Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in David Tan's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, January 12th, 2005
12:16 am	byebye... ... i suppose it is with a tinge of sadness and nostalgia that i enter my last entry on this host. Yes, i've strayed, and i've created a new arena to air my thoughts. http://davidthetan.blogspot.com/ Yeps, i've joined the many in "blogging" (sheesh, i don't really like that term) on that host. Rest of my stuff can be found there... Goodbye goat. ... ps: that is of course barring the chance that i forget the password to the other place, and am forced to return here... (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 2nd, 2005
10:42 pm	Activation... ... Ocean's Eleven was rather interrupted this evening. First of all, watched the front part of it while having dinner at the in-law's, which was pretty difficult to do since everyone was talking during dinner. Later on, James (from GS branch) called to say that CMC and gang had decided to send part of my team up with resupplies to assist Team 1. And i'm the only MO in this fragmented team. woohoo. Butterflies in the stomach all over again. The same kind of feeling i had at the meeting when they put my name up for nomination to the team, and the same feeling subsequently when discussing about what to do, what to get, and other such issues. But the butterflies have gone pretty quickly now, and i probably can picture myself there again. En's not happy though, and in a way i understand how she can feel she was betrayed, perhaps akin to if i were to have had an affair. Didn't exactly discuss this with her before volunteering, and i can imagine how this feels as an abandonment of the marriage vows to stay together and look after each other and stuff like that. Tough tough tough. Well, going for a meeting tmw morning in GS branch. Will gave to see what comes out of that. Last James said was that we'll probably fly Wed or Thurs. Did he say fly? Not so sure about that... Could well as much sail. ... (Comment on this)
12:21 am	so i continue... ... Anyway, plan plan plan plan plan. That was the 30th for you. Missed my SAILING slot that night as well, and caused QW (who took over it) to run into a Mat on the way to Woodlands. But the Mat was apparently alright, and just limped off the road. His friend had playfully pushed him into the road. 31st was the same. It was supposed to be half day (and civi-wear) in the office, but for the team, we met at the medical centre to update our vaccination statuses. i got myself a typhoid update (which by the way is supposed to ache like mad after a few days, but my arm's still fine...). We then had some talks by the legal and insurance guys, convincing us to get wills and added insurance. KK and i didn't. Well, i don't see the need to. Don't have that many assets, and most of what i have (house and savings accounts) is in her name as well, or otherwise can easily be accessed by her. The insurance payouts will probabaly take the cake, but i guess mom and dad and En should be able to get by without it for a while, while they sort out the court stuff. Morbid eh? Well, at the meeting yesterday, after we settled the admin stuff and Emart re-kitting, Wee Li (team leader)told us some stuff that i probably shall not mention here, as i guess it's supposed to be classified. Perhaps i'll place it here some other time. Anyway, it sure is tough being on standby. Now i can imagine how the unit MOs must feel when they're on Alert Red, though i think this is worse as it's REAL. It's like this cloud hanging over you, just waiting to rain on your parade. Demoralising. Just saw some footage (for the first time) at Junping's place of the effects of the Tsunamis on some of the coastal regions, complete with images of dead and bloated bodies. Though i hadn't seen all this before, they did come to mind last evening during watchnight, and i kinda broke down. Not so much for the fear of what i was going to see, if i were to be activated, but for the suffering that these people were going through. i suppose the answer to the common question "If God is a loving God, why does He allow suffering in the world?" can be found in many commentaries and books, but i couldn't recall it offhand last night. But that's where faith comes in, and be it blind or not, that's what faith is for. We can only pray that He'll do what He does, and trust that it's all in His masterplan. Well, got to go spend some spousal quality time. Till later... ... (Comment on this)
Friday, December 31st, 2004
9:16 pm	Tsunami ... Here i stand (ok, sitting actually) at the threshold of another year, but i write this now with a sombre mood. 6 days ago, in the early morning of Boxing day, there was a large earthquake off Aceh, Indonesia, measuring up to 8.5 on the Richter Scale, the 4th or 5th largest recorded earthquake ever. This created a whole slew of Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, which pretty much wrecked many of the countries along the Malaysian peninsula and Indian Archipelago. As i mentioned, i had spent Christmas night watching KFH. Didn't wake up till about 1pm, and only saw some news of it while surfing channels. There were these "News" subtitles on Channel 5 which caught my attention. Didn't really realise the impact of it till Dad's birthday dinner that night, where Shereen mentioned that almost the whole of Maldives was submerged. Was on leave on the 27th, but received a call from Han Lim that the SAF would be sending a team or 2 to support in the Disaster Relief Mission in Aceh. He had initially joked that he'd be going, but this was later dispelled when i called him. But i mentioned to him to put my name in if they needed more volunteers. They didn't, as it seemed they were getting the Regular doctors to go. That was until yesterday, when CMC met CARMO in the mess while we were playing pool, and said to him that we'd be forming a 3rd team, and to open it up to NSF doctors as well. Again, i 'volunteered', but i guess i may have bitten off more than i could chew. It all happened pretty quickly. CARMO went up to an urgent meeting, and we thought we still had time to find names. But then he called HL to go up to the conference room with a list, and we decided to let my name top the list, with Ker Kan (MOCC buddy, best cadet) as a strong recommendation as well. It was approved, and we were set into action planning logistics, vaccinations, personal equipping and all. (need to rush off for Watchnight now... will update more later) ... (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 26th, 2004
4:48 am	Merry Christmas... ... Just waiting for En to finish bathing so that we can go sleep together. Well, her dad's CT head was apparently normal, but the neuro's are still going along the line of a TIA. They've started him on aspirin, and are continuing his Hypt and Lipid medications. Met up with Weili, Qiwei, Stephen and their gf's (minus Steve's, since he's got none) this evening. i was supposed to have met WL a lot earlier on in the night, but En wanted to stay at home with her dad a lot longer than i thought. i guess she was really a lot more worried and affected by this whole episode than i thought. Well well. But he's fine now, anyway. Met up at Kim Seng Bowl for an hour plus of pool, then watched Kung Fu Hustler at Great World City. The show wasn't too bad, and the company was good. *** Well, on to the rest of the night at Kabuki. On hindsight, i think Eileen (if i remember correctly, the name of my second girl)propositioned me prior to her fluttering away as 'butterflies' do (well, that's another KTV term for you... i've done my research indeed). As she got up from my lap, oops, my side, she mentioned to me that she had a room on the floor below. i thought at that time that she meant she had another similar room and had to entertain other customers, but when i digested it fully enough the next day, it occured to me that she could have wanted a little more with me than the hanky-panky/strip dancing already going on with the other (note *other*, I was trying to sing Karaoke, to avoid actually getting a gal) guys in the room. haha... and i didn't realise it. Well, it would have definitely cost me a lot more than the $50 i gave in tips for her company that night. Too sleepy now. It's almost 5 am now, and i can't keep my eyes open. Later... ... (Comment on this)
Friday, December 24th, 2004
9:24 pm	what a way to spend Christmas eve... ... i was going to write about my exploits at Kabuki Club and KTV which i went to a few days ago, but it seems like i'll have to save it for another time. Here i am, sitting in the Medical Staff Lounge of NUH using the I-net computers while waiting for the FIL to be admitted for observation. (by the way, it sure pays to keep one's staff pass even after leaving the hospital) He came back home this evening, and called me over to have a look at him, as he had a sudden onset of severe giddiness. i had a look at him, and his BP was 170/110, he had slight listing to his left, severe nystagmus looking to the left, and queried unequal pupils. i thought the right was slightly more dilated than the left. He then vomited twice, and seemed pretty unwell. The differentials running through my mind were that of viral labyrinthitis, or even worse, a brainstem infarct. Hence En and i convinced him to come to NUH for an opinion. By the way, we were supposed to have Eric, Huijuan and Yanqing over for dinner tonight, which still went on as En stayed back to entertain. Anyway, Goh Weiping was on duty, and after consultation with Sock Hoon (whose name i should try not to forget, as i've seen her in my tour at CE before), we felt it better to admit him for observation, as his symptoms had by then resolved, which is unusual in a peripheral cause like VL, but pointing more towards a transient ischemic attack (TIA). So they're processing his admission now, while i'm here waiting for En to arrive. Incidentally, met my senior-turned-junior Irving in the EMD, as well as Paul Zhao, whose wedding i attended/participated as a sword-bearer. It sure is useful to have insider information/help. Popped by the CE just now as well, and saw Kao, Sharad, Doris and the clerk whose name i can't remember, but seems to be a lot more friendly to me now than while i was still in the dept. hmm... that seems to be all i have to say about this episode. He'll probably be observed over the night, and discharged tmw. In a way, i'm torn. It'll be terrible if something really was the matter with him and they noticed something over the night, but it'll mean i was accurate in my diagnosis and cause for concern. But i'd rather be wrong. Well, i wouldn't exactly BE wrong in the sense that any sound doctor would have thought through the same diagnoses as well, and the EMD docs DID concur with my judgment. Oh well. ... Anyway, since En is still at Clementi dropping YQ off, i'll talk a little bit about Tuesday night. The CDO MOs wanted to have a farewell 'outing' for CARMO, so we went over to HOOTERS for dinner. Disappointing again (like Dan's Bach-night) as the girls were pretty unspontaneous, but in their defence, there were a few lookers. Anyway, after dinner, DC had 'plans' for boss, and based on HL's suggestion for somewhere 'warm' (as opposed to 'HOT'), we went to Kabuki at Cairnhill Place. Finally i had an experience of how a stag night should resemble, and it wasn't even a stag night! haha. Eye-opening indeed. We were all more-or-less forced to have a girl each, but you had the option to refuse one on sight, or even after a few minutes, if you decided she wasn't your type. My first was (can't remember her name) pretty disastrous. The rest had gotten theirs, some of which weren't that bad looking. However, when the asst mummy Peggy brought mine in, i was kinda shocked, but didn't have the heart to turn her away. She had an eye-catching mole just below the angle of her mouth, and her teeth were kinda protruding (or so i thought) and stained terribly brown. Worse still, she introduced herself with a lisp, leading me to think that she had a tumour in her mouth from all that supposed smoking the colour of her teeth pointed towards. (some housemen, ok house officers since both of them are female, just walked into the lounge by the way) anyway, it turned out that the cause of her speech impediment was due to a recently introduced tongue stud, which she proudly displayed after a while... *** En called. i'llhave to finish the story another time. But just in case anyone wonders, i DIDN'T do anything. i'm a happily married man. :) ... (Comment on this)
Monday, December 20th, 2004
11:55 pm	no, i'm not on call... WTF Just lost the whole bloody page that i just spent 5 min typing out. damn it. anyway, the gist of it is that i just came back from work. Wasn't exactly the most pleasant day. Was initially good, despite it being busy and stuff. My first day working at this place at Ghim Moh. Anyway, some background. i'm normally quite, no, very pleasant with patients, and despite there being truckloads of cards indicating patients waiting to be seen, i still am able to put on a warm smile and treat patients with niceness and care. However, this last patient that came in tonight as the clinic was closing really cheesed me off. She was (i forget) 13 (?), and she came in with her mother c/o some eye pain. She was totally uncooperative with her eye exam, and when i finished and was trying to explain the medications to her and her mother, her mother decided to "chup" in and asked me to examine her daughter's ear, "since they were already there anyway". At this point, the daughter/patient rolled her eyes, and was even more uncooperative with her ear exam. When i asked her if it ever hurt, she muttered something under her breath, of which i caught something like "fei hua" (of course/ah ber den). So irritating. Got me so irritated with her, for being so damn nonchalent, and her mother, for dragging her down for something which obviously wasn't bothering her enough to give a good enough response to my questions. Aha. That's it. i was pissed cos it seemed like I was the one begging for answers. WTF??? Oh well, getting a little vulgar here. Pardon me. Anyway, also saw 2 of my ACS ex-teachers. Well, they didn't exactly teach me directly before, but i knew who they were, and they recognised me as well. First time i ever told a patient/patients that i'm still serving in the SAF. So awkward, especially when it came to the wife. For reasons of doctor/patient confidentiality, i shan't name them or what i saw them for. Well, ok. Time to sleep. i shall go now. Gnite. Merry Christmas, goat. ... (Comment on this)
Friday, December 10th, 2004
10:46 pm	how morbid... ... But even more, how sad. Just read some excerpts from one of the links off mrbrown's site: http://www.gracechow.info/ It's the blog of a young lady (1972) who recently passed away from a chordoma (?) in the skull. Never heard of that kind of tumour, but it basically sounds like a tumour of the brain. Anyway, the latest blogs record her last few days alive (apparently, for everything must be taken with a pinch of salt), ending off with her husband mentioning that she has passed away, and how reading her book will be the best way of honouring her legacy, and how she was not religious, though tended towards Buddhism, blah blah, and how she wanted to come and go, as they say in Buddhism. What really struck and saddened me was the Buddhism bit. Yah, sounds like she's probably not going to heaven. Or to rephrase it more honestly, she's probably going to hell. Scary thought. Images of a friendly, perhaps innocent soul burning in flames and screaming for mercy. Sobering indeed. Perhaps more so for the Christian, as it makes one wonder what could have been done to avoid this, or was anything done indeed, and she didn't listen? As Roman says, creation is such that one cannot deny the existence of a GOD. The world is NOT just from our minds/imagination. It is real, and the philosophers can philosophise as much as they want, but when push comes to shove, it's the difference between eternal joy and eternal flambe. i'd like to go to heaven, and as much as i may doubt my assurance, sometimes it's more of the intellect having to conquer the emotion of self-doubt, as intellectually we can draw upon HIS promises no matter what we feel. "i'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony..." Well, i'd like to teach the world about HIS love. And HIS holiness. And his final judgement if you were to refuse it. hmmm... ... (Comment on this)
10:16 pm	On call again... ... i think my posts are going to be really boring. Oh well.. Like the title says, i'm on call again. And there was a tasking order for an ambulance audit that i had to send out. Tsk tsk, looks like my calls are getting busier. Anyway, went to talk to the 59th MOCC this afternoon, tried to sell some merits on joining the army. Not sure if it worked. But they've got it bad. 3 Guards and 2 Commando openings for MOs, that's no joke. Tried watching Gangs of New York just now, but the sound and visual system wasn't working very well, so i gave it up after the first disc. Bored bored bored. Maybe i'll go sleep soon... ... (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 4th, 2004
12:10 pm	i was right... ... So the Malay won. Although unconvincingly for the racial reasons which i had earlier suspected he would win for. He WAS actually the better singer of the night. On call... again. On a Saturday at that. sigh. Well, UNDAC has been activated (did i mention that in my last blog?), the final cumulation of what started from my last call on the 1st. UNDAC is basically er, the United Nations Disaster Asessment and Co-ordination thingy, which i think i can talk about since it is all over the UN's internet website. It, as the name implies, co-ordinates disaster relief for countries hit by natural disasters or situations. Currently, Philipines is on the hot-list, and UNDAC was activated the other night, asking for support from the SAF for Medical Personnel to go over to the country to give assistance, probably more in co-ordination rather than medical provision. As TKJ (incoming CARMO) said, "if you are on the ground as a doctor, you can only save so many people, whereas if you were planning, then you could save hundreds or thousands more..." Anyway, today i was informed that one of our docs (as the farmers in the SAF like to call us) was informed via email to depart today for the Philipines. Problem is, my Ops room didn't get the fax, and neither did MINDEF Ops room. Turned out that the jokers from UN who are in charge of faxing the notification "aren't working today, and can only fax the thing when they return to office", ie Monday. Sheesh. Oh well, i'll probably go off for lunch now. Later... ... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
10:12 pm	i'm sick... ... i'm on call, and i'm sick. Oh how miserable i feel. Yes, despite the fact that they're currently airing the finals of the Singapore Idol on TV now. Which brings me to another point. Sylvester, as unique as his voice might be, surely sucked tonight. Unfortunately, there are legions of women who would still pass that by and go on to vote this young chap. Still, i'm sure common sense will prevail, and Taufik will win. Am i going to stay up to find out? Not if i can help it, since i'm so sick. Just came down with an URTI today. Feeling quite febrile now, and the chilly air-con in the Ops room isn't helping very much. *sniff* My sinuses hurt too. Wonder if they're infected. Sigh... Can't these darn boys just bring the beds out, rather than just watching their blooming-loud Van Helsing? Oh well, i'll give them a while more before i chase them again. *sniff... snort* And i'm sailing tmw evening. And the evening after that, and on call the day after, and then sailing again. Yes, the ads are over now, and the 2 clowns are singing again. "Reason" or something like that. Well, they are pretty good, and Sly's voice IS unique in the way that World Idol Champ's voice was. But the Malay will probably win. CARMO's leaving the job. *sob* The best boss ever, and he's unfortunately leaving the SAF for greener pastures. OR rather seashores. haha... Ahh, he's going to work in Shell lah. Get it? Shell, seashore? Argh. Must be the flu talking. Anyway, so the greatest boss i've ever worked with is leaving, and TKJ, his replacement will be taking over him in January. Scary thought, as he's got a reputation of being a workhorse. i did have some minimal contact with him while he was DYCARMO before he left for MOM, but i'm sure it'll be a whole new ballgame working with him as CARMO. (can Gurmit just STOP asking the silly people in the indoor stadium to SCREAM???) oh gosh... Taufik 'brides'. And they just said that he has to marry all 5 of them. Sheesh. Of course we know he can... his er, his lifestyle permits it. i'm so stuffed up. And i've got myalgia as well. ouch. ok. i'm going to get them to bring the beds out. or maybe not. it looks like the end of the show. i'll give them a while more. Maybe i should take the day off tmw after lunch. Might probably need the rest for the evening slot. Oh well. Till then. ... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 10th, 2004
8:47 pm	... ... Well, it's been slightly over 2 weeks since i wrote, which probably isn't too bad, judging from my previous record. Anyway, i'm on call again (surprise surprise), but this time with HIGH speed internet access via an illegal account. Well, perhaps it's not really that illegal, just that i'm using my office laptop with a stolen wireless internet card to access the wireless internet from Joint without proper authorisation. Well, that's what you get for distinguishing too clearly between Army and Joint. In the past few weeks, i've gone to and returned from Australia and Bangkok. Yes yes, frequent flyer i am. :) Exercise Wallaby in Shoalwater Bay Training Area was interesting, although the most vivid memory that i'll probably have of Wallaby years from now is the DUST. Wallaby = Dust. Rockhampton was a small and interesting town though, and Queensland being (self-proclaimed i presume) the Beef capital of Australia, we (CARMO, Sam/Shanmugam the HQ Armour Senior medic and i) had good steak in the Criterion Hotel. Of course, there was the 1 obligatory strip bar at the edge of the town, which of course i didn't visit. Not even when i was walking around alone. Really. Perhaps it'll be apt at this time to outline the itinerary i had for the visit from the 26-30 Oct. 26 evening: Departed on Qantas 51 or 52. (which i must state at this point, that Qantas' service has indeed dropped!!!) 27th (about 6+am): Touched down in Brisbane, and waited 3+ hours for the connecting flight to Rockhampton 27th 11+am: Touched down in Rocky, and was driven to SWBTA by Sam, visited Camp Growl, Samuel Hill Field Camp, and some training area where 46 was deployed. Also managed to catch Ker Kan (my MOCC buddy) out there. 27th evening: Hung around in Sam Hill, drank few cans of beer... 28th morning: Departed to Rocky via 4WD, checked in the Mercure Leichhart Hotel, visited Rockhampton Hospital where the sorry a$$ of a director wasn't there to welcome us, and hence was brought around by some arrowed "senior" medical officer. 28th rest of day: Walked around Rocky on my own, after which we had dinner at the Criterion. 29th: Departed early for a flight to Brisbane 29th morning: Arrived in Brisbane, where we were supposed to visit the Australian Army Malaria Institute, but were unfortunately unable to due to some scheduling issues... 29th rest of day: Spent the time walking around the city on my own, visiting the Casino, the South Bank (where by the way there was a remnant of a Nepalese Pavilion, leftover from the '88 Expo which i had visted years ago... in '88), walked past Strip clubs (which of course i didn't enter... really), went to Chinatown to buy nougat... 30th: Catched the afternoon flight back to Singapore. All in all, this was a pretty good trip, given how it was fully paid by the SAF. *beam* Went to Bangkok with the missus from the 5-8 November, despite all the bomb and terrorist scares going on in the South, as the damn fools from the travel agency and travel insurance refused to reimburse any of the flight/hotel charges. Bangkok was ok, though dusty like mad. (hmm... now that i think about it, my 2nd dusty trip in a month)Did a whole lot of shopping, and spent all our cash, having to draw with the Visa. Can only hope that the interest ain't too high. Well well, that's my 2 trips summarised in a jiffy. Getting a neckache now from the weird posture. The chair's just too low... Need to mention though, that i've got an Xbox!! My first ever gaming console of my own. En got it for our anniversary (no, she got it for me, not got it for us for our anniversary). Which leads me to the celebration of our anniversary. We (I) got a room at the Ritz, and got Roanna to arrange a butler drawn bath, topped with sparkling wine and chocolate coated strawberries. Really romantic and nice! Also got a specially arranged dinner at the Summer Pavilion. Pretty edible food, unlike Les Amis when i proposed, where she couldn't eat half the stuff served. Anyway, going to rest my neck now. Later... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 15th, 2004
9:30 pm	Yawn... ... Here i am, on call again. Sleepy. It's been a long week, and i think, as the phrase that we've so often been using this week, i'm doing work beyond my salary scale. Oh well, that's the life of an NSF Captain. Anyway, also been surfing www.abandongames.com. eh, i hear the news starting... later perhaps... (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 11th, 2004
7:51 am	here i am... ... on call again. Well actually, post call. Just that the duty clerks were using the computer last evening, so i didn't get a chance on it. Also, i was too preoccupied watching if Randy would get her family to sit in for her wedding in 'My big fat obnoxious fiance'... funny stuff. Anyway, so here i am, waiting for my call to end before i look for something to eat prior to the PACES 2 meeting at 9am. Yes, i'm working on the first Saturday since the implementation of the 5 day work week in the SAF. How apt. PACES 2... the bane of my life. Just waiting for one party or the other to call it quits. But i don't think i'm authorised to speak more about it on this forum. So be it. So the other day i was jogging round the track downstairs (did i mention that i've moved?), and when i was doing the static stations, this plump Indian man with 2 children came down to play around with the equipment. He was probably their uncle (seeing how they kept calling him 'uncle'), and he was teaching them how to use the chin-up bar, the log-raises, and the inclined sit-up platform. Then it occured to me... i think all men need to be father figures or mentors at some point in their lives. It's probably important to the male persona, and one loses something in life if that's not fulfilled. This Indian chap probably isn't very impressive in other areas of his life. Looks like a mediocre person (not trying to judge here), and i wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't achieve much at work. But in the eyes of those kids, he was like a superman, able to raise the largest log, teach them how to do sit-ups and chin-ups (no, he didn't try it himself) and so on. And kids are so impressionable. i suppose the same can be said for teachers, especially those of the younger students. Guys just need to 'father' someone... ok, that sounds wrong, but you get my point. Hoping to go for the Philips sale later on at Toa Payoh. Need to get an iron for the house. Till next time... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 28th, 2004
5:22 pm	8 months and 28 days later... ... An Officer I am. hmm, like that's the only and best thing that can summarise the many days passed. Well, here i am, on call again, but in Nee Soon Camp doing a different kind of call. i shan't make any apologies, dear livejournal, about not writing for so long a time, or otherwise this whole BLOG shall just be one of apologies indeed. NS has been good. On hindsight, MOCC which lasted from my re-enlistment in November, to February this year, WAS tough initially, and i probably complained more about the ridiculousness of it more than i should have. Yeah, many things done were nonsensical and totally unnecessary, such as the frequent and too-draggy Saturday stand-by's (which by the way, may become a thing of the past, if indeed the 5-day work week in the SAF comes through), and our Course Commander wasn't exactly the best of them all. But we all finished the course, and all (to save a few) came out the better for it. (the others just remained the @$$holes they started off as) I am now Captain (Doctor) David Tan Hsien Yung, Staff Officer Healthcare, Headquarters Army Medical Services, or CPT(DR) David Tan, SOHC HQAMS for short. It was my choice during dispersal, which probably made Ker Kan (my buddy, the Best Cadet) and i the only ones in Army who got what they chose. Basically, what i do is paperwork, and i don't see the normal patients (within the SAF that is...) that other MOs do. i did see the occasional one while i was previously on call in Sembawang Airbase covering Search & Rescue (as rare as that may be), but now doing DMSO (duty medical staff officer) calls, i definitely won't get to see any. i'm just a glorified postman, waiting to inform and be informed. Just came back from a jog, by the way. Sitting here now in my underwear-less ARMY running shorts. too much detail... So, En and i finally moved in to our new place opposite her parents. The home-making was/is fun, though the renovations cost more emotionally and financially than we thought they would. James from Noah's on Hseng's recommendation probably isn't as good as he is friendly, and given a choice, we probably would have gone with someone else. Bygones... it's still good going to a home that you know is yours, although the price of independence is a high one indeed. hmm, can't think of anything else to write now... perhaps later tonight. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 31st, 2003
9:14 pm	... ... Yeps, so obviously i haven't gotten down to writing about the honeymoon and NS. Well, that'll be later. Here i stand at the threshold of a new year. Perhaps it's some time for reflection? Or perhaps not. Perhaps i've become so comfortable in things that i just 'get along' and be, well, comfortable. i'm typing this, by the way, while waiting for En to finish showering before we go for watchnight service. It, apparently, has been a bad year. There was SARS, the death of many icons, the poor financial situation in Singapore and the region, CPF cuts, GST hikes and the Iraq war. On the other hand, i got married this year. :) oh well. She's done. so that means i'm done too... another time perhaps. Happy new year (Comment on this)
Friday, December 19th, 2003
9:30 pm	The Wedding... ... It's been many many months since i last wrote here. haha... the last entry as i can see was the one where i was pissed frunk. Makes funny reading indeed. Of course, En wasn't very happy about that episode, though i think it was more of pre-wedding stress. Ok, i'm going to try and squeeze an eventful 4 months worth of things into a few entries. The wedding was good. Memorable, mainly due to the many 'cock-ups' that occured. But then again, it'll be the cock-ups that help one to remember events huh? Well, at least those are what i can remember off the top of my head. Mabel was late. The official photographer, late for the day. She came apparently way after Alicia had finished with En's make-up. But she did TRY to make it up by coming early for the evening's make-up session. Then on our way to the bride's house, Junping got lost, and we had to spend quite a while waiting for him to get to the carpark. The bargaining went on pretty smoothly, and i only had to pay $299 for her. They say it was quite a bit, but given that i was prepared to fork out a tad bit more, i guess i got off easy. Tea at her place and then my place went ok, and it was probably thanks to the tea ceremony gifts that we managed to recoup quite a bit. Church ceremony was another place full of 'memorable' events. Before getting to church, me, Eu Khim, Dan and Shereen dropped by 7-11 for some caffeinated drinks. Guess we all needed a little rush. haha... Then our dear caterer came late. Stupid buggers apparently. hmm.. think till today, they're still supposed to get back to us with an explanation. Then the bride was late. Really late. And she did a good job leaving the groom waiting nervously at the altar. Way too cliched man!! No thanks to dear Jyh Shen of course, who decided to give the church entrance a miss and take another round fort canning. Of course Melvin wasn't particularly pleased, especially with the fact that he did threaten us countless times before that he'd only wait till 1415, and then walk away if the bride was late. Thankfully he didn't live up to his word... haha... so we did test him well. Dinner was fun. Although Anja and the hotel did mispell En's name in the lobby (called her Tan i think) and miss out our labels on our gift chopsticks. i sang the song much worse than i though i would. Forgot the words which i had so painstakingly practised over and over, but the people clapped anyway (thanks to roanna's wee tiong for starting that...) and ended my embarassment. Spent the rest of the night counting ang paos. Took us till 5 am. shaq man... But the food that the hotel brought up was good and still warm, and we were surprisingly hungrier than we thought we'd be. Oh well. That was the wedding. And till today, think we're still suffering from a little withdrawal. Spent 1 year planning the thing, and in a flash, it's over. Michelle did give us the wedding gown in the end. So sweet of her, but we still haven't gotten down to sending her a thank-you card. i think the rest of the wedding can be remembered in the pictures and VIDEO, of which the video and some of the pictures are still missing (hint hint to a certain reader... ) to this day. ;) Think i shall talk about the honeymoon and ridiculous NS another day. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 17th, 2003
3:02 am	okkk.. ... this i show it feels to be pissed frunk. at least i'm still typing legibly..l in ta way... no, 'm just waiting for my hair to dyrt before i gfo to sleep... i think i piuked 5 times in total..l.k er, 3 times outside some bar, nono,,, er, 3 times next to the BIRd at uob plazw... that waz about after 1 2 3, wer, 13 drinks altogether.. oh, and plus 1 beer. er, let's see if i can remmerber wat happ0enedn thuis niught... er, 1 flamibng lambogini... , er, 2 orange juices... though i think theyhad something in side... iheard qiweri say they were screwdirvers. yeps.,j ;tehn quite a few big gulps from the long islnag jug... and thjerew was this firl called yvonne, who hadf the boob sthe size of ruth's from medical school... daneced with her for a while on the bar top, and teh gys were saying hings... erm then we went oun to anopther bar where we , no i had 10 tequil a shots. yeps... quite a bit. they wentre down quite easily, though i mst admit i gfelt a olittle high after htat.... and then a beer... hmm... iu think i had more than 13 shots... alrogether. uh oh, i dont hitnk i'm tping veru well now, though i don't give a da,mn. haha... hmmm... so i puked 3 times next to teh bird, and this cute malay girl said something whichi can't remmebner. ythen we went for porridge sometwhere... ogh chinatown. don't remember mch of that 'cosi was sleeping on the table... but we met a nurse from OG SGH. yeps... i couldn't finish my teh ping 'cos i puked 2 more times after taht. i DO feel much better now... hehe... ididididididididididididdioj oop.s hehe. this i stah waht drunk tougn looks likel haha. don't think this will makje much sense tmw. haha. hmm... need to remmener the vows tmw. and collect the photo album. and teh car, and the gowns. orjeojrpewjrweeeeeeeeeeee p ok i donm't tjhink i'mve got mucj more to say... sleepy.. haha.klll must go tos ellp now... beruy late.can't reach moujse... too far... haha. ok. i'll do it in a few seconds.... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 12th, 2003
3:52 am	Can't... sleep... ... argh. yes, i'm at work again. And we've got the helpers' briefing for our wedding later this afternoon. Sigh, was actually about to fall asleep on the not-so-comfortable examination couch, when a 1 year old girl came in c/o 4 episodes of vomiting since 2am. Oh well... now i'm waiting for her to piss off. No, i'm not being rude. i'm really waiting for her to piss into the little bag that we've stuck to her perineum. Have to rule out a UTI... and getting a small child to pee in the wee hours of the morning is going to take some time... i don't think she'll even pee by the time Teck Hock's supposed to start with his shift at 0430, and i don't think it's nice to pass over this case to him just because of lost piss. Well, that's unless the kid's mom decides to admit her... then we can go about with the paper-work and go off to sleep. What're the odds... And so i wait... it's been about 15 min since she puked. Maybe we can start giving her some hydralyte now, and hopefully she'll pee soon... Hope the briefing cm goes fine. i mean, i'm not used to bothering people for MY sake. It's weird having people fuss and be troubled over you. That's exactly the reason i kinda stopped wanting birthday parties and things like that. It's too... too weird and narcissistic in a way. ... It was time to let her take the hydralyte, but she puked again, even before we could feed her. BING, KA-CHING. That probably did it for the mom. Admission. No doubt about it. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 8th, 2003
1:08 am	I, catkiller ... Well, i wasn't dreaming, and i didn't see wrong. At least it wasn't a little boy that i hit. As i was driving back this morning after Mock Code, i confirmed what i already knew earlier on this morning in the wee hours. It was a cat that i hit. Ok, so i couldn't really make out the shape of it all, but it PROBABLY was a cat. It was now lying, or sticking, to the left-most lane, and was pretty flat by the time i drove past it, which must have been at least 8 hours after the incident. Really couldn't make out the shape. sigh... On a lighter note, i had a little brush with celebrity this evening at work. Met Abish-ga-backside (which is actually what adrian wee called her grandfather who taught us the recorder in Sec 1) and her husband, not Dick. They had brought their 4 year old son in for a fracture of the forearm. They were amazingly nice and very polite, much more so given their status. Or perhaps expectedly because of their status. Nonetheless, a pleasure to serve. If only more parents could be as polite and cordial as they were. i must say though, she IS really quite beautiful, with this air about her. Kind of in the same league as one of my faithful readers, who by now must know who i'm talking about and getting big-headed? Oh well, that's the thing about having a not-so-private journal... must be careful of the things that are put up here. ;) (Comment on this)