Photos See The Light Of Day

Finally uploading selected photos from November & December (yes, I know it's already LAST YEAR). Didn't take a lot of photos in Australia and there's one event in particular that I regret not having a photo of - the 3.5 feet eel-tailed catfish that bit into the hook at the end of the line I was holding onto. It eventually got away because we didn't have a net to scoop it up.

My fish was bigger...

Could have been me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back home, there weren't many photos either, although it was an insanely wild time packed with activities that were definitely legal (lunch, dinner, family-oriented events) and activities that were possibly illegal - no way else to explain an unpleasant run-in with an "officer of the law" (very unprofessional officer, may I add) who threatened to shoot us. Ok, it's actually much less exciting that it sounds, and nobody had to be admitted to the hospital (or the morgue) with a gunshot wound but still, I will hardly be able to forget that policeman's name. When I'm old, demented and unable to remember my own name, my children's names, my address and date of birth, I'll still be muttering his name under my fiery breath. Oh yes, I will...

So here are a selection of photos of some activities featuring some people (I'm hardly going to display my entire family online, am I? They deserve some privacy. And the weirdos out there don't need to know about them either). Other activities, like dinner at fish&co with the cousins, I have no photos of - because everybody thought everybody else was bringing a camera!

Chris, Minz, Freda, Cui, Sheena & Boon
@ The Balcony

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Minz & Bro @ Crystal Jade Vivocity
(First event of the evening)



And then on to the second meeting

Christmas Gift Exchange @ The Canary, Clarke Quay

Back (L-R): Shu Min, Cui, Jon, Freda
Front (L-R): Minz, Yuhan, Boon, Sheena

And finally, the 3rd part of the evening...

Tau Huay @ Geylang

with Jon & Terence

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Christmas Eve itself was spent at Raffles The Plaza attending Ern & Kris' wedding dinner. Photos were taken by professional photographers but I haven't seen them yet! I've only got photos of the post-dinner clubbing @ New Asia Bar. Terrible music, lots of Caucasian party-bodies, very strange mix of people and - get this - $40 cover charge (it's Christmas Eve after all).

Absolutely insane.

I almost shook my head in disapproval at all the people there.

$40 to get in to mix around with an odd assortment of people.

And listen to rubbish music.

If I had paid, I would have felt terribly cheated.

But because I didn't pay, I left 20mins later

without feeling absolutely stupid.

A fool and his money etc etc...

Jeremy (who flew back from Oz to attend the dinner)
& Jeff, Ern's best man.

Mins, Sey Ing, Danlin & Reo

The ice-man at the door!

Insanity & Beyond...

For my 3-month employment, I'm entitled to have 49.9hours (yes, we are that exact here) of time-off and I think I'm sorely in need of a day off to do nothing but lie in bed from dawn till dusk - not that there is a lot of difference between the two because it's winter and dark almost the whole day. But at least, if I lie in bed, I don't put myself in potentially stressful and/or frustrating situations.

Before this past week, I've never experienced a nosebleed. Oh, but the joys of returning to a country with practically non-existent humidity include TWO nosebleeds (quick first aid quiz: when a person gets a nosebleed, should he/her tilt his/her head forward or backward?). To add to the stress of having a nosebleed, what better time to have it then in front of a patient! But bless the gene that allows me to be "calm" in a situation like that and "control" the nosebleed. "Control" meaning, take repeated deep breaths rapidly through the nose to try to "dry" the bleeding - it worked! (See what I mean when I said "humidity was non-existent". That's how dry the air was.) Thus, I managed to save dripping nasal haemoglobin, platelets and what-nots onto my crisp white uniform (it was Monday, too!) And so, my 84 year old patient and her 78 year old brother never had a clue that I was having a personal crisis while I was saying "Uh-huh", "hmmm" and "yeah" through the whole conversation while they were feeding me lies...

Oh yes... trying to pull the wool over my eyes, taking extreme liberties with the truth (euphemisms are ever less harsh) while I was trying my best to help them:

Me: (deep breath - I was having a nosebleed, remember?) Are the both of you coping at home?
Brother: Yes, no problems.
Me: Is there anything I can help you with? Organise services to lighten your load or provide equipment to make your life easier?
Patient and Brother: Oh no, we're fine.
Me: (looking at Brother) Are you keeping well? Were you recently hospitalised too?
Brother: Oh, no no... I was not.
Me: The nurses said you were recently hospitalised (*mumbles* for an overdose of aspirin in a suicide attempt, no less).
Brother: Hmm...
Me: Were you recently discharged home?
Brother: Y...eah.
Me: So why were you hospitalised?
Brother: For no reason, I was in one day and out the next. Just for one night.
Me: Yes, but why were you admitted into hospital?
Brother: I was feeling tired... I just came into the hospital to rest.
Me: Okayyyyyyyy...

The joys of my job!

And speaking of my job... my job description is changing! It's expanding actually... Literally expanding geographically - to include being posted to a hospital in the countryside for up to 6 months at a time. All new staff that join will have to be able to drive because the hospitals in the community are about 1hour away (by car) from the city area. Strangely though, there's no talk of providing us with cars, nor compensation for travelling time, nor allowances for petrol, insurance or road-tax. Current staff (me included) will have the option of opting into this new scheme. We are, of course, trying to get funding for "job re-training" to equip us with the ability to drive. Cheeky, yes... But no harm asking, yeah? Squeezing blood from stone comes to mind though...

That concludes this installment of insanity and beyond. Future installments are in the works, of course and perhaps I will tell you about an extremely interesting Russian patient I have (once I figure out what he's trying to say).

And finally, if you didn't understand a tenth of what happened above, that's perfectly alright.

I was just rambling...

Ahh... Yes.

So I'm back.

Indeed, my blog's been neglected. For quite a while. Didn't even indicate that I had, in fact, returned from Sydney.

But I have. Returned from Sydney to Singapore (where I had quite a wild 4 weeks). And then returned from Singapore to Aberdeen - with mixed feelings.

Yay-ness

• Checked in 33kg of luggage without being charged (allowance was 23kg)
  
• Sat next to un-annoying people on board the plane, although the situation was a bit uncertain during the first 20mins. Man on left of me couldn't find his passport and wanted to get off the plane to look for it but he couldn't find his boarding pass either and was therefore not allowed to disembark. Man got increasingly agitated and kept mumbling profanities under his breath. Oh well, turned out he's got a doctorate in political science and is a lecturer in a well known English University. One can never tell...


• Accommodation officers remembered to leave my keys at the security desk for me, thereby saving me from freezing out in the streets


• Came back to find my bedsheets have been changed and new towels laid out for me. Room service! =)


• Customs don't work on new year's day? Luggage wasn't screened and inspected. And therefore contraband not confiscated.

Sian-ness

• Boring movies on the plane


• No champagne to celebrate new year on the plane (Pilot: Thank you for choosing to fly with us over the new year. --> Only hint that the people in BA/Qantas are aware that it was the new year. No extra smiles for the special occassion.)


• Plane landed late at Heathrow Terminal 4 @ 0600. Plane to Aberdeen leaving Heathrow Terminal 1 @ 0655. Gate closes at 0635. My first run of the year.


• Leaving Singapore. Leaving friends and family and dog behind.


• Delayed luggage - and then damaged luggage.


• Arriving on New Year's Day - Taxi fare was 1.5 times metered rate.


• Short days. In fact, sun didn't come out today. Walked to work in the dark, walked home in the dark. Beware Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)


• Recieved letter from HM Revenue and Customs informing me of the amount of taxes I have to pay.


• No internet at home


• Dry lips, dry skin, dry hands, cracked feet

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Question of the day (from a colleague):

Why, if you can work in Australia, would you even bother coming back here?

Which made me think: YAH, WHY AH?

But everything has it's time and place. And for now, my place is here.

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I have to breathe and clear my mind.

It's very cluttered.