And Now, For Your Entertainment And Vilification Pleasure...

this over the class mailing list: a debate in the country-over-the-bridge re implants. anyone who's known me for a while is probably familiar with my opinion of the state of politics there. sadly, showboating and unsubstantiated rhetoric seems to extend to the helathcare sector as well. on with the show:

*****

Wednesday February 13, 2008

Dental visits a pain in the pocket

ACCORDING to statistics, about 10% of people who are 55 years and older will begin to lose their teeth. Whatever the cause attributed to each individual, age is the single biggest factor. Because of our ageing population, the number of people who would become edentulous would be a substantial number. The market is huge.
Many old folks are at the mercy of dental surgeons, especially the ones who now describe themselves as implantologists.
Many of them wear doctor’s coats, carry stethoscopes and insist on being called doctors. They charge by the tooth for every implant. Current prices range from RM7,000 to RM9,000 for the implantation of a tooth. This does not include the cost of the replacement parts, surgery, X-rays, etc.
Hence, for about four to five teeth to be implanted in the average elderly person, the price can come up to RM45,000. This is more than the cost of a complex angioplasty, bypass operation, or a hip replacement.
There seems to be no regulation to control these prices. It is a free market, with dentists, specialists, as well as GPs competing and charging whatever the market can take.
Most older people are poor and have to depend on their relatives. And few family members want to pay these exorbitant charges.
Government specialists, curiously, do not provide teeth implants for most of these unfortunate victims. If they do, it is to learn the technique before leaving government service.
While the cost of private medical care is now regulated and there are guidelines provided by the MMA, implantology is a wide open field with no control. Even the Malaysian Dental council has not tried to exert any control.
The patients who cannot afford implants are given cheap dentures or a mix of implant and a bridge (if they can afford the latter).
Having watched the implantation procedure, I think this is really a simple procedure, most of the time done under direct vision. There are no special tools required.
Most surgically trained medical GPs should be able to learn this procedure very quickly. There will, of course, be some difficult cases which can be left to the specialists.
Dental surgeons, whether specialists or GPs, work in a very narrow field of the human body. From experience, I have learnt that they know little or nothing about the wider spectrum of medicine.
The number of antibiotics they are familiar with is very few.They ask for a history of diseases that the patient may have but do not know how to assess how bad these diseases are or how they should be treated.
They have no idea about emergencies that may occur with surgery or with drugs.
They do not know anything about cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Because of these weaknesses, I would suggest the following remedial actions:
> The Malaysian Dental Council should investigate and control prices in this dog-eat-dog business. They must impose some discipline to care for poor old people.
> The dental surgeon who calls himself an implantologist should give a written bill to the patient before he starts treatment. He should list all his immediate charges as well as charges for subsequent visits.
> It should be possible to train technicians to do single implants. These technicians should be licensed and also given guidelines on charges. Prices would come down in a free market once you increase the supply.
> Medical emergencies during a dental implant are rare but can happen. Hence it should be mandated that an anaesthetist should be on standby during any implant or surgical procedure done by a dentist.
> The dentist should buy and place in his clinic emergency equipment. This would include a defibrillator, a heart monitor, a pulse oxymetre and an ECG machine.
> The implantologist should be certified, which means going before a panel of peers who will verify if he has the knowledge and skills to perform large volume implantation.

MEDICAL DOCTOR,
Kuala Lumpur.

*

Thursday February 14, 2008

Get your facts right, doc

MEDICAL Doctor in his letter “Dental visits a pain in the pocket” (The Star, Feb 13) does not even know the duties of a dental surgeon and a dental technician.A dental surgeon graduates with a “Bachelor of Dental Surgery” degree and is conferred with the title Doctor while a dental student studies anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, dental materials, pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, medicine, surgery and all other dental subjects in a dental college.The RM7,000 to RM9,000 fee is still cheap for a single dental implant. The cost to set up a dental surgery with implantology varies from RM500,000 to RM1mil or more. The material costs and laboratory charges are equally high.The procedure for doing a dental implant is not simple. It is a high precision procedure and needs lots of training before the dental surgeon can provide such treatment. It is not just a case of cut and fix.All dental surgeons providing dental implant treatment have undergone intensive training and attended courses and meetings like the latest Osstem Meeting 2007 at KLCC on Nov 25 last year.

Here are my replies to some of the suggestions raised in the letter:

> The Malaysian Dental Council together with the Health Ministry have set the range of dental charges for basic dental treatment under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act. Dental specialist charges have not as yet been imposed.

> All dental surgeons providing dental implants and any other dental treatment quote the treatment charges prior to starting the treatment and patients are forewarned of any other charges that may occur during the procedure should any deviation of treatment arise.

> Technicians are not surgeons. They only fabricate the implants, crowns, bridges, dentures and splints in their laboratories.

> All dental surgeons doing dental implants are fully aware of any medical emergencies that may arise and are well prepared for it. So far, not a single emergency has occurred for a dental surgeon to require a defibrillator, a heart monitor, a pulse oxymeter or an ECG machine.

> Should such a need arise, the dental surgeon will either call for medical help or take the patient himself to the nearest medical centre.

> A dental surgeon providing dental implant treatment has attended courses and is proficient in his expertise. Not all dental surgeons provide dental implant treatment.Medical Doctor should get his facts correct before alarming the public unnecessarily. If you cannot afford an expensive car, you should buy a cheaper car according to your budget.The Malaysian dental surgeons are doing a very good service to the public.

DR JASPALL SINGH,

Vice-President, Malaysian Private Dental Practitioners Association,

Kuala Lumpur.

*

Saturday February 16, 2008

What a dentist can do only a dentist can do

I REFER to the letter ‘Dental visits a pain in the pocket’ (The Star, Feb 13). The dental treatment charges in Malaysia are well regulated by the Medical Practice Division, of the Health Ministry under the Private HealthCare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (Act 586).This act is well supported by Malaysian Private Dental Practitioners’ Association and Malaysian Dental Association.Dental practitioners’ in the private sector whether they are GPs or Specialists are well trained in this aspect and are supposed to adhere and practise dentistry according to these guidelines.The healthcare clients (new terminology for patients) have their own rights. Under the Act, they have all the rights to know about the charges and treatment procedures.If they do not feel satisfied with the dentist, there is the “Grievances Mechanism” in clinics to address the issue under the Act.The writer also said that the dental surgeons were not well versed in drugs.The second year of dental course covers pharmacology.In fact, dental surgeons can treat Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (sore throat) that is a common disease treated by medical practitioners.The third year covers subjects of general surgery and general medicine.The syllabus clearly shows that dental surgeons are on par with their medical counterparts.Another accusation by the writer is that implantologists are not well trained and medical GPs can place implants.This is a joke!My sincere advice to him is, please look at your backyard.There are a lot of illegal and incompetent medical practitioners. Try to rectify that.We have our own professional body to regulate competency.In conclusion, I feel the writer was wrong in all his statements and figures.He was too emotional in expressing his opinion and created an increase in dental phobia among dental patients.One important phenomenon that everyone must realise is that: “What a dentist can do only a dentist can do.”

Dr NEDUNCHELIAN VENGU,

President, Malaysian Private Dental Practitioners’ Association.

*

Monday February 18, 2008Cheaper to do dental implants here AS A practising oral implantologist, I read with alarm and concern the polemic “Dental visits a pain in the pocket” (The Star, Feb 13).
To clarify matters and to set the record straight, I would like to address certain inaccuracies that were unfortunately passed off as facts:
> To qualify as an oral implantologist requires vigorous practical and theoretical grounding on par with medical doctors: a five-year basic degree in addition to a further two to four years of specialisation.
During the course of the training, many modules are identical to those undertaken by medical students, including management of medical emergencies and performance of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
> The current prices of implants in Malaysia range from RM5,000 to RM9,000, which is substantially lower than those in other countries. For example, implants in Singapore easily cost in excess of S$6,000 (RM13,662); in the UK, more than £2,500 (RM15,788); in the US, more than US$2,500 (RM8,050).
In fact, many foreign patients of mine have performed multiple dental implants in Malaysia specifically due to the equivalent level of professional competence but at a fraction of the price back home.
> Implants are not necessarily the final word in tooth restoration (even though the procedure ranks as the best among the options available in terms of comfort, function and aesthetics).
In the interest of cost, cheaper options such as dentures and bridges are available. On this note, no right-minded dental practitioner will force a patient to have implants done if affordability is an issue.
> The Malaysian Dental Association does provide a list of recommended fees for dental implants. However, as the writer pointed out, it is a free market; therefore each patient has the right to find the practitioner that he is most comfortable with.
> Government specialists have been providing dental implant services for some time now at lower rates compared with private fees. The writer seems to be ignorant of this fact.
> The implantation procedure is not as simple, nor as straightforward, as claimed by the writer.
As stated in the foregoing points, an oral implantologist has to undergo lengthy clinical and hands-on training to become an expert in the field.
There are many serious complications and adverse effects that can arise should the procedure be done incorrectly: for example in the case of guided bone regeneration procedure, sinus lift and bone harvesting.
I hope I have clarified some of the misconceptions that the writer has generated in his letter.
AN ORAL IMPLANTOLOGIST,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

*

> Sunday February 24, 2008>

> Dental implants have the best bite

> THE ideal standard of care for replacing teeth is not a denture or even a bridge anymore, but dental implants. >

> Dental implants are now used to replace missing teeth, stabilise loose dentures, straighten teeth and rehabilitate patients who have lost parts of their jaw and face due to cancer or accidents.

> We refer to the letter “Dental visits a pain in the pocket” (The Star, Feb 13) and wish to express our sadness over the misconceptions of a colleague whose profession we highly respect and admire.

> Dentists or dental surgeons are part and parcel of the healthcare providing medical profession and work hand in hand for the betterment of our patients.

> We do empathise with his concern for the older members of the population who due to inadequate dental care in the past now require dental implants.

> However, the main cause of teeth loss in older people is not aging as stated by medical doctor, but gum disease.

> This means that a healthy adult who takes proper care of their teeth and gums will enjoy a full set of teeth for life.

> Hardly 10% of dentists practice implantology and also because implants are all imported and costly, the cost of providing the service is still relatively expensive.

> Research and development of dental implantology took a lot of time, effort and expenditure on the part of university researchers and implant manufacturers.

> The cost of training is still very high because it involves highly trained lecturers, logistics and material costs.

> Implantology is not as simple as it looks.

> Such treatment can range between simple to highly complex procedures that involve bone grafting, gum grafting, specialised imaging, detailed planning and a thorough understanding of occlusion which may take years of experience to understand and successfully manage.

> Special dedicated tools, equipment and materials are needed in implantology.

> Dental implantology usually does not incur any more trauma than an ordinary extraction of a tooth, and therefore does not require any extra safety measures that are not already in place in all dental clinics.

> Dental implants have helped countless people around the world to enjoy their food again. They are the best replacement for lost teeth.

> Though expensive currently, the price will keep coming down due to free market forces.

> Like in all professions, some dentists charge more and some less. Find one you can afford.

> After all, dentists here in Malaysia are highly trained and yet are still among the most affordable in the world.

> The cost for dental implants in Malaysia is one of the lowest in Asean.

> This has led many from overseas like Australia, Europe, America and Japan coming to Malaysia to enjoy the benefits of dental implantology at international standards and yet at half the price or less in their home countries.

> Dental implantology has placed Malaysia on the map as a major destination for health tourism in this region.

> DR FIRDAUS HANAPIAH & DR CHOW KAI FOO,

> President and Honorary Secretary,

> Malaysian Oral Implant Association (MOIA).

*

*had enough? more to come*

*

Saturday February 23, 2008

Implants cost too much

I REFER to the letter Cheaper to do dental implants here in The Star, Feb 18. Implants in Malaysia costs between RM5,000 and RM9,000. Let us say it is RM7,000 on the average, which is the equivalent to 7,000 cups of coffee or three months' pay of a government medical officer’s salary here.
In Britain, it is £2,500 which is about 1,500 cups of coffee there or less than a month's salary of a government medical officer.
In the United States, it is US$2,500, which is about 1000 cups of coffee there or much less than a month's salary of a government medical officer. In Singapore, it is S$6,000, which is about 2000 cups of coffee there or less than a month's salary of government medical officer.
A baby delivery by Caeserean section here - which includes general anaesthesia and few days stay in a private hospital - would cost less than a tooth implant in Malaysia.
So dental implants here are among the most expensive in the world.
Suggesting other alternatives like dentures and bridges is like telling a patient with a bone fracture not to have nailing and plating and just to have plaster casts, as it will heal anyway.
Just as there is government control over food items and other products, there must be a price control over dental procedures. Dental health must be available and affordable to the rakyat of Malaysia.
As can be seen from above, a reasonable charge for an implant would be around 1,500 cups of coffee or RM1,500 by comparing the different prices of several countries. A root canal should not cost more than RM300 and crowns not more than RM300.
Technicians here should be taught to perform implants as there are other more difficult procedures that are also done by technicians. For example, there are midwives doing a good job with examinations, investigations and the delivery of babies.
Ultrasound and echo (for heart patients) are done by technicians, medical assistants are doing examinations, investigatings and treating patients while dental nurses are doing fillings and extractions. In addition, anaesthetic assistants are giving general anaethesia in rural areas.
Medical doctors should be taught to do implants as they have basically learnt all that the dentists have learned such as oral anatomy, physiology, pathology, bone regeneration, bone harvesting etc.
In my rural posting I was taught to extract teeth and do fillings. Implants have now become a common part of dental procedures, just as root canal treatment.
If there is a shortage of oral implantologists then we should recruit medical doctors. I am sure doctors here will fulfil their Hippocratic Oath to serve the public.
Dentists are also bound by Hippocratic oath to serve the public.
*
ANOTHER DOCTOR,
Kuala Lumpur.

Monday February 25, 2008Dental implants an expert’s job WE REFER to the ongoing discussion on dental, medical and healthcare costs in Malaysia. In Implants cost too much (The Star, Feb 23) oral implants were likened to treatment for bone fractures.
Comparing the cost of dental implants to the local price of a cup of coffee does not make sense. This is because a major cost of a dental implant is the cost of the imported prosthesis itself.
More than just the cost of materials, oral implantology is a multi-stage multi-disciplinary treatment procedure. The surgical component (i.e. the placement of the implant within the bone) is performed by the implantologist/ oral surgeon.
In fact, we invite interested medical surgeons to equip themselves with the proper training and accreditation that enable them to perform this surgical procedure.
The demand for oral implants is far higher than what dentists in this country can cope with. Having well-trained medical surgeons to help out in the surgical process will be a welcome bonus.
The next step involves designing an artificial tooth over the implant. When a patient requests an implant, this tooth component is the one he or she will see and use every day.
Therefore, this stage is best carried out by a dentist properly trained in treatment planning, dental occlusion, function and aesthetics.
Based on the dentist’s exact specifications and detailed instructions, the prosthesis (tooth) is custom-made in the laboratory by a dental technician. Finally, this prosthesis is precisely attached to the implant.
Function and cosmetics are examined clinically. This multi-stage, multi-disciplinary approach is important to ensure that each stage is done by an expert in that field, to ascertain the best possible treatment outcome.
The dental implant of today is by no means the ultimate replacement for missing teeth. Further research and development (R&D) is required.
Currently, essential/basic dental treatment like extraction, pain relief, fillings, scaling, and infection management are already affordably priced. These procedures are cheaper than most medical surgical treatment.
We are working towards a time when dental implants are no longer an optional luxury but a common affordable treatment alternative, just as cars were once exclusive to the rich but are now commonplace.
We can achieve all this and more only with the understanding and cooperation of our medical colleagues and the public.
Who knows, with support from all parties and sufficient funds for R&D, the option of replacing a missing tooth with a new one grown from stem cells may soon be available.

DR FOO CHI CHEAN, President – Malaysian Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.
DR MELISSA FOO SUYIN, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Hospital Sungai Buloh.

*****

really, to sum up, it does look like a bad case of doctors with itchy backsides and a poor understanding of what other people do. it doesn't mean that a well-rehearsed procedure is effortless just because it looks to be so. also, healthcare should be based on needs, not wants.

Now I Know

i finally understand the fuss about tuna-based sushi. this is a bit of an overdue blog, but anyway me and PJ went out over last weekend to celebrate her birthday. it involved going for a play and then a good dinner.

Chesty Nutty Bang Bang: The Hairspray of the Phoenix was quite literally 2+ hours of cheap shots. very good ones too, mind. the comedy crew opened up mercilessly spoofing the now-infamous MDA rap (youtube for it, you lazy buggers!), followed by skewering such subjects as Ribena ads, Beauty World, Heroes, 881... excellent. you have not lived until you have heard people sing Umbrella in hokkien. catch the next one when they get back on the stage! also ran into Lor, long-unseen JC class rep. good catchin up w her, wonder when our gang will next assemble...

the evening's laughter was followed up by a meal at Sushi Yoshida. we always passed by the place on the walk from Cine to PJ's place, and saw head chef Yoshida-san standing with the valet parking dude of the bar next door watching the world pass by every time. this reached the point where we dubbed the place 'Valet Sushi'. original plan was to check out a restaurant up the hill for dinner, but a great urging for a dinner of the raw fish variety struck PJ. i thought to myself, what the heck? expensive raw fish, here we come!

Sushi Yoshida is located in a small corner next to Bar Stop on Devonshire Rd, they possess a common entrance so dont walk past wondering where it is. ambience is cosy, slightly darkish in terms of lighting for my taste but alright otherwise. serving staff are generally friendly but still rough around the edges. the sushi, however, is excellent. this will be remembered as the place where i had my first Chu Toro Nigiri. its not just any old Magurozushi, mind you. a completely different animal, and another excellent proof that without fat of some kind food has less flavour. it tasted like fish in a good way, darker than salmon. it literally made me wish i had another hundred bucks to splurge on O-Toro. i must admit PJ was less blown away than i was, but now if i can get good tuna cuts i'll get some over the more generic local favourite salmon. in japan noone eats shake-sashimi anyhow...

Umbrella - Mandy Moore

O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story...

after having discovered the wonders of the disc borrowing service at Gramophone, there are a couple of movies that we've watched that warrant a mention. in particular, go check out 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' by the Coen brothers. in terms of comedy, this is one fun movie! 3 men escape from a chain gang to go get some treasure, and the rest would be spoiling the movie i guess. definitely worth the rental fee!

I Am The Man Of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys

How To Fly A Kite

or... the life of a DO after 4 and a half working days. seems as if the old saying about sheer boredom punctuated by moments of abject terror really is true. i've had irritating pulpectomies, angry patients, and a panic-attack-in-the-chair from a heart patient. ive scaled, root planed, done TDs, CRs ARs, and too much GIC to count. but i still need to be faster. and learn how not to irritate the consultants. bleah.

Deconstruction

seems like i havent had terribly much time to write, but its a damn good procrastination tool. right now i need a few moments to regather my thoughts before i head off back to do some work.

i've been meaning to write for the longest time about the concept of the boyfriend corner. every boutique should have a boyfriend corner. this is a little space where the tired boyfriend may rest a moment while his girlfriend sacks the racks, looking for that elusive new buy. while shops must consider their merchandise, advertising and product layout, the presence of a boyfriend corner shows how much a shop cares, in a very literal way. improvised boyfriend corners are couches or benches commandeered away from their original use as places to perch while slipping on new shoes. poor boyfriend corners are those made up of stools stuck in a corner next to the winter coats that will never sell well in our sunny island. better boyfriend corners have adequate seating for the weary multitude of boyfriends/batmen who are on duty during sale time. excellent boyfriend corners have a commanding view of the changing room entrance to facilitate our giving useful comments on apparel that is being tried on by the girlfriend. and to this end, i have to say that the best boyfriend corner i have seen to date is located in the Giordanos in the basement of Takashimaya. it has 2 spacious couches, next to the atrium leading to the changing room. more storekeepers should take note...

The Night Santa Went Crazy - Weird Al Yankovic

Please Hold

so the Registrar's Office cocked up my bloody transcript. don't you love wild goose chases of an administrative nature? there are a whole bunch of things i could be doing right now that would be a more intelligent use of time, such as cutting my toenails or watching glue dry...

bloody hell.

Finally

just like to take the opportunity to congratulate my brother who will be having his graduation ceremony this evening. here's to the late bloomers of the Ee family!

Heartbreak Hotel

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

-1st Corinthians 13

as i take stock of the way things have been and turn out, i see my shortcomings shouting back at me. God give me the grace to improve...

Peons In The Mist

sitting in the Engineering Canteen, an empty cup of joe next to me and a slight jiggle in my extremeties as i type up a long-overdue blog. having taken up this part-time job, i find spare time to do personal things even more fleeting and precious. after work and picking Peijun up to send her home, i just want to get horizontal and let the tension ease from my body. not so easy when there's so much to do.

been just over a week of part-time work. i think organising Prof Foong's research stuff was a major success, measuring virtual OVD on Lit Teen's projections was pretty decent. but tracing MRIs makes me want to run screaming for my bed to lose consciousness. should have discovered Engin coffee earlier, though, it tastes pretty good and seems to be loaded full of caffeine goodness. just can't wait for it to be all over. its a cold-lonely lab in Engin, with no company. occasionally, 2 girls from VJC are in my area to do their colaboration with Prof Foong and Hsiao Piau. theyre about as friendly as rotting tree stumps, and ignore my presence except when i open the door for them after they go for pee breaks. assholes... where i come from being polite enough to say hi is required!

on the Anime front, Arts Central's latest import, Monster, seems to be really good stuff. not the usual blow-stuff-up shonen adventure, Monster deals with horror and moral dilemmas, centred around a killer with no morals who was saved by a doctor years before. and i guess thats all i can throw up without utterly spoilerising it.

seems like the little plans Peijun and me had to take a small regional break may not be happening, too short notice, not enough resource. but there's always next year, when we have more coin in the pocket, and the op is over.

one round of practice achieved for Terence and Lishan's wedding. even though this time only half of us will be Ejects and Rejects (or voluntary withdrawals) but the music looks like it'll be good. the small but acoustically decent venue will also help immensely. auditoriums suck! and because the runway is so short, whatever we play of Canon in D will not have a chance to hit the funky bit. plus point or minus point, take it as you wish...

Selfish Love - Miyavi

I Get To Hear Their Delightful Screams Again Today

so there i was, quite literally looking for something to do while waiting for epoxy to cure. my new anime entertainment is Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei, which may be the most freaking funny, twisted series ever! basically about a teacher with a pessimistic view on life, who tries to commit suicide at least once an episode, and his weird class, this has to be seen to be believed.

i wonder if the epoxy is done...

絶世美人 - Ai Nonaka, Marina Inoue, Yū Kobayashi, and Ryōko Shintani

A Gamer's Perspective

so there i was, killing time talking to Darren in PI this afternoon, reminiscing about the wonders of big stompy robots and blowing stuff up. one of his friends popped by, being a bit early for a gathering to organise the gameplay for a huge WH$40k promo in the store. this lead to a little discussion about perceptions of the gamer by friends, family and prospective life partners. in essence, this was sparked off by him asking what game i played. after finding out i'm a CBT player, he made a remark about not having the resources to dive into more minis-based games, and since he started with $40k he's been essentially married to it. this lead on to how he has a honking great collection of minis (GW huge army lists ftw), and how people (= girlfriends) react when they pop by his house. essentially, once the girl gets over the shock of how much plastic and metal she is seeing (think big-ass glass-fronted display cabinet), variations of a few standard questions will come out...
1) don't you have a life?
2) wah! you love me more or those figurines more?
3) once we get married will you sell them?
question 1 is an ignorant bigoted narrow-minded attempt at passing a comment via a rhetorical question. of course we have a life. it's just different from yours. while you choose to spend your time doing things to relax and switch off such as shopping or cycling or watching a movie, every so often we like to engage our brains. stops the atrophy from setting in.
question 2... quite succinctly answered by Darren's friend. 'wait... this is the 3rd time we're meeting up, i hardly know you and you're asking me this?' why does it turn into a me-or-them thing? its ridiculous. what kind of insecure females are we breeding to feel threatened by minis...
and the 3rd question... to the non-gamer, it seems as if games are things that one discards as one ages so as to move on to more 'matured' things. what if we like it this way? what if our little escape provides us the much-needed stress relief from the mature lifestyle you happen to be touting? why is gaming considered childish anyway? because we imagine? ban the fantasy stock market then! ban Rowling, Tolkien and Gaiman! ban singing in the shower even!
in short, give gamers a break. i truly hate feeling marginalised because i carry dice and am proud of it. because i chose to use my brain in my free time instead of vegetating. because i chose to let little fantasies of big stompy robots seep out of my head and onto the table from time to time.
but then again, the people who most need to re-think their attitude towards their gamer friends, family and loved ones will never read this, because they simply dont care, being an apathetic majority secure in their 'normalness' and 'conventional social behaviour'. they live out their white-bread lives, happy to trudge the same paths and so ready to criticise the harmless variations from their comfortable middle road.
disgusting.

Do Not Read This If You Value Productivity...

best flash game ever!

Boxhead 2play Rooms

simple polygons, yet so much fun! shoot zombies and run around to survive, how long can you last?

Lebensraum

so it's confirmed. i am now fully qualified, unlicensed and unemployed. a big thank you to all the guys who offered advice and support during the exam period! glad it's over, looks like i passed despite the irregularities in question phrasing and the odd stuff that came out during the clinicals. and apparently one can indeed complete the entire Final Pro BDS using the ink in 1 Pilot G-Tec C4 pen.

sent in an entry for the church 20th anniversary songwriting competition. first time i ever tried this kind of thing, was kind of fun, both spazzing out the tune in the space of an hour or so while trying to coordinate the lyrics, and using the entry-level WinXP sound recorder software to cut-n-paste a demo recording together with my brother. see how that one goes, i have a statistical 1/4 chance of winning!

Lust, Caution really does need the extra cockles. after last night's movie session with the class, i can confidently state that the NC16 version should be boycotted! so much significant plot progression was lopped off, the humless version was effectively neutered! do not watch the monkey-version if you value artistic integrity!

Prof Foong offered me a job with the faculty doing some kind of admin stuff. its for a few hours in the day, apparently pays okay, so i should have time for myself. meeting him tomorrow, see how this goes!

Transition

it feels kinda good. although nothing official's on the board, i find myself more able to let myself go and relax. to think of what the heck to do ahead. lets face it... im broke and have too much time now. so many opportunities present themselves nonetheless. i need to learn how to drive. find some income. have some fun. prepare for work. think towards getting a new computer cos this one's dying!

peijun's been sick for practically 2 weeks now with various stuff coming and going in a stream of illnesses, just hope it'll all clear up cos its making her miserable. and the delivery boy is pretty wiped out too! someone should level the bloody hill at river valley, i swear!

when i get my posting, i'm going to change the title of my blog.

Half Past

it was really quite a surreal feeling. there i was, in SM2B starting to write my supposedly erudite opinions on scaling and root planing, when a song rose unbidden into my head and stayed there, rocking away through pretty much the whole paper. a rousing work of rock, possessing a tune full of hope and some truly righteous axe work, that kept my pen driving across the paper for the whole 3 hours.

i present:

Lost My Music - ENOZ feat. SOS-dan
.
Hoshizora miage Watashi dake no hikari oshiete
Anata wa ima doko de Dare to iru no deshou?
.
Tanoshikushiteru koto omou to Samishiku natte
Issho ni mita shinema hitorikiri de nagasu
.
Daisuki na hito ga tooi
Toosugite nakitaku naru no
Ashita me ga sametara
Hora kibou ga umareru kamo Good night!
.
I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
Tomaranai no yo Hi!!
.
Nemuri no fuchi de Yume ga kureru omoide no One day
Anata no kotoba ni wa Sukoshi uso ga atta
.
Hanasanai yo to kimi dake da to
Dakishimeta no ni
Yakusoku ga fuwari to kurai yoru ni kieta
.
Daisuki na hito yo itsumo
Itsu made mo sagashite shimau
Kitto me ga samete mo
Mada maboroshi o kanjitai Morning
.
I lost I lost I lost you!
You’re making making my music!
I lost I lost I lost you!
Mou aenai no? No!
.
Daisuki na hito ga tooi
Toosugite nakitaku naru no
Ashita me ga sametara
Hora kibou ga umareru kamo Good night!
.
Daisuki na hito ga tooi
Toosugite nakitaku naru no
Kitto me ga samete mo
Mada maboroshi o kanjitai Morning
.
I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
Tomaranai no yo
I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
Mou aeru yo ne? Ne!!

and for the jap-impaired people:

Look up at the starry sky and tell me about my own light
Where are you now? And who are you with?

If I think about enjoying things, I feel sad
I weep all by myself at the movie that we saw together

The person who I love is faraway
Too faraway and I feel like crying
When I wake up tomorrow
Look, hope just might be born, Good night!

I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
I won’t stop, Hi!!

In the depths of my slumber, my dream gives my memories a ‘One day’
And there were some lies in your words

Even though you embraced me
Saying, “I won’t let go” and “I’m only yours”
The promise softly disappeared in the dark night

I’m forever searching for
The person who I love
I’m sure that even when I wake up
I’ll still want to feel the illusion, Morning!

I lost I lost I lost you!
You’re making making my music
I lost I lost I lost you!
Can’t we meet anymore? No!

The person who I love is faraway
Too faraway and I feel like crying
When I wake up tomorrow
Look, hope just might be born, Good night!

I’m forever searching for
The person who I love
I’m sure that even when I wake up
I’ll still want to feel the illusion, Morning

I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
I won’t stop
I still I still I love you!
I’m waiting waiting forever
I still I still I love you!
We can meet again, right? Right!!

Lost my music - ENOZ feat. SOS-dan

Suspense

here i am, still hanging in limbo. while technically i should be free and on the way to my exams, the truth is that unless i see my name on the board saying im eligible, i wont have any peace of mind. and at the same time im too inert to haul my ass out of the house and go to school. this studying sucks. dont know why but its even more shitty than all the other years where ive had to study for finals. i feel drained, immobile, in need of instant noodles, irrationally tired, and very bored.

i want this over with quick!

Hurt - Johnny Cash

To Be With You

this was a song i came across only during army time, due to intense sua koo-ness. Mr Big was a band that combined radio-friendly choruses and excellent guitar work. this song stuck in my head because it simply sounded real good! at this time, i wanted to dig the lyrics out and just refresh everyone's memory.

Peijun, the first 4 lines of the 2nd stanza might reflect a bit of your current situation...

To Be With You
*
Hold on little girl
Show me what he's done to you
Stand up little girl
A broken heart can't be that bad
When it's through, it's through
Fate will twist the both of you
So come on baby come on over
Let me be the one to show you
*
I'm the one who wants to be with you
Deep inside I hope you feel it too
Waited on a line of greens and blues
Just to be the next to be with you
*
Build up your confidence
So you can be on top for once
Wake up who cares about
Little boys that talk too much
I seen it all go down
Your game of love was all rained out
So come on baby, come on over
Let me be the one to hold you
*
I'm the one who wants to be with you
Deep inside I hope you feel it too
Waited on a line of greens and blues
Just to be the next to be with you
*
Why be alone when we can be together baby
You can make my life worthwhile
And I can make you start to smile
*
When it's through, it's through
Fate will twist the both of you
So come on baby come on over
Let me be the one to show you
*
I'm the one who wants to be with you
Deep inside I hope you feel it too
Waited on a line of greens and blues
Just to be the next to be with you
*
I'm the one who wants to be with you
Deep inside I hope you feel it too
Waited on a line of greens and blues
Just to be the next to be with you
*
Just to be the next to be with you

To Be With You - Mr. Big

Chicken Wings

i could do with chicken wings now. chicken wings have played a pretty major role in my dental life as convenient comfort food. the quality of the wings varied from day to day but they were generally both decently edible and fairly cheap. then, a price hike kicked in, and my card got spoilt. chicken wings have not featured in my school life for the past 2 terms or so. its been kind of weird without them. hope there are good chicken wings somewhere near NDC.

on an un-related note about deep fried food, i was wondering if it would be possible to make intrinsically spicy french fries and wedges. kind of like rolling the suckers in tabasco and pepper before throwing them into the fryer. it would make a nice change from the standard issue french fry, and the spices would play off the plain-ness of the potato well, especially if the usual un-thinking Singapore staple of chilli sauce was swapped out for japanese mayonnaise.

Geng Feng? return the deep fryer!

Speed-Waxing

i think i've developed the fastest way to set teeth to conform to an opposing prosthetic dentition! this example assumes a f/p situation...

1) wax up upper arch to ideal setup.
2) grind contacts, adjust for inter-arch alignment issues
3) take first lower molar of desired side, put a column of utility wax underneath. place in region where tooth will eventually lie. close articulator and make fine adjustments.
4) holding articulator closed to maintain position, add wax to cover utility wax, stabilising the molar.
5) add subsequent teeth until all desired teeth are placed. interproximal grinding may be needed to adapt mesial-most tooth against abutment/framework.

this method allows one to get achieve fast positioning of the lower arch teeth without messing around with heating and reheating wax. it also eliminates wax shrinkage and tooth slip as the wax holding the tooth in place cools down. the wax which comes free with the rack of teeth is actually pretty decent, havent tried with the standard-issue rope wax yet.

Logic vs Evidence

logic is never enough, there must always be evidence. for while logic is a valuable decision-making tool, sometimes logic is faulty, or does not factor in every possibility.

On an unrelated note, i hate Fuji I. i mean, yeah... it sticks stuff okay, but it also clings to mucosa. at least i'm getting a lot of experience with it cos of all the bloody FP i've been luting with it. seems like ive stuck down as many units with ZnPO4 as i have with Fuji I. now it better hold well...

729

in all the chaos that swirls around my life, im glad that i have Peijun. she's been the greatest comfort to me during the days at school when she was around, and then in the days when she wasnt. guess it wasnt the easiest thing when i was left behind and she had to move on to work. but im glad to have her, even if i cant see her as often (by quite a drastic margin i might add). im glad for all the times we spend together, the laughing, the crying, the happiness, the sadness, everything. it seems so alive with her around, much better than being a drone in the lab and clinic with no aim but to discharge, no joy but to close up for the day. sure, things havent been easy due to all the stresses from school, home, NDC now and other sources, but i'd rather have lived this with her than not have had the chance to be with her at all. because its been the greatest happiness in my short little life. and i hope for much more happiness for the 2 of us in the years ahead, as we walk the road of life hand in hand, stopping to peer at the little flowers along the way.

Peijun, you're my little Gunslinger Girl.

The Light Before We Land - The Delgados

Gunslinger Girl

i think i've found my latest favourite anime. Gunslinger Girl features an Italian black ops group composed of cybernetically-enhanced girls and their handlers, and the trials, fights and emotional upheavals that they go through. its dark, contemplative, its got good soundtrack, and you just feel for the girls who have been plucked out of the dire straits they were in only to be put in another set of trials. unfortunately, i surmise it may never reach Arts Central. angsty pre-teen girl assassins with big-ass guns, especially after Dave Teo? more's the pity...

Dopo il Sogno ～夢のあとに～ - Yoshitaka Kitanami

Thunderbolt

seems like my life is a life of upheaval. just when you think things are working out, events come along to shake your world and prove you wrong. and thats when you have to get on your knees and pray, and then rush off to save that world from collapsing, with only great faith to guide you. if Job could say 'Though He slay, me, yet will I trust in Him', can't we? even when it seems like failure will make life unbearable...

Let's Fighting Love - Trey Parker

A Story

heres something lol-worthy i read on CBT.com:

"Once along time ago after pining over a girl for several months I was at a bar, still pining, when my best friend put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Dude, just rest your head on the table." Feeling so low and sorry for myself over a girl I put my head on the table with a big sigh, knowing that my best friend was about to fill me with his sage wisdom. And he did. He smacked the back of my head so hard it bounced back of the table and blurred my vision, made my eyes water and gave me a headache so blinding I thought I'd pass out. i looked at him and said "WTF did you do that for you ******. That hurt! You just about busted me skull open!" He just smiled at me and said "Head hurts doesn't it" to which I replied "Goddamn it hurts I just told you that. I think im gonna pass out. I'm gonna have a bruise on my head. You're an ass" He smiled at me again and said "Your not pining over your poor little broken heart anymore are you, because now you have a fractured skull to complain about"

七色の明日 ~Brand New Beat~ - BoA

The Coming

the CBT box set is out in PI now, along with Tech Manual and Starterbook: Sword and Dragon! and i have to receive the news online while casually perusing the PI website... dammit! want want want! im stuck here in the frigid science library (while, funny enough, its damn hot outside) and my box set is lying alone in the PI back room waiting for me to pick it up and open it lovingly and play with it. oh when shall that happy day be?

Pieces - L'Arc en Ciel

Lizard In The Fridge

holidays are here again, an im spending them in the beloved science library. i miss the medical library. its probably a matter of familiarity, seeing old faces around, having a favourite corner next to the dental shelves, being able to yell out to the guys to go for lunch/beg the guys to bloody hell listen to the call of the stomach and go for lunch. guys, i miss you all! this is a unisex designation btw...

i guess it kind of hit home during Buffet Night. sure its an annual affair, the same old damn thing year after year, with D1 skits sinking to new lows in terms of off-colour jokes and banana placement. but amidst all of that, i miss sitting round with the class and talking with them, hearing the guys crack jokes. i wish i could have taken a walk on the pier with Peijun (im sorry Geng, you just dont look, feel or sound the same) to feel the sea breeze in our hair. but this is the reality of life i guess. and to the D3 and D4 juniors who were at the dinner, thanks for inviting and old man to join in your photo shoots. it means something to me.

watched Ratatouille (damn that was a challenge) on Sunday. this movie is good. id say that it could stand proudly beside The Incredibles. it was american animation which was intelligent, had a story and a message, was not afraid to show characters with real flaws. in short, marketing potential for toys aside, this show is more than just kiddy faire. watch this movie.

SNOW KISS - NIRGILIS

Boot To The Head

why does it seem like the world is getting colder? not exactly in the most literal sense, but the air conditioning in clinic 3, which for years has lagged behind that of clinic 2 in terms of sheer cooling power, seems to have been fixed/upgraded/pimped out. coupled with the cold weather, sometimes its actively bloody freezing! the science library is also more frigid than, urm, a fridge i guess.

i think the guys are changing. they look the same, yet different. more confident. happier. in some cases, more prosperous. changes in circumstances, fortunes and mindsets. i want some of that!

single crown competency mounted and ready to send down. endo competency to be stuffed up tomorrow. whats left for me to take care of?

One Half - Wu Jiahui

Things I Learned Today

i found out the key to feeling lymph nodes on the cervical region today during an OS tutorial. press against the nearest firm structure, they say, and we futilely grope away. for the submandibular and submental glands, the nearest hard structure is the body of mandible. and for the neck, the next best thing to bone for the superficial nodes is a tensed sternocleidomastoid...

i cannot lose the will to press on. fatigue is setting in, the pressure doesnt want to go away... sleeping for 10 hours or so the day before yesterday helped immensely, but theres so much to see and do.

一色 - 中島美嘉

Barometer

pressure? frankly it sucks. to be pressured from so many directions while being told to be focussed is hard. especially when you cant just tell the sources of pressure to please take a queue number and wait for the recep to call them in. there have been times when i wished that i could sprout wings, flown out the window and lived on love and fresh air for the rest of my life. not going to happen. i find myself more and more tired, wishing i could find a nice corner to curl up and sleep. somewhere safe and warm where i can leave the world behind for half a day or two and surrender to the obliviousness of unconsciousness.

Debra the Violin Girl is back from america! seems like the longest time since i saw her around. unfortunately, no time to catch up. as an aside, wonder if i can scrape up the funds to buy the Mika Namashika CD going for ten bucks at Du Yi. looks worth it, even tho these days ive been listening to my radio so much.

think friday was my best endo session ever! restored my faith in the discipline somewhat. working under TLC is damn fun! showed us how to nuke voids, and even let me play with using chloroform to make a custom cone. hope i get that competency settled quick, not much time left.

我可以 - 蔡旻佑

Song of Truth

the world is a messy place, especially as the YouTube generation grows up. im not going to repost the long letter i sent out to my class, that remains in Dental circulation. suffice to say, its stupid to think that what you mail around or sent to the national papers will have no repercussions. to the freshies, i'd say im sorry your intro to the world of the faculty had to be so rough. normally its a time where you bond by the sweat of your brow, sharing fun and frustrations. the petty machinations and inconsiderate actions of others have marred this experience. and to the Taleban 3, please go find a quiet corner and commit seppuku. you can form a little triangle and second each other if you so wish.

真実の詩 - Do As Infinity

Under The Covers

right now, i'd really like to be asleep. warm blanket. aircon, not to cold. bolster. clean sheets. good pillow. absolute darkness. it has occurred to me that drinking Red Bull and doing labwork after midnight is like living on borrowed time. sure, the energy drink at 9.30pm will give you one hell of a boost in about 15min that lasts for almost 3 hours, but the next morning? you're buggered. so yeah... drink Red Bull responsibly.

have finally finished off the f/f patient. not in an amicable way, and i hope he doesnt come back to haunt me, but at least HT has signed that clown off as completed, and unsuitable for UG Tx, with reasons. its really quite something to be told by a patient that his denture is uglier than the last one, that people will laugh at him, that the other operators were better, and why do the instructors keep changing? the sheer stupidity of it all is phenomenal. and to top it off he refuses specialist care, saying that student treatment is better (with the notable exception of this operator). ass.

i find myself becoming more and more attached to my Nokia earpiece. i think having 93.3 playing semi-permanently has a kind of calming effect on me when i have to do work. it is weird, however, taking phone calls have having people look at me like i belong in ward 12...

Zhao Long lent me a patient for S&RP competency next week on thursday under MT. lets hope this goes well! apparently he took the easier quadrants for his own competency. then again, what one really needs is sharp curettes and a good ultrasonic, not a simple patient. if i pass because my patient is easy, am i truly competent? its a question running through my head more of late. i hope i graduate well and dont screw things up outside...

深い森 - Do As Infinity

MP3, not for listening to

school has tottered into week 4. what have i gotten done?! *panic* at least i got some of the staff looking out for me. Prof Foong sent me a pair of brothers to do up, even specified which one was competency and which one was for requirement. got HN to see the my dearest darling f/f for 1st recall, hope he doesnt pull stunts. and im freaking gonna take my single crown under the most sympathetic staff i can find!

in other news, pre-order for the new CBT Box set is now open at PI! got your copy now! bask in plastech goodness!

watched Paprika at the Picturehouse this weekend. for the people tired of Hollywood formula shows and lame edits to HP:OOP, watch this please. sure, its a teensy bit confusing, but when part of the plot is centred on mentally disturbed people it all makes sense! the fish and the frog swim in a storm of confetti! government spending in the year of the radish will increase!

Runner - Susumu Hirasawa

The Word Of Jon

1: and after RDTPS, jon sat in contemplation for a minute, and then spake:
2: consider the squid, my brother, and be wise
3: for the squid, when it is confronted, doth squirt a cloud of ink and flail its arms. and when the ink hath dissipated, behold, the squid is not there.
4: but when the squid is surrounded on all sides, and hath emptied its ink pouch, then is the squid found in plain sight, and there shall be no escape for it.
5: verily, i say unto you, the squid is truly buggered, and fit for dinner.

Parodontitis Gravis et Complicata

got me a complex perio e&d case! looks like a GAP too! been a good chance to learn about the diagnosis and treatment planning for an aggressive case, hope this all works out well. hope it works out for the patient too cos we'll be throwing away at least 2 teeth.

2 movie reviews! first up we have Transformers. contrary to popular fanboy expectations, this movie wasn't slaughtered. for some reason, the way this movie was shot made me more charitable to the artistic liberties they took with the storyline. so yeah, Bumblebee has transmogrified from an VW Beetle into a Chevrolet Camaro. Megatron is a plane! Ironhide isn't a van! Shockwave looks like a little freak! but is had big stompy robots, and that warms me to the core of my being. guess im easy to please that way.

Hooked on you was the girlfriend-friendly alternative to Die Hard 4.0, and after watching it i'll recommend this one. good plot, good character, and a strange Hong Kong sense of humour in a careflu, not-over-the-top-Stephen-Chow way. it captures the zeitgeist of the people of Hong Kong going through a hard point in their history, and the lives of 2 people in particular. watch this movie!

Project Little Plastic Locust is finished. Click here.

Difference

operation Little Plastic Locust is under way! a much-overdue project, i have decided to take the time to repair a 3rd ed plastic LCT-1V from the Settlers Katong shoe box, and record my progress in photos to be made into a little guide. blame Inrepose if you want, that Archer paint guide was t3h r0x. so what do i have to do?

i have on hand:

-1 3rd ed plastic LCT-1V missing both arms
-1 right arm loaned from JT, with a request to make a new left arm for his LCT in addition to the 2 new arms i will be making.

both the locust itself as well as the detachable arm have some pretty impressive flash problems.

predicted steps to be taken:

1) de-flash the parts using
a: burrs
b: scalpel

2) clean up the parts with soap for good bonding

3) sculpt a greenstuff spacer between the left leg and the body to make up the 1mm discrepancy in thickness

4) create a reusable mould system so that i can make 3 of the bloody arm things in decent order, with options for left or right arm usage. deep thought on the bus home has lead me in the direction of a 2-part mould, with a 'male' die-stone member and a 'female' suck-down thermoplastic member. sprues may be required to minimise void formation. damn this is going to be fun!

5) cast the arms in plastic material. plan A is to use clear Orthacryl because of its original fluid state and lack of colour that could interfere with painting. plan B is TBR. plan C is greenstuff, far too stiff for what i want to do.

6) clean-up of the casted pieces, and dry-fitting to the dis-armed LCT mini

so yeah, lets see how this goes!

Go West - Eldissa

Life Is Peaceful There

patients booked, cephs traced, table tidied. what more could i want for the new term? besides Bill Gates dropping 60 million greenbacks in my lap in a big paper bag...

Peijun will be starting up work in NDC on the 2nd level. im still here in NUH on the third level. wish i was in NDC, even if it wasn't the 2nd level. dont want to lose the interest in what i do...

2 weddings to play for in a week! i guess i must be getting old, i find myself starting to take note of the way the weddings are organised to gain a better understanding of how i want mine to be conducted. at the very least, i want one that goes according to plan! no little kids-who-toss-petals freaking out or swallowing the ring or whatever. no unexpected catering problems. no screwed-up music.

Staying Alive - Eldissa

Every Time

council gathering at Suat's place yesterday night. guess ive probably detailed in earlier posts why i feel so strongly about my school and why i joined council. and now, so many years on, people i served with have turned into old friends with whom i can reminisce and play Munchkin with. people to relive the good old days with while we eat ice cream and brownies. people whom we can needle with old jokes as we lead into new jokes. people who im proud to call my friends.

Casa della Suat has some amazing stuff. a Wii as well as an XBox 360. and so i got to try out 2 consoles of which i have only been able to see in ads and on VGCats. the Wii is a fascinating thing. is it meant to be pronounced the japanese way as Wi-i or ang-moh style as Wee or what? and waving ones hands! how novel! now i understand all the crude rude mean nasty things from VGCats. they were absolutely spot on. played Gears of War with Meng as the rest indulged in a spot of bridge. the game sure isn't Halo, for one thing the interface is one heck of a complex. for another thing, i couldnt find a way to alter the sensitivity. running and shooting felt like trying to fight while drunk. slightly slow and disorienting. on the other hand, i guess the felon-soldiers of Delta Squad arent exactly as agile as Spartans. nonetheless, the puzzle elements of the game made it feel at least a bit harder than the usual point-shoot kind of fps or 3rd-person game. but will i ever get a Wii or a 360? yeah, dream on. maybe if the damn school decides to pay me for the help i give the juniors *broad hint!*

Winter Love - BoA

Taimu Reapu

please watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. its the freaking best movie all bloody holidays. its got solid plot, character development, spectacular director vision, and good soundtrack. support good movies. bollocks to Pirates 3: At Wit's End and Shrek The Turd. put your money where the quality lies.

Streptococcus

one week of holidays gone by. what have i achieved? what great leaps forward? what riotous fun?

watched Fantasic 4 with Peijun on wednesday. having not watched any of the previous instalments, i come to this series with a clean slate. and let me put it to you that this movie didnt seem to be worth the ticket money. a poorly-fleshed major character. a greater-evil type character as a mess of rocks. and ridiculous plot development. awful awful awful!

seems like i wont be getting my cluster allocation letters like the rest. Peijun got her email from SingHealth, but i'll have to wait until i come out before i found out what cluster i belong to....

went with Peijun to Settlers Katong to meet Pinfen, Siewping and John, and played Saboteur! looks like this really was a great christmas gift, even tho i havent had the chance to take my set for a spin. its the kind of game which can quite literally occupy you for 4 hours straight! decently fun because of the inbuilt hook of deceptive play, and it doesnt get stale because rounds are short. but of course it doesnt match up to my first gaming love of CBT. my dice still call to me in the darkness....

Nobody Knows - 伊藤由奈

Under The Moon

one day of holidays over, and for the first time since ive come to FoD, i'm struck by how little holiday we actually have. the date is already into 2 digits, and at the end of the month i'm back into the grind, and PJ is going to work. the transcience of life's little pleasures is at once a warning to treasure what we have, and also a warning to expect all good things to end at some point.

its kinda sinking in that i am now attached to a Dr Chia. and she'll have to move ahead of me in life as i complete my unfinished business in school. i guess the good thing is that anything that i experience when i go to work wont be entirely a surprise, since i have a 6-month early 2nd-person preview. at the same time i'll be having to support her during the adjustment phase. oh well, maybe better one than both at once.

bought Yuna Ito's CD. good shit! having heard it on YouTube doesnt take away from the fact that its good songwriting and good singing. just wish DAI were still together...

what to do with the rest of my holiday? what to do?

Precious - 伊藤由奈

Poco Voce

so my lungs have shrunk. got another month to grow them back before i play for Matt and Cheryl's wedding. need to regain my sightreading skills too. just feels like its been too damn long since i picked up my flute. if only there was some way to get in regular quality playing time... especially with a school schedule. and no, the Worship Team does not count as quality playing time...

what to do with the holidays?
1) regrow lungs
2) go and swim
3) organise for next term
4) do up patients' cephs
5) play excessive CBT!

really want some of item 5! my dice call to me to sieze them, ride forth and lay waste!

Stupidity is never more daunting

as when it is systemic. why do we do the things we do? multiple steps to nowhere? break our hopes and pray that they reassemble? and why am i here in the middle of the night blogging in the lab, a can of Red Bull sitting in front of me, when there is work to do?

sometimes doing the right thing just doesnt feel rewarding. i finally got round to bringing in a patient i havent seen in a million years. literally. i dont need any of this guy's requirements, but on the other hand it isnt honest to let him sit and rot. so i update his xrays, TD his caries, chart his resto, perio and even his recession. and suddenly noone wants a backup exam case. noooooo! 3 crowns to go, anyone? please? im even preparing provisionals in case the ones i put in screw up!

finally getting in an ortho patient. prescreened by the boss himself, no worries about a screwy indication. hope i can work fast tomorrow.

damn i wish i could be overseas...

Unchained - Love Psychedelico

Leaf On The Wind

seems like sometimes the world changes around us, and we're left standing wondering what happened to all that we found familiar. my lab is now populated by the incoming D3s, and while theyre a nice bunch, they sure arent my old class. half the class is overseas, and the rest are in the process of going. and me and ZX are left here pottering around in the lab chasing the dream of leaving NUS to spread our wings and fly off to some distant polyclinic where we can caries free in peace.

what is my role in life now?
1) i need to graduate. stat. the work i do, the things i study, must lead towards this eventuality. i must improve my hands and my mind to write well in my papers and stand tall during clinical dentistry.
2) i want to help my juniors not to end up like me. will this end up at odds with (1)? how much time can i afford?

擱淺 - 周杰倫

Left To Dessicate

after a bit of nudging from wanwah, i've decided to blog again. dont know how often i can do this, or whether i'll find it as therapeutic as i used to, but worth a try i guess...

im stuck in school for a while longer. guess me posting it on the net wont answer all the people who ask me about it in real life, this is more for me to vent. i didnt give up on my schedule at the end, i was having trouble early on and didnt recognise it. wish i did. but for now, i just want to focus on getting out of this place. 4 years is plenty long, and if its been predestined for me to hang about a bit longer, so be it, but i'm going as soon as i can. in the meantime, i want to learn what i can, do what i can, and help people onto a path that doesnt involve time extension. now that i walk this path, i know exactly how much it sucks, and i dont want my juniors to have to follow in my footsteps.

finally passed my p/p. happy as heck. but the fly in the ointment of my prosthetic career is my f/f patient. guess ive vented about him in real life so many times, but every visit is a new trial, a new frustration, a new aggravation. i have learnt so much about him, about myself, and about the little private hell a patient can create for an operator. i shall take these lessons and treasure them, because they were hard earned. and having discussed with my instructor, once this royal ass is issued his f/f of doom we shall be writing in the notes that he is unsuitable for UG Tx. so shall it be until all have fallen...

the other good thing is that Lady Boss appears to have passed her exams, we're 99% certain and just waiting for the results to seal the deal. now for my turn...

Endless Story - Yuna Ito

The Angels Are Singing Again

seems like i haven't had anything good to write about in a damn long time, but finally i have something to be well and truly publicly thankful for. Peijun is now a child of God! havent been this happy since, possibly, the day i was born!

Unfavourable

its been just over 5 months since i last posted. and i am tired!

just the other day Stan and me were talking about depression. i suspect every person in the class may be clinically depressed. people are starting to crack up under the stress. i know im not coping as well as i would like. delayed dentures, skipped slots, and now a pharyngitis. bugger this. i want holiday and i want it now! but not before i pass those 2 competencies on friday. pulling that off might just make me go down in history for most crazy competency stunt attempted ever, but all i want to do is get some of that junk out of the way.

contemplating a spare exam case. looks like it has a bit of a history, though. talked to the last operator, and not only does the patient speak only mandarin, he also started to find excuses not to see her just as exam time was drawing near. but in itself, the case is damn simple. so tempting...

http://singapore-btechers.blogspot.com/

JT has made up a blog to let us get the news on CBT and official events. so if you love battletech and need some action, get the hell over and check it out already!

浪漫手機 - 周杰倫

My Modus Operandi Is Amalgam

its been way too long since i last posted. too many things have happened in my life to recount, its just a big mess. and yet i find myself writing again. i hope i still find it therapeutic.

finally got round to watching the 4 episodes of Samurai Champloo that Debra the Violin Girl passed to me. it certainly lives up to the hype she placed on it, the standard of animation, the action, the themes are all excellent. its weird and wonderful. people get dismembered to the flashing of blades. got to get more...

its just so weird when not half an hour after you get your special tray looked at, you are informed that the patient for which you prepared it has departed this mortal coil. it seems like now i can rub shoulders with those who were among the legendary suay people of old. it just seems so surreal... the patient only sat in my chair once, and never had any time to make an impression on my psyche. and now he's gone, leaving a legacy of a ratty yellow file, a set of primarys and 2 special trays with no more purpose. a life, just gone like that.

they say knowledge is power, but to be able to use it wisely, that's another thing. on saturday on a crowded bus towards Clementi, i noticed a woman with a lesion on the left side of her upper lip. 2 cm by 1 cm, surface varied from a mole-like raised black to an ulcer on its inferior border. surrounding skin normal. my spot differentials include BCC and malignant melanoma. and what does one do with the information? is it proper for me to go up to a person and advise a consult, just like that? the 70ish woman had a companion, a 40-ish woman. was she her daughter? should i inform her? would that be inerference? i had no time to resolve my dilemma, they got off one stop after i noticed the lesion. we always say we're in it for the patients, to improve people's lives. do we have the power? do we have the courage?

i finally got off my ass and got myself an FP allocation for Mr Cho. to Prof Chew, no less. looks like major ass-kicking for me. thank you Dr Joanne. and damn...

Battlecry - Shing02

So We Hear/ He's Just Coming Back/ From Half A Year Of Withdrawal

my holidays end in 2 hours... but it was good! possibly the best one holiday since i stepped into the faculty. watched movies, painted again, got to sun my ass even. and now the summer days fade away as clinics come round again.

Rent is an amazing movie. please watch it. disregard the Today review. they wouldnt be able to tell good movie material if they'd had it waved in front of their faces. as a musical, the point IS the music! but yet it's done in a way that doesnt break the pacing. Rent is energetic, harmonious, touching, spectacular even. the singing is tight, the acting tighter. and the plot is touching. please, go and watch this. on the big screen. with the surround sound. and a big barrel of popcorn, and someone who appreciates that good things don't need explosions or CGI to work.

Ice Age 2 was viewed with much lower expectations. it wasnt as lame as the newspapers projected, but then again all i was looking for was brainless laughts, which i found plenty of. torturing a flexible and dim-witted furry creature for amusement is fair game in animation! the animation standard is fair, good in the gross concepts but losing out slightly in fine textures light hair quality and ripples. but then again, how realistic do you want talking mammoths?

Tristan and Isolde, was by comparison, somewhat of a letdown. hunky men for the women? not really. hawt chicks for the men? not really. arresting plot? not so... i think Tristan's facial expressions just didnt quite carry it. and Isolde... lets not get started. a forgettable movie , while not bad per se it can only be mediocre at best.

i'm kind of wondering how this term will turn out. after the Great Scheduling Session, Shafiq, Adrian and yours truly ended up in the BK at Suntec having an amazing bitching session. it is most unfortunate that our class, as with any class, has started to show flaws during clinical years. i hope that this term will pass without incident. because i'd hate to be the peacemaker or arbitrator for a dispute in Yr4. there's simply too much at stake here, but by being selfish one merely gambles short-term personal gain against real bad karma. i hope that if anyone tries to play loopholes in the system the class will have the sense of solidarity to not let things stand and make the person see the error of his ways. it will be a sad day for the profession if the graduating class of 2007 come out into the word from a background of backstabbing and cheating.

楽園 - Do As Infinity

Neutral Red

FYP is almost done! its been a royal pain in the hindquarters, doing mathematics, trying to get SPSS (hence SPAZZ) to work and hunting for non-existant things on google.com. had so many ups and downs in the course of 2 days that it's been absoultely draining...

2 overdue movie reviews! the first is V for Vendetta. i'd first like to state that i think Natalie Portman looks better with hair. now with that out of the way, on to the movie itself. i've always been a sucker for good music usage, and Vendetta makes liberal usage of a popular piece of classical music, giving it significance. 1812 overture as a backdrop for the demolition of some of London's great landmarks was an excellent concept. the characterisation was well done as well, with the enigmatic V gradually becoming humanised, and Natalie Portman's Evie gaining some backbone. other minor characters, such as the comedy programme host and the little girl with the pink t-shirt added depth to the plot. visuals were excellent. considering that this movie is more thriller than action (please do not ever compare this to spiderman) there is much less fighting and exploding. but when it comes, it doesn't disappoint. V's showdown deserves to be ranked up within the best fight scenes ever. and if you've been paying attention to everything, it just gets better because you feel for the character by this time.

our second review is Failure To Launch. this might be considered chick flick central, but it does indeed have a story to it. it could have been developed more, especially concerning Trip's prior life, and his 'nephew', but this did not present any jarring loopholes at time of viewing. characters looked comfortable and believable in their roles, and watching animals bite Trip was always fun. the scene where ACE gives CPR to a mockingbird stole the show.

a few days ago i made the discovery that PJ can paint. and well too. dragged my poor neglected painting gear and some minis to her place, intending to give a painting tutorial. my student truly has natural talent. pictures to follow!

Pictures At An Exhibition - Modest Petrovitch Mussorgsky

Chaconne

in a few days the continuing saga of our class will reach another exciting climax. so why do i feel so apathetic about the exams? i think i'm just tired of the whole study routine. people keep saying i should be on the dean's list but i don't know anything! and the lack of DotA is driving me nuts. cant wait to get my computer repaired so i can enjoy the simple joys in life like non-laggy web page loading and fuss-free boot cycles. and yeah... its probably going to cost. far as i can tell the on-board chip is dead. Soh says its as good as 'hello new motherboard' which is so nice to know... that also means byebye to quite a few Yusof Ishaks. damnit...

went to the ACJC/ACS(I) concert today. amidst all the memories and inevitable comparisons of playing standard, i just wonder what it would have been like if i'd stayed current with my playing skills. like, say, if i'd been an ordinary science student with enough time to devote an evening a week or so to go down and play. it's one thing to spot the flaws in people's playing and another to realise that if it was me playing i dont think i could produce the same standard, or even that which i used to be able to put out. and for the record, i miss the days when they used to play the school anthem before band concerts. its a school concert, of course it should have the anthem. some things dont change, driven rhythm makes ACS players sound miraculously better.

need battletech... need to roll dice and blow stuff up...

Cao Cao - JJ Lin

Radeon

have just been wrestling with my computer for the better part of a day. yesterday morning, c/o laptop interrupted boot cycle w/BSOD re: ati2dvag.dll creating an infinite loop. presented to the IBM care centre, at which point my stupid laptop didnt wanna reproduce the problem; a desperate roll-back was (temporarily) successful. in the afternoon the infernal machine proceeded to die on me repeatedly, and rollbacks were instituted repeatedly to no avail. this morning, searched whole damn room to look for original windows discs so as to format C: and get on with life. com then revived itself again and i tried to reinstall drivers. discovered to my horror that ATI no longer supports my little on-board chip. bastards... reinstalled the IBM driver (4 years old, btw) from website. com proceeded to BSOD me again. finally, as of 30min ago, have used a 3rd-party fix that allows the more updated ATI drivers to run for my little, now officially-old, laptop. i'm tired now. and theres still the matter of the broken M key and the possible huge repair bill for fixing that. assholes... hope my laptop can last out until i can at least find my discs. i have a really bad feeling that this might be a hardware problem.

Move This Mountain - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Beyond The Plane Of My Imagination

exams are up in 2 weeks. besides this marking the end of 1 year in clinics, and my utter lack of attempted competencies, the exams this year seem rather ominous. lets face it, the internal med and surgery admin don't seem to love us very much. lecturers not showing up, screwy ward round timings that mess with the doctors' work schedules... hope we all can pass this one. there's got to be more to this than looking for clubbing and splinter haemorrhages.

CBT looks like my latest greatest escape mechanism. my disciple's love of light mechs and maneuvre play seems to be developing quite nicely. in campaign, Warrick's Warriors have hit 2 lances and look all set to grow even more.

yesterday, Pastor Choo spoke of chicken curry. to paraphrase:
'chicken curry has an essential core which makes it a chicken curry. it must have chicken. it must have curry powder. but how each curry turns out depends on the values your family embraces. if your mum is health-conscious, your chicken curry will have no oil, and little salt. the chicken will have no skin. my mum wasn't a health freak. we were a Baba family, and the most important thing to us was that the curry be tasty...'
which sums up my feelings about food...

공중정원 (Garden In The Air) - BoA

Not My Cause

even with a rather wasted session Dr Yap still amazes me with new techniques and words of wisdom. i wonder if we really do make our patient's problems into our own, i usually try not to but this patient had a filling done which may not need to be there because it's indicated for RCT later. and even when i wanted to hold payment Dr Yap advised charging ayway. but i believe i have to be accountable, the patient is claiming from her company. on the one hand, another endo case is still manageable, but on the other hand if her tooth miraculously recovers i'll be happy too.

just over 2 weeks to exams and i can't find the motivation to study. the books are dry, and i need some nice coloured pens. this sucks.

Joanne has been in the hospital for about 3 weeks, absolutely record-breaking. amidst all her fears of TPN, as well as conversations with the patient today about pain, really emphasise how much of a patient's behaviour is influenced by fears of pain. which leads us to ask, can we confidently indicate RCTs, crown lengthening, double jaw surgery confidently if we're too scared to do it ourselves, and can't rationalise it out within ourselves to have it done. hope her GI gets back on track, cos she's basically been starving for 3 weeks. although not quite as damaging as a post-op catablic state, 8kg and counting of weight loss is quite powerful.

Para Machuchar Meu Coracao - Antonio Carlos Jobim

Who Needs Summer Days?

finally started proper work on my molar endo. working lengths determined for 3 of the 4 canals, and it feels good! TPH is my endo idol now, cos he taught us how to use a ZX and gave us a bit of rationale into obturation technique. hope that this endo turns out ok...

was reading some stuff online and found out that the song Summer Days by Do As Infinity is actually written in english. now because of Van Tomoko's garbled pronunciation, this wasnt apparent to me immediately. and so, i got hold of the lyrics and listened to the song again. it was freaking hilarious!

Summer Days

CHORUS
Summer days, I can't stand the summer days
Frozen cocktails and night fireworks
What's so great about them anyway?
Summer day, let it be some other day
Seaside motels and sex on the beach
Don't be thinking I went all the way

I hate summer days!

Rushing down the traffic, to the beach,
That's jammed for blocks and blocks
They ain't getting nowhere,
Still miles and miles left to go
Strutting down the street, the girls,
they try to impress their boyfriend to be
I give up and don't try
Every day is a bad hair day
Guys, they come up with lame pick-up lines,
Desperate to just get laid
Damn, give me a freaking break!

CHORUS

Goddamn summer days!

Kate was the one, who said that life was made to be enjoyed
Stop crinkling your face
Everything will turn out okay
Serving table to table up and down the isle
Had on a face I'd never seen
Whatever happened to her?
Who has stolen your smiles away?
Who said that summer can brighten the mood of fate?
Nothing is going to change
Damn, give me a freaking break!

CHORUS

Who needs summer days!

Summer days, they have never been the same
Once you left and were out of my sight
Leaving no trace behind
Summer day, why oh why on a summer day?
You were gone without saying goodbye
Taking it all away
No more summer days!

Summer Days - Do As Infinity

Who Am I?

why do i feel like life in school is becoming purposeless? was suddenly struck by a sense of melancholy while doing suction boy and having a generally bad session. my grades are crap. i have no will to do anything about it. my health is spiralling down the drain. i make mistakes in clinic that are totally avoidable. my romantic life has enough landmines in it to stop an armoured battalion. i need a holiday bad. and a secretary. and 6 million bucks. and a big hug.

Creeping, Insidious, Slow Onset, Inescapable

i guess its a sign of age when people who are your contemporaries start to pass away. although i didnt get to attend the wake service of Dr Alvin Tan, i'll still treasure the few reflective moments i had at his coffin-side. i hope that when its my turn to be the grey thing in the box, people will be able to remember that he was so much more than the sum total of the present contents of the box. that he lived, loved, fought, prevailed, created, healed, taught, made his impression in the world and cast something good out of it. will people miss me when i die?

OS posting week got off to a good start. got an assistantship and a LA exo done in a patient who wanted a 4-by-8 clearance. first time using a Warwick James too. and after that got to see Prof Yeo do an IMF on a patient with a left mandibular condyle fracture. arch bars with 0.5mm wire, heavy elastics and a little bit of magic, and you can really see the fracture reduce before your eyes! cool stuff...

Love and Honesty - BoA

Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation

here i am resuscitating the old blog. time flies, and so do stress levels. even a lack of work is stressful, its highly weird having no labwork to do because my patients aren't ready for prosthetics. blame it on my E&D i guess... and thats the bloody last time i do E&D under an instructor who doesnt give a shit. 3 extra cavities undetected! blows the mind...

watched Memoirs of a Geisha on saturday. its kinda weird with chinese people doing japanese characters. and Mameha is a bloody hilarious name! apart from that... well, nice visuals. okay plot, even though the ending was like so obvious as to be visible a mile off. and Gong Li has like a 1 unit right upper midline shift! very disturbing when she smiles...

Soh dug up a voice comms program to enhance our DotA playing experience. now i have an excuse to use the pre-packaged telemarketer-style headset i have. and the rest of the guys have been urged to pick one up for ourcombined gaming pleasure. Operation Jue Dui DotA-Star in progress!

心の手紙 - BoA

Salvage Rights

school isnt getting any easier, i really hope that i can keep pace. the work load is pretty crazy cos of how sessions do, or dont, line up so as to facilitate our work.

had an amazing perio session, got to finish a class IV in one hour flat! it looks tolerable despite the lack of assistance, and while i think it could have been better aesthetically with an assistant to help micro-manage, the patient is happy. contours have been rebuilt. occlusion has been checked. and i can be confident of filling this kind of cavity.

the new battletech campaign is looking up. placed an open bid to sell off a salvaged JR7-D at 70% of cost, hope someone buys. need more firepower, and a VND-1R fits the bill. but need to ditch the unwanted mech to save on pilots. the unit really is picking up nicely, with a mix of mobility, speed and firepower in the medium weight class.

A Sea Of Blinding Light

new year is the time of year where we binge-eat and feel sorry after! after like 2 large dinners in 3 days i feel the bulge coming back with a vengeance. wont be long before all the musical stress weight loss is counteracted.

met up with the 24ths at Hui's place on friday night. pretty well attended with the right people to keep things lively. and none of the obnoxious people who would make things awkward. there was almost exactly enough food, and we played some amazing polar bear! i think im a real sucker for RPGs...

the post-production party at Turtle's place was pretty good too! more amazing food and a lot of fun. its just a pity that parties have to end and that i tend to run out of steam around midnight. and this time there was enough food to really make me bloat. wonder what happened to all the excess...

Red Wall

PJ complained my blog entries are getting more boring. i think the internal filter must be working overtime, because if ya really think about it the days that go by cannot be completely boring. but i also wonder if every little wonder or petty disagreement or chicken wing consumed makes for good reading.

played a round with Stan and some random outsiders. lost the match but i got an offer to join clan RoTK. like... wow. the players i've seen in game arent too bad, above average actually. and he wanted me to join for competition purposes. his play was... ok though. the presence of an SA always turns a match into a gem party. had to do a lot of gem repo rounds. and i declined the offer. to have a BDS in my match account nick is all the clan i need.

My Vampire Heart - Tom McRae

Shady Crimbo Afternoon

so how did this holidays go for me? as the holidays evaporate away into nothingness, i can say that have not accomplished much. played enough, gone out enough. rested well. eaten good stuff. seen nice movies. but was it worth it? i hope so! im finally done with the musical. and i think it did leave its mark out there. but next year, im gonna be an usher. for sure.

Under The Old Raintree

another long overdue entry in a dying blog... seems like all the blogs that my class writes are dying by apathy. perhaps we're sick of seeing each ohter rant about our closed lives. or how tired we are in the face of all the nonsense that school flings at us. i know i could do with another holiday. spent on the beach with an enthusiastic puppy and a frisbee or sth.

its almost over, it really is. i guess this is gonna be the last pre-production entry about the musical. its been too damn long in its inception, and the labour of making it was troubled. its gonna be over soon and frankly it doesnt look to bad at all. hope that people dont fall apart on us as we hit the stage on the nights. hope that the cold air in the auditorium doesnt kill off my voice. hope i dont get winded moving and singing. hope Ben doesnt screw up her solo. hope the people i invited come!

went down to do an E-case yesterday. i swear... provis will be the death of me. broken provi, he said. and it was actually the metal of the stainless steel crown form coming apart. haiz... after smoothing that off and recementing, i decided to redo the adjacent provi that had awful overhangs what were contributing to gingival inflammation. at 4.30 i figured that i was dying and had to go to the DC for help. at 6.00 the patient was discharged. i now have a new idol in Dr Lim Boon Kuan, who is like amazingly fast and efficient as she works. one day i will be bloody fast like her. such economy of movement... and i still hate doing provis in live drooling patients.

翼の計画（花王ラビナスＣＭソング） - Do As Infinity

Songs Of The Future, Lyrics Of The Past

i must be going through some bad-ass down-period if i simply don't feel like writing for long periods of time, especially if writing has always been so therapeutic. but somehow in the life that ive been leading for the last month or so i simply can' find anything nice to write about. and the bad stuff has been axed by my internal privacy filter. i wish it wasn't this way. but thats life. there are times when there will be problems but you just can't scream them into the north wind, or in this case the Net, because there is just too much at stake. you never know who's down south. and i have so much to learn, so much to do, and so much to grow into.

infections suck. this pharyngitis just doesnt want to bugger off and i wake up every morning with bits of phlegm waiting to be coughed up. as an aside, the Nokia dictionary doesnt have the word phlegm. and i fell a bit sick every day but not sick enough to go to the doctor. this is just annoying.

just ripped a CD off of Anqi. this is the first Jay Chou CD to actually make it to my hard drive, and it doesnt disappoint. good melodies, though i cant comment on the lyrics. wish i could just have the time to lie down somewhere and fall asleep with my music collection playing in my ears softly. bugger this...

夜曲 - 周杰倫

A Little Bit Late For That

why in the world would Do As Infinity disband? i'd say their career was still going strong, and their songs were always good to listen to. maybe they got bored and wanted to start with something new and unprecedented. wonder how Van Tomoko will sound as a solo singer? they will be sorely missed...

watched Harry Potter and i've got to say that the thicker these books get the more time they'll need to cover all the points in the book. i mean, for goodness sake, kids may have short attention spans but the movie felt so... rushed! Krum didn't quite look they way i expected, the Triwizard challenges felt so short and Voldemort didn't look threatening enough. it was really just an okay movie, watched for completeness.

Under The Moon - Do As Infinity

Dessication

who the heck has my Jack Johnson CD? i'm supposed to lend it to Debra the violin girl, and i can't find it anywhere!

finally fitted and issued my F/P, and im so happy its out of my hands and into his mouth! all those evenings spent a-grinding and a-cussing, and now i get to see my little plastic labour make it into a mouth. we'll see how it does at the 1-week review, hope it isnt covered with muck and gross stuff. still have his old one in a plastic bag, goldfish-style, in my cupboard as a failsafe...

dance practice for the musical has finally started. woke up on the morning after hurting in the arm cos of heaving the lead actor around. like... hey! he's supposed to be lighter than me... the absence of some of my chorus is disturbing, because they will have a lot of catching up to do, being able to sightread is one thing, but dance cannot be sight-read.

so is OKC really a neoplastic entity?

牙關 - 五月天

Alpha Strike!

its been way too long since i blogged. what things have passed since my last entry that would have been worth mentioning? what have i done with my life?

today i taught 4 people how to play CBT. its amazing how long its been since i played, i couldnt even find my dice and record sheets. had an early morning heart attack searching my room for my damn stuff, thankfully they were just safely boxed away by my mum. but i managed to get the box set, shitloads of dice and the RS out the door by the time i had to go for orchestra. and then off to Shafiq's for the Great Hari Raya CBT initiation. players: Mao, PJ, Clement and Shafiq. they all got random mechs and set right to it. it was a bit rough-going, because i was rusty, and we couldn't finish the game due to time constraints, but everyone had fun! and that's ultimately what is important. and at least they had guidance instead of my baptisms of fire jumping straight into L2 rules. mebbe some day we'll play again....

Catch The Sun - Jamie Cullum

Only Sadness

i have no idea why but James Blunt has become the singer of the season. he sings melancholic, slightly gay songs which grab your brain and refuse to let go. frankly im afraid of overplaying his stuff but nothing else seems to do anything for the moods ive been in the last week.

im seriously starting to wonder if another half year extra is in the works for me. i feel so damn inadequate in the face of the great work that is my profession-to-be. and the prostho stuff is not coming up fast enough. and the way my out-of-school life is going, i'm enough of a wreck now for 2 men.

No Bravery - James Blunt

There Would Still Be Music Left To Write

somehow havent had the incentive to blog for a long time. my life lately has been a mess of burring and flaming, and tempers have risen and fallen in a steady synchronity with how my patient's teeth are lining up. its frustrating when work slows because of lack of the proper items, and uncertainty about how to proceed. i need to find Mohammad stst on monday morning cos the teeth i've been issued for my Yellow File Ah Pek are too tiny. and setting him up with 3 or 4 anterior diastemata is just gross.

latest hot topic in the local sections of the paper has been aggressive proselytising of patients by the Christian members of teaching and healthcare professions. our nation has been miraculously glued together despite its diverse creeds and cultures, and religion has always been a touchy thing. a disturbing factor is that by nature, Christianity is made to be spread. its methods seem agressive next to the other religions where the usual mode of entry is birth. there is, and i will categorically state this, no such thing as a person born into Christianity. we gain our converts via, you guessed it, conversion. decisions made as conscious, convicted, consenting individuals. so the question is, should doctors be allowed to practice and preach? should they care for the soul of the patient as well as his body? should the dentist have a tract rack in the waiting room and bible verses on the wall where the patient can see as he's stuck in the chair, captive and rubber-dammed? when are lines crossed? where are the lines? how can a healthcare professional be so insensitive? i think amongst all of these the Christian healthcare worker should be sensitive to the call of God. ask nicely before proceeding, and back off if the patient is in pain, just like any other procedure. no preaching during venipuncture, definitely.

How Many Hearts - Travis

I Wanna Give This Imagery Back

the days seem to be flying by in a draining blur. library infestation is in vogue again, and 7 other classmates sit scattered around me in various states of awakeness trying to study Oral Pathology. i have no mood for this. the notes are crap, and i've read through Neville enough times to bore me but not enough times for it to absorb. since when do books absorb into my memory by reading anyhow? there are so many other things to fix up in my life, like my back-dated lab work and patient management and christmas musical and messy messy messy emotional life.

backdated movie review of the weekend is for The Corpse Bride. Tim Burton does not disappoint this outing with the animation, which carries enough subtle touches to show the work of a master. plot is sufficient, not exactly intellectual fodder but easily accessible to kids and adults while able to keep both groups stimulated. charaters are well thought out and mesh well. the musical score and songs by Danny Elfman are excellent work as well, at times giving the movie the feel of a Disney movie gone wrong. this one's worth watching!

picked up Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams from Sembawang before the movie. was impressed by a music video of one of the songs while over in the UK, and the CD did not disappoint. folksy guitar and intelligent lyrics carried on excellent melodies make this a worthy addition to my CD collection. and the music is calming me down even now as i try to refocus on my OP...

Do You Remember - Jack Johnson

Oh Well, It Seemed Like Such Fun

my holidays are now officially over since it's crossed midnight and it is now monday with a vengeance. i officially spent the last hour or so of my hols playing DotA, thrashing some noobs with Mangix the Pandaren Battlemaster, which i think was pretty okay. granted, they werent the most cerebral of opposition, save one decent Medusa player, but i just wish that the rest of the guys were playing too. clan BDS-in-Exile is practically defunct now.

what else have i done with my holiday? went to london, didn't see the queen. learned that even if materials and methods differ, dentistry is still dentistry and standards are required of you even in poor working conditions. saw once again the sad truth of how our class has grown cold to the point where they will not meet to celebrate the happiness of one of their own. clarified and confused myself so many times over... and now its back to the little corner of the lab where i try to work magic and sometimes fail. my little field of dreams, where wax turns to gold. wish the damn ortho wires would turn to gold too, but they just confuse my eyes and hurt my hands.

Little Wing - JAM Project feat Masami Okui

Take This Chance, I Won't Repeat This

the cast and lower Hawley bow lie on my table, half-bent. my brother is lyin on the mattress behind me tryin his darndest to out-sing my laptop blasting Love Psychedelico. all in all, a pretty good morning! the only thing spoiling it is the niggly feeling that school is just waiting to bushwhack me on monday. haiz... how the hell does one bend the wire to be evenly 1mm over the cast anyhow?

here's an overdue movie review. The Brothers Grimm is a bit of an odd concept... fairytales, disillusioned men, action, evil witch queens, comedy, psychopaths, horror and a few beheadings all rolled into one. and somehow it succeeds at entertaining. i guess this was in line with my conjecture that Matt Damon has yet to make a bad call at role selection. set design is right in line with the fairytale-gone-wrong concept, cobwebby, grimey and muddy. the stock villains in the form of campy frenchmen and a whacked italian mercenary are so over-the-top they're actually funny in themselves. and there are enough comic moments to act as stress-breakers, even in the midst of scary scenes. not exactly high-brow art, this movie, but good to watch to de-stress!

Move This Mountain - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Every Beginning Is Another Beginning's End

censorship is a bitch, innit? and yet sometimes for the good of society, and to uphold the morals of the common man who cannot differentiate art from real life, censorship is necessary. and so... unless you saw the blog entry for the half-hour or so it was up you'll never see it. for the good of society!

僕らはヒーロー - Kiroro

Never Further Than Right Beside

im finally home! very thankful that the journey home was much less eventful than the journey there, that i can get a nice shower and a clean bed, and that the room doesnt smell of feet that arent attached to me. and that i dont have to live out of a suitcase any more.

DotA 6.16 is out! that means that i have been out of the loop since... too long. randomed Bloodseeker, and got my ass handed to me. granted, the other team were lanners, but still it was a very painful game. really wish to get the rest of the clan back so that we can train again.

柊（ドラマ「恋文～私たちが愛した男～」主題歌） - Do As Infinity

Know That You Need It And Try To Believe It

i am finally going to bugger off from this wonderful little country. it has been 12 days and 2 version releases since i arrived here, and there are so many things to do back home. wire bending, Behavioural essay, studying for OP and FP, distributing the distressingly huge mountain of souvenirs and shit... and hopefully watching a good movie or 2 at the now relatively affordable SG prices. Pride and Prejudice... Kiera Knightly awaits...

my mattress calls from across the sea
it yells out loudly 'come lie on me!'
and if e'er there were a place to be,
t'would be on my mattress, worry-free .
-Jonathan Ee 2005

Ozymandias

i think Singapore would do well to start importing Walker's Crisps. the Walker's Sensations range is widely advertised in the tube, and i was wondering how, in the adopted homeland of the crisp (known elsewhere as the chip) this product would stand up against other established chips from america like Lays and old series Pringles. the crisps did not disappoint. a small 40g bag of crisps set me back 40p at the Spit, the unofficial GKT ang moh mamak shop. upon opening (which was not easy, as having no centre spine or pre-perforated tear point, one is forced to grip and rip the seam open along its cleavage plane) it was immediately apparent that the crisps were of remarkable thickness. under normal circumstances this would spell instant fatality. but i shit you not, these crisps have excellent crunch. they are brittle like any other american chip. flavourwise, these do not disappoint. Chargrilled Steak & Peppercorn Sauce Flavour Crisps really taste as advertised, and the flavour selection promises to bring a whole new range of subtle, classy flavours to the market. lets face it, heavy cheese a la Cheezels is so Primary 6. now i just have to stop myself from licking the empty bag...

Latex-triggered Anaphylaxis

almost a week has gone by in London. to compress everything into one blog entry will be complicated... so many things have happened quickly and yet slowly its just amazing. got to really be thankful one of the Yr4 students latched onto us and has been taking us around. sure, i miss aspects of home. like a towel rack where my towel wont get wet when im showering. or a room of my own with a door that doesnt auto-lock and have people (potentially drunk) pounding on the door asking to be let in at 3am. i miss my friends. but there are perks. the people lead free-er lives. theyre not afraid to speak out and be who they want to be. theyve been generally hospitable too (apart from one asshole who will be mentioned in la grande revue when i get back).

frankly, if i won like 3 million Yusof Ishaks i wouldnt mind doing post-grad here. sure, the facilities look a teensy bit more dated, and the exchange rate is rapacious, but the pace is so much more relaxed. fer goodness sake, they did in one full day of paedo tech what we would have done in half. the public parks look great to wander in on a cool evening, and the buildings are so varied compared to our relatively young and hence homogenous city.

funny enough, we havent seen any Singaporeans around. even though there are Singaporean medical students out there, no sign of any so far in GKT. im kind of developing a chinese version of what Nijam calls the Indian Radar... anyone looking remotely Han i'll spot and analyse... Chinese? Mainlander? Heung Gong Yann? Korean? Cute?

Settling Dust

just finished typing up all the base charting that i could find for my patients. another term has come and gone and the draining feeling still hasnt lifted. in 30 hours i fly for London. and i just feel so unprepared. no idea whats happening to me there, no idea who to meet or what to do. what i really want now is my bed.

last night's Densoc AGM was the most amazingly rigged AGM i have ever seen. now Yeehau has been left with the unenviable task of heading a student society the student body doesnt give a rat's ass about. and all because some people wanted something before its time. it was just disgusting.

しゃぼん玉 - Kiroro