Sunday, February 21, 2010

CNY'10

I have never been a very big fan of CNY. Firstly, post-High School, I spent a significant number of years not being at home for CNY. And even when I was in Malaysia during some rare occasions, my family would usually take vacation trips to Spore or KL or the likes, making it another shopping spree on my own accord. Haha.

Hence, this year, I couldn't really be bothered to do something very festive-related to get into the hype or the mood of ushering in the year of the Tiger. Trust me, I didn't even know what year it was until LX mentioned it a while before.

I did end up having a very nice reunion dinner with the CC people and my BFF Khoon who popped up after though, and an equally good Sunday night potluck at a friend's place although the whole night was tainted by formative OSCE preparations for the next day. It turned out to be unexpected, and a tad weird in many ways. Either way, I passed it, and gained much crucial knowledge about techniques of approaching some situations after.

Wednesday was much anticipated because it marked my first solo attempt at reproducing my version of Sarawak Laksa, much to JH's skepticism. It turned out pretty good, although evidently there wasn't that much hard work involved at all (my paste was instant muahaha) and all I had to do was stir in appropriate proportions of water and coconut milk.

And this was the end result. Much thanks to all the help from my Sous Chefs. Hehe. Much calorie-overdose on a Wednesday afternoon, but the company was awesome. As was dessert!

YL made absolutely scrumptious Tong Yuen for dessert in a ginger-based soup along with peanut paste for dipping the Tong Yuen in. Two thumbs up!! Mmmm :)

Friday was initially planned to be quiet time at home catching up on much-needed reading and attempting practice questions, but LX got conned into going for a society CNY dinner the night before, and I ended up going along as well. Deciding 2 hours before the event started AND getting ready in 20 minutes flat (Note: Hair, Makeup, Deciding my outfit) was definitely my achievement of the week. Anyone who knows me will understand how long a time I take to do my hair and choose an outfit before an event, so kudos to me for this one. Haha. Obviously, the outcome wasn't entirely flawless, but ah well....presentable to some extent.

Busy week indeed. And more happening a CNY celebration than I would have anticipated. Now for some much-needed mugging time to catch up.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Life, Gymming and Such

I've had a very enjoyable week indeed. Possibly a much better week than the last. And so much of it due to the fact that I am enjoying the GP placement SO much more than my previous rotation. So many times, when I find myself really, really enjoying a clinical rotation, doing well and being in the loop of focus, putting in productive days at the hospital / practice, I know over and over again that this (medicine) is what I am meant to be doing. No further qualms.

True, I have not done enough to know whether I prefer Surgery, want to maintain my High School dream of becoming a Cardiothoracic Surgeon, dapple in a more reward-seeking, business-minded path of General Practice, stick to my initial preference of General Medicine....it's still early days. So far the only thing I have done is cross an item or two off my list.

When Momo labelled me as 'a very focused person' earlier, I was slightly amused. I must be the least focused person in the world in terms of prioritising academic items for reading on the agenda. Yet, lately I have become better and better at harbouring emotions and controlling my daily life in a way that I only look at the priority that is staring me in the face, which leaves no time for silly mind games with myself and unnecessary emotional turmoils.

May not be perfect, but A for Effort, that one. Proud of myself, if anything.

And much to the pride of Hoo and JH, I have picked up regular visits to the gym again. Am trying to build up my stamina, if anything. But every time I fall into this regular habit of gymming, along with it comes the ever-existent paranoia that nags me from time to time, making me obsessive about my weight, the possibility of piling on fat above fat, that I might just morph from losing all my muscle mass to the skinny minnie I am now to untoned AND bulky. It doesn't help either that I am hopeless at diet control.

On a happier note, will be looking forward to several CNY get-togethers to attend this weekend. With some reading and catching up on work slotted in, hopefully.