Stethoscope time

I want this!

The Litrmann Cardiology III Black Edition. Comes with free engraving on medisave.au!

Sweet!

OMG..

I’m in.

I’m going to be a doctor.

This is one of those moments you can’t really believe is actually happening.

I’m now a Monash Graduate Medical School student.

Thanks to everyone for their support all the way to this point. =) And to certain people for tolerating my incessant whining.

Now to pick out a stethoscope.

Countdown to interview

Slightly over a week now before the Monash Gippsland interview. Been feeding my brain loads of bioethics journals, scenario questions, writing answers over and over again, scouring the forums for new perspectives to old questions…

The result?

I think I’m getting more accustomed to on-the-spot lateral thinking now. Hopefully this massive amount of reading and prep will be sufficient in helping me through this seemingly insurmountable barrier…

The folks on paging dr forums have been total gems. I feel so much better after talking to them and realizing I’m far from being alone (in terms of being 1. an arts student and 2. scoring 59 on the gamsat). Knowing you have fellow med school hopefuls soldiering along with you, supporting one another – that’s a feeling of simple awesome reassurance.

Some lyrics for the soul

Baby u know that I miss u
I wanna get with you
Tonight but I can’t now
Baby girl and that’s the issue
Girl u know I miss u
I just wanna kiss u
But I can’t rite now so baby
Kiss me through the phone

yeah… such inspirational lyrics…

Big head and tiny arms

The Options of the Optionless

I’ve had a good 3 weeks of freedom now, having completed my degree and with no immediate plans (or at least, none that are set in stone). Feels rather floaty, waking up in the same foggy haze that I fell asleep in, going through the day eyes charged with the same pointless gaze till they close again. Now that the excitement of freedom has worn off, only sheer sepulchral boredom remains, showing me with very little effort at all that this is what it is like to be a zombie.

I’ve started on studying Social Studies again to help tutor Yuan in preparation for the dreaded exams later this year. It’s a whole easier going now I’m not at the business end of the O Level knife. I’m endeavoring to finish the entire syllabus (inclusive of question answering techniques) in 9 weeks (with two sessions a week, that brings it to 18 sessions in total). This would leave me with another 2 weeks before his prelims to tie up any loose ends.

I haven’t tutored in FOREVER.

Forever sounds long, but in today’s context, it barely covers a year.

Especially with all these people running amok, flinging around like confetti, deluging unsuspecting passersby in a torrent of “whoopee!”.

The sanctity of “forever” has been reduced to a “maybe we should sit down and talk about this”.

Which brings me to something I was discussing with Sara Tan the other day. What of these fairy tales, still implanting delusional theories of love and romance and happily-ever-afters in the impressionable minds of your young? Girls (and some boys) grow up to become women (or men), heady with subconscious dreams of a knight (who may or may not be a man) on a white steed/motor vehicle/transportation device, sweeping them off to a happily ever after in some castle. Or mansion. Or terrace house. Or government flat. Perhaps it is these very seeds of things-that-will-probably-never-come-to-pass that are the cause of unhappiness when said women (or men) do not find their happy ending.

Let’s get to writing some real stories. Ones with realistic endings. Like having the prince and Snow White go back to their grand castle, only to find out after a couple of dates that it isn’t going to work out because he has unresolved issues with his family, leading to a nasty teary breakup. Or Prince Charming realizing that Cinderella has an insatiable shopping addiction and squanders away fortunes on gowns she will only wear till midnight and shoes she tends to forget while leaving a party. Or Beauty finding out the castle she now lives in is littered with decades of furballs.

Something along those lines.

According to Xuan’s economics lectures, persons who are unwilling to find work cannot be listed as unemployed. They are simply cut out of the equation due to their lack of name and tendency to ruin the numbers. Perhaps the term “self employed by a really bad employer” is a more accurate description instead of “    “.

So, my last week was pretty spectacular for a self employed by a really bad employer person. I did get to finally meet Dr Chow and talk to her about my concerns about medical schools and the career path of a healthcare professional. And it was the first time anyone’s heard my reason for why I wanted to pursue this rather ludicrous sounding dream of mine.

If I had known she was a medical school interviewer, I wouldn’t have said anything…….

But after pouring out my heart and naiveté onto her and her lunch, she said she was convinced.

And I’m a much happier camper.

Today I heard of another case from a distant aunt of mine whom I was meeting for the first time today. Her daughter was accepted into medical school despite her really dismal grades.

Little bits of info like these make me that little bit more hopeful of getting into medical school next year.

But what if I don’t? What then?

I’m not entirely sure, to be brutally honest. My ultimate goal remains unchanged, but the pathways to it wind deeper and deeper into muck and thick undergrowth of confusion and pandering about. My choices stand as follow:

1. Sit for the GAMSAT again
And hope for a better score. And in the mean time, take up some part time work here or there while doing some voluntary work at the hospitals (though my mom isn’t too keen about it now that H1N1 is going about)

2. Take up a graduate diploma in Science or Biotechnology
It’s a 1 year course in Melbourne University and covers all the course prerequisites for the Melbourne MD to be opened in 2011. I’ve just sent an email to them to verify if a) I am eligible for that course to begin with, and b) if courses done there can count towards subject prereqs. If it’s a green light for both those questions, then it might not be too bad a next move if I don’t get into med school next year.

3. Sit the MCAT again in June and apply for Duke NUS
Really really really not sure if I should do this. It’s a 4 year intensive course with it’s clinical year (oddly enough) placed in the second year and not the third or final year like other medical schools I’ve read about. I would very much like to focus on the clinical side… The research year might kill me…

4. Join the SCDF as a paramedic for 3k a month
Okay… I’m making that up. I did email them to ask how much the entry pay would be in the paramedic career path given that I have a degree (degree holders can get 3k entry pay with the qualifications I currently hold, I think) but the pay for paramedics on the site is listed only up to poly diploma and A levels. With a 1.5 year training period and a 2 year bond after that, it’s more or less the option if I’m giving up on med school.

Depending on what happens this October, we might spend a really really really long time apart.

=(

Sigh…

Let’s go skiing!

The Unwritten Code in Canada

12 more days

To GAMSAT 2009

Estimated score from practice paper today:

Section I = 56

Section III = 66

Not too bad…

Might get me somewhere…

My head hurts though… And I took forever to finish the papers…

My humanities section is dismal…

One more practice of Katakana and it’s off to bed for me.

Eh?

ACCOMMODATION IN HALL 12 FOR AY2008/09

I am pleased to offer you admission into the Hall of Residence 12 for the academic year 2008/2009.

Acceptance of Offer

In accepting the offer of accommodation, you have agreed to pay the rental fees for the duration of your stay, JCRC subscription fee and other fees imposed relating to your residence in the Hall. Also, you are obliged to read the Rules and Regulations governing Residence in Halls of Residence at NTU and to abide by them. The rules and regulations can be found in this website: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/Campus/Accommodation/Undergrad/HallsofResidence/Documents/HallRules.pdf

You are advised to pay special attention to clauses 3b, 3d, 4a, 4b, 4c, 6a, 6b, 7b and 7c.

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Please collect your room keys from Hall 12 office from 15 Jan 2009 till 19 Jan 2009 during office hours. You will be billed ¾ month of Jan 2009 if you check in on 15 Jan 09. You will be billed ½ month of Jan 09, if you check in from 16 Jan 09 to 19 Jan 09. All keys must be collected by 19 Jan 2009, if you accept the offer. If we do not hear from you by 19 Jan 09, the offer will lapse and we will offer the place to someone else.

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A non-refundable fee of $10.70 (inclusive of GST) for JCRC Subscription would be chargeable upon check-in.

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HALL 12 OFFICER

Let it Rock