bonjour brightside

1. Marchesa

in what was apparently a rather drab NY fashion week, i think Marchesa’s Fall ‘08 collection was probably the saving grace of the entire event. i am enamoured with all things floral and have a particular soft spot for rosettes, hence Marchesa does it for me. i love it that some looks are edgy and some ethereal but all flowery and feminine at the same time. very very desirable and covetable, although i know i won’t be affording a Marchesa piece anytime soon.

2. McDimSim

Suze and I are crazily addicted to the dimsims from the hospital cafe. it all started when we had to stay back for night duty one day and needed something to fill our tummies. so we opted for the little snack-sized dimsims to munch on, and since then we have been eating at least ONE dimsim everyday. (one time we ate 5 each. and that was after lunch. *horrors*) suze calculated that at 80c apiece, we’d have spent 20 dollars on dimsims if we ate one everyday for the duration of our rotation. i don’t even know what a dimsim really is, so i googled it (as with all things that i am unsure of) and found that wikipedia had devoted an entire page to this humble meat dumpling. i never knew it was native in Australia, and that the unidentified meat filling actually is made up of pork and cabbages. for now i can’t decide if i like it steamed or fried. anyway it has been crazy, i literally have to drag Suze out of the cafe before we chalk up enough dimsim purchases to help the cafe owner purchase his next holiday home in Malibu.

this morning i walked into tute and saw the most insanely good-looking guy sitting a few seats down from where i sat. he almost looked like wentworth miller, from the hairstyle to the build (only he was slightly taller). i’d never seen him before so i think he must have been from the year level above, and for whatever reason(s) unknown to me, he sort of ended up being in my class!!!!! my heart started palpitating and i realized that i hadn’t been this excited (over a guy) for a long time. i have this feeling that it will be a very good an amaaayzinggg 4 weeks ahead. also today i got free hot chocolate from the vending machine when i pressed the dispenser for hot water. and. becky stopped by the cafe to give me a present (a medical bloopers calendar! yay!). i feel like a charmed one.

what were you thinking?

normally, i am a big big fan of Marc Jacobs- i especially love his Marc by Marc Jacobs line for its cleanly-cut, refreshingly youthful styles without being overly cutesy. i just cannot say the same for his ready-to-wear fall 2008 collection for NY Fashion Week, which was plainly disappointing and uninspiring.

i don’t mean to be overly critical, but in my honest opinion it looks (quite) hideous (no offense Mr MJ, i still respect and admire your talent though).  some of them outfits with the odd-looking headpieces (that resemble rolled up towels on the models’ heads) and the very unflattering cuts, make for a very very depressing winter ahead.

obviously i am no Nina Garcia, and it’s not like Marc Jacobs is ever going to read my comments. so it’s back to my very wordy and boring paediatrics textbook for now.

picture source from elle

but i had roti prata for my lunar new year reunion dinner, whilst watching so you think you can dance at jemo’s place.

delicious picture from here

it doesn’t even feel festive but tradition calls for a bit of formality, so we did the best we could. come saturday we’ll have a proper celebration to make up for it, complete with cheesy chinese ditties and maybe fashion explosions in every conceivable shade of red.

it’s barely 2 days into my paeds rotation and i’m feeling the stress: 730am ward rounds, admissions to do, discharge summaries to type up, clinics to attend and lots and lots of readings to complete. oh my. i think reality has finally set in. i’m really in 4th year med. i’m almost there!

i love being in the paediatric wards. granted, there’s a whole lot of stuff we have to know and learn (since dealing with kids is not the same as with adults) and lots of detail and greater sensitivity involved, but there is something about a little child that makes my heart go softer than usual, and the cheery decorations in the wards that make my days brighter than normal. there is also a lot more screaming and bawling to get used to, and most of it is particularly heart-wrenching. i met one of the paed registrars today. he was really nice despite being sleep-deprived and overworked …but he babytalked from time to time. i’m sure he was just being friendly but it seemed as though he was going to coochi coo me, or the rest of the paeds team, for that matter. still, he was a sweetie, and i respect doctors who treat medical students nicely.

today i listened to my first infant heartbeat- she was 10 weeks old and had a congenital heart defect- so i heard a murmur. the wee child never cried the whole time i was examining her, and she smiled so sweetly and had the most lovely ash-coloured eyes i’d ever seen. babies are so fragile, i realised. i was trying as hard as possible to be really gentle with her; her anterior fontanelle (unformed part of an infant’s skull) was still soft and i sort of ‘oohed!‘ in surprise when i felt the little depression on her head.

then i clerked a patient, M, a boy of fifteen with cystic fibrosis (a lung-damaging, genetically- inherited condition). it was a little awkward trying to chat with bub- he was more engrossed with his movie- my super ex-girlfriend, and being an avid tennis player he was going on and on about the australian open, which i know close to nothing about. gosh i am so uncool. it’s okay i will start learning how to play some decent tennis and get to know some of the more famous tennis stars. and possibly watch a few movies that involve superhumans. i was going to redeem myself by contacting his dietician for a discussion, but then i learnt that she was on strike(!) today. really.

oh yes and i have two new clinical buddies on this rotation- louise and suzanne. they’re both lovely lovely girls from melbourne and sydney respectively. in a bit of randomness, louise has the same middle name as i do, and suzanne is with me in the exact same rotations for the year! i’m pretty pleased with my group this year; everyone seems to be really driven and enthusiastic. i feel very much challenged now that i’m the only international student in the group, but i enjoy being challenged, plus it’s definitely an improvement over last year’s grouping.

in other news, i think i may be addicted to cheerios. so. so. yummy! and now i need to go and write up my case presentation and squeeze in some research. the busy-ness is just beginning to escalate and i expect it will increase exponentially by the time my rotation is over. the lunar new year is just around the corner and with luck, i’ll be able to finally sit down to enjoy a nice celebratory dinner with friends [ since family is farfaraway ] GONG XI FA CAI everyone, have yourself a merry merry ang pow-filled new year!