nation who refuses to apologize for the wrongs that they have done cant be that great a nation. yeah so what if kevin rudd apologized, just look at the forums in the papers. Majority of them were either upset he subjected their children into watching the apology for something they didnt do, or they just didnt care.
Not that i want to compare to singapore, but ive never felt looked down or discriminated against in singapore. maybe behind the scenes we have our little jokes about each races, but i believe that we dont actually believe we are better than the next race, or one religion is better than the other.
so yeah, when i took a taxi this morning, the driver who migrated from malaysia insisted that australia is the best country in the world. sorry mate its not, not when im made to feel 2nd class, not when the people arent mature enough to accept differences, and definitely not when your country isnt brave enough to face the wrongs of the past.
guess how long my patient was in labor yesterday? 17 hours. yeah that's SEVENTEEN. she started at 4 am till 9pm. omg i was ready to die already from boredom. I was in the room with her since 7 am and stayed till the very end.
finally the consultant decided to do a C-section. and guess how long that takes? FOUR MINUTES. garh! i could have used the extra time to do so much more things, gone home go to the gym...why why why?! why do people like to put themselves through so much misery? why not plan everything nicely, decide on the time and date of your surgery, get your baby out in less than an hour, no contractions, no labor pains, no tearing of the below bits?
after all we are so lucky that medicine has come thus far to allow us to do all these interventions, why dont embrace it so you dont have to suffer like some backward nation? i told my midwife that and she was quite shocked hahahah. i think australia believes in alot of natural stuff, i wonder if singapore and other countries are more open to surgical interventions for pregnancy?
went for gish's party tonight which was nice. saw lot of the other meddies and we were just catching up. gosh we are boring man, we mostly talked about med and hospitals. heh. but they had free tab which is always good :)
ok shall sleep now, cheers
we had childbirth education classes today, and a young couple brought up this question, "can we still continue to smoke? how many is considered ok?'
and i just looked at them. in shock and horror. LIKE HELLO?! are you living in some secluded island that you have no freaking clue about the dangers of cigarettes? the chick gave some lame excuse that she's tried really hard to cut down, but the patches and all that stuff dont seem to help and so shes still on 20 sticks a day and cant cut down (thats about 1 packet) the midwife was really kind though, she was like oh, im glad you are trying, just do your best, even if you cut down by half a cigarette its still really good. im like, are you serious? hell no! i mean if you wish to harm yourself go for it, but now you are carrying another person, another life inside you. passive smoking causes decrease growth, lower IQ and a whole lot of other complications that the baby didnt ask for, so yeah the answer is like maybe ZERO???! lucky she didnt direct the question to me huh haha, id have lambasted them. :)
and then in clinics today, this woman came in because her baby is small (very small, 5th percentile actually) for her due dates. and she was just saying shes wondering why how come none of the pregnancies (she's had 5 others) ever went smoothly. she either had them premature, very small, sudden high blood pressure etc. and guess what does she reek of? yeah CIGARETTES. its really amazing how self-deluded these people can be.
geez. i really hate people who smoke, especially if its around children or the pregnant women. i think its such a selfish thing to do, if you do drugs/drink, at least you are just harming yourself or at the very most maybe your family/kill someone. but smoking not only harms you, but the whole environment with all that pollution. i think these people should learn to grow up and be more responsible, and start to think of others whenever they do anything.
and then we had this lovely woman, who's been trying for years to conceive. and when she finally conceives, she finds out that she has SLE (lupus). but even though you can see that she's in excruciating pain every time she moves her joints, she point-blank refuses any medications because she doesnt want her child to suffer from the side effects. i mean, thats what motherhood and parenting is about isnt it, putting your child above yourself, knowing that you have to be responsible for the little person inside you. its patients like these that make you feel inspired in medicine again, wanting to help them fulfil their wishes. and she's also got the most loving husband, who helps her rub her feet and joints even while shes just sitting there. sigh, its really unfortunate how some people who should deserve so much more dont.
another 'interesting' patient in clinic. the girl (19) is mentally challenged, and yet she's pregnant. see that's the problem with o&g. there's so much ethical questions, whereas i prefer things in their neat black and white columns. for me, i think that they really shouldnt procreate. after all, how is their child (who is hopefully not going to suffer the same condition) going to grow up normally? i know normal is a contentious word, but i still cant figure the logistics of 2 subnormal individuals trying to raise a child. yeah they can have help from the govt or NGO or extended family, but seriously, WHATS THE POINT? do i think they grasp the full concept of parenting? no. Are they able to understand their child's needs? no. Can they plan for the child's future? no. Can they love the child? maybe, in a very simplistic sense. The reality is, in the end, the poor child is going to have to mature earlier, lose his/her childhood innocence, to look after his parents, when his grandparents should have more common sense in the first place.
so yeah, im not trying to wean the weak kind of thing, but i think it's better for everyone including the unborn child if the whole thing never started in the first place.
so im chilling in the on-call room again, just finished antenatal clinic at 10pm so have no inclinication to take the train back just yet (the hospital im at has rather shady surroundings, lots of pills and syringes if you know what i mean)
its a bit weird being alone in the rooms. we've got a really big space, but because its separate from the main building of the hospital, its REALLY quiet and (dare i say) eerie, having to walk the pathway to get to here.Plus i guess a bit of paranoia sets in because knowing of where i am ( in a very much less desirable neighborhood, ok sorry for being so judgemental. but its true i think, socially disadvantaged people are more like to commit crime and aggression right?) R was meant to be here too since he's on call for paeds but he couldnt be stuffed. bah
and looks like ive got to spend the night here again tomorrow since i start at 7 am in the next morning with labor wards. plus hospital food really sucks in melb :( not like the NNI where i had this whole range of asian to western food, had 2 huge shopping centres with galores of food and activity, and rows opposite the hospital with food again. i just had the most pathetic slob of plastic pasta, cant even taste what was inside the ravioli, and what disgusting sauce it was. some pinkish orangey goo..yucks
haha ok im just whingeing. its a really lovely hospital though, everyone is amazingly nice and forthcoming in teaching us. they know us all by names so its a really sweet tight-knit family kind of thing, they even arrange tutes whereby all the consultants rock up to present their cases (usually its the students who present) so its nice to hear differing opinions of management and stuff.
BUT IM MISSING NEUROSURGERY. bah, o&g surgery is crass and ugly, there's no finesse, no beauty in either the anatomy (its really ugly down there, sorry. does nothing to inspire/excite me) or the skills of the surgeon. there's no cool high-technology machine to be wowed at. just basic boring stuff...i dont know why we spend 9 weeks on this, 9 weeks on paeds 18 weeks of omg psych?! i think we should spend more time on neuro, more time on cardio..afterall, o&g is really afterall mostly a normal physiological process that every 2nd person in the world has gone through for centuries. and psych??! come on, thats not even medicine. its just talk talk talk. hahaha oh well..ok thats about it for now, nights
thats the name of my first baby delivery. isnt it lovely? she was a healthy 6 pounds 5 ounces, 57 cm in length and she came out after 6 hours of delivery, at 1.28 pm today. :P gosh i sound like some proud parent, but i was soo chuffed, and took a few photos with the gorgeous bub. (not posting because of privacy issues)
so heres my experience of the labor ward.
OMG. its a freaking battlefield, blood curdling screams ring out from every corner, grown women and lots of men shedding literally sweat blood and tears. Lots of tension, emotions, love. wow.
watching the women in labor really makes me think twice about actually having a baby. There's really no dignity to childbirth. you unknowingly, whilst pushing, pee and shit everywhere, its actually quite disgusting. you have strangers poking into your private areas, checking the dilation of the cervix and all that stuff, helping you to rupture your membrane (ie. breaking the water)
plus its so wrenching when they literally scream until their veins pop out with each contraction. for the girls, imagine having the worst period pain contraction, multiply by 100, 4 times every 10 minutes. the stomach is absolutely rock hard from all the tension and contraction, your back hurts from the pushing, and you have to wait till your cervix (the exit point of the baby) dilates from say a 10 cent coin to grapefruit size. my poor patient had contractions for about 2 hours 15 min. thats murder i say.
and thats not the worst part. the real deal comes when the baby's head is right stuck at the cervix, then theres lots of tearing of the perineal muscles (muscles around the exit part) and the tear may even stretch to the anus. thats the real killer apparently. yikes i can just imagine.
but when the baby finally arrived, somehow all the effort is forgotten. i dont know, there just something so pure and innocent about the delivery of a baby, after all the hard work that its just a really emotional moment, seeing it in all its goo and muck, wriggling about. we all teared, except the pro midwife. and here's where nature works its wonders. when you put a baby on the mother to bond, it creates hormones in the mother such that she no longer feels pain from childbirth, at most a bit sore (as opposed to doing a C-section, she'd be in pain for about 2 weeks). incredible huh?
and my patient was really lovely. she was in such pain but still managed to crack jokes, mainly scolding her husband for getting her into this, next time he should be the one who labors haha. he copped alot of scoldings and punches from her hahaha. poor man, he had such a blur confused look on his face, i think he's never seen his wife scream like that before. but it was also a little disconcerting for me because she was my age too, yet she seemed so much older, so much more mature. and here she is delivering a baby, being a mother. wow.
so yups, thats my baby number 1! hope you guys had a great weekend too, cheerios!
we just got our timetable yesterday. and WOW. its busy beyond imagination..its crazy, there are days where we end at 9-10 pm. yeah no kidding, thats AT NIGHT. and we are on call once a week (that sounds fun tho haha) and in paeds its about twice a week, plus we have to stay over to present all our cases the next morning.
geez, its really hardcore man, worse than i thought. i mean i know that year 4 is supposed to be the worst year in medical school but this is getting quite scary. plus so much online learnings on top of all the medical knowledge we have to acquire. wowee
but im really excited about it though, and im doing my first labor ward call this saturday..that means my first birth this saturday! so wait for the post...
alrighty, thats about it for now, so tired..zzzz
