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