A Tempo XIX was one for the memories.
It's amazing after all this time that so many people continue to support to band. Amazing for me at least. I think everyone has their reasons for coming: the return to Esplanade, for one, created a sense of deja vu. More importantly, there was the opportunity to meet friends with whom you had lost contact over the short span of 2 years.
Of course, it could have been just me who has neglected keeping in touch. But whatever the case, it felt good to see everyone again.
I can still hear tico tico and takarajima playing in my mind...
Thank you rjcsb for the wonderful performance! :D

A penny saved is a penny earnt. I truly believe in this rule, but at times I don't know if I'm being overly obsessed with it. Am I?
When it comes to food, my first choice is always the most economical one. Preferably under 3 dollars or so. I almost never buy drinks, because they are the items with the highest profit margin. (or so I've read). And I've cut down on fruit juices and buy fruits instead because they are essentailly the same thing.
When it comes to shopping, my only urge is to buy books. And even that urge has been resisted time and again. I find I'm happy enough to browse books at borders, where they have comfy little chairs for you to finish your novel. And any books that I'm really interested to have, I get them from the library. Oh, and I never, ever buy clothes for myself.
I reckon the greatest part of my spending (for now) is in transport. [All those bus rides and MRT trips to buona vista really eat up my ez-link] It appears I've mastered the urge to buy buy and buy. And I should be able to save, save and save. But strangely enough, I don't seem to be able to save as much as I thought.
I wonder why.

Try searching PDCP on google. This was what I did, as a seemingly meaningless exercise.
Its quite strange looking at blog entries from seniors from this point of their m1 life. How they've been through all of this before. How similar your feelings now are to their feelings then. Its frightening that in our seniors, we can see our future... Anyway...
The Professional Development and Communications Programme, or PDCP, is a specially tailored programme for undergraduate medicine students targetted at instilling professionalism and improving communications skills. It's lame, but after reading a few blogs about this programme, my thoughts are similar to others - its all theory which lacks direct practical value. Though the Meads theory about the I and the Me is great and explains much about the self, it belongs more in philosophy rather than Medicine. My first reaction was: you don't need to know all these theories to be a good communicator!!!
On second thought: we are understanding how our impressions of ourselves are influenced by others, and why people do what they do - whether as an actor on the world stage or as an individual influenced by the id, the ego and the superego. What I do influences what you do, which influences me in return. The analogy of infinite mirrors! Right now my brain is a mess of all these theories man has thought up to explain his own behaviour. Perhaps the philosophers were right: to understand people, you have to understand yourself first.

The day before I had my first driving lesson, in which I learnt how to start and stop the car. Doesn't sound like much, but I suppose the first lesson was shorter because my instructor spent some time going through some theory and car mechanics. It was interesting, and talking to my instructor relieved my anxiety that was understandable for a first lesson. And despite my misgivings, I rather liked his method of teaching, which was he would bark commands out while I would follow like a "puppet". This enabled me to get used to the motions of driving a car, and was good except that I would have to think while acting like a puppet so I could repeat the actions myself. (which wasn't that bad since I can more or less start the car now. just that I tend to forget to pull up the handbrake and the car still jerks in the beginning because of uneven pressure on the gas) I'm making it a point to recall the steps when starting a car, even little things like the seatbelt, the front view mirror and checking the blind spots, because my next lesson will be only a week from this post.
Yesterday I celebrated my 20th birthday! It was nothing fanciful, just a family gathering in the evening. The highlight was this larger-than-usual blueberry cheescake, which of course was store-bought. (nobody in my family can bake...) But it was delicious nevertheless, and I thought they should have added the words "Happy Mother's Day" in addition to "Happy Birthday Jia Yi" to make it extra special. But mom always puts my birthday above mother's day, which nearly always falls very close. I think my mom rocks. Happy Mother's Day! (=
I felt my birthday wasn't very well spent because most of it was wasted on playing the computer, after which you get an awful headache and sore eyes. You kind of lose your grip on reality after a while, which is not a good thing. And I must apologise for playing games on the computer while my sister was studying for her common tests coz I know they must have distracted her quite a bit even though she insisted they did not.
Anyway, tmr school starts on a supposedly more relaxed note. Hope PDCP will be fun! (When I told my research mentor that we M1 students are going for a class to improve our communications skills, she smirked, "So medicine students cannot communicate la!". So embarrassing!) I don't view myself as an excellent communicator, but I do believe I can do so decently. Anyway, I'm viewing PDCP with an open mind. Just to see how it goes...

Ytd I was quite proud of myself coz I chionged finished my stuff at the lab then chionged to the botanic gardens for lakota picnic. Everyone was late, and I was only slightly later than everyone else! And this was despite having to make a long walk down half the length of botanic gardens (from the law school entrance to the symphony lake!)
They chose a spot that proved rather scenic, though a bit out of the way - a hut overlooking the symphonic lake! I thought it was a great place to be close to nature, and it is! There were plenty of fishes, tortoises, mynahs and other wildlife to see and feed. Though when I arrived it was apparent some people had been doing some eating themselves. There was plenty of finger food left over still, however, and I could happily help myself to the chocolate cake, durian puffs, cheese and egg sandwiches and all the other goodies! My purchase of a curry puff and chicken pao was apparently redundant. But at least some people ate the pringles and chocolate gigabytes that I painfully lugged to the place.
Food we may have had in abundance but entertainment plans had been neglected. Not to say we didn't have some fun just sitting around and feeding the occasional mynah. But besides the special location, it was an unremarkable trip, though it did provide further chances for intra og bonding.
When people started leaving for dance and other stuff our brief outing drew more or less to a close. Somehow reluctant to go home so early, a few us (wl, eli, gl and I) decided to meet the dance ppl after they finish for dinner. Meanwhile we headed to the LAN shop to have a shot of Battlefield 2. OMG its a game I would highly recommend though I am an absolute n00b at it. I sheer fun running around in the battlefield playing coop with friends, and getting to try all sorts of vehicles from tanks to fighter jets. (not to mention parachuting down when the jet fails to land) I suppose some video games do have their merits...
Then dinner was tomato ramen at Ajisan PS, with Ju, Jason and Chris. I wish Jon could have come! haiz.

I guess today was the first day I had hands on in the lab. It was the first time in 5 years that I laid my hands on a micropipette or PBS buffer solution (I vaguely recall using this excessively during the IBN attachment long ago). So excited/nervous I was that I contaminated an entire PBS buffer solution the first time I touched it. I plunged the micropipette into the micropipette head so hard that I bent the tip. And I took the micropipette out of the sterile hood to remove the blunted tip. What a day of embarrassing mishaps! Luckily, my mentor was most patient and forgiving, and merely pointed out my mistake laughing. I had to try my best to look serious while she pointed out all my mistakes. Argh. I think I've learnt from my mistakes and I'd be an idiot to repeat them. But unfortunately/fortunately I am quite sure there are more to come. I'd just have to try my best to minimise them by keeping awake, watching carefully and listening attentively.
For once in my life I feel that all the SPA I did in JC was useful. Although SPA involved lots of wayang and memory work, it did keep me on my toes, and make me more conscious of what I was doing.
Is this MOE's way of preparing everybody to be a researcher? I doubt many have fond memories of SPA, and not everyone is gearing to become a researcher. But despite its faults, I think more SPA could have reduced mishaps like bending the tip of a micropipette.

Yesterday I attended WL's mum's wake. Sheila smsed the whole OG about it and consequently all of us turned up, except those that were overseas. It shows that even though we medical students may appear apathetic at times, but we still care for our friends who need our support :)
The OG stayed through almost 2 hours at the wake, including observing a Buddhist ritual that involved chanting monks. There wasn't exactly much to say to a friend whose parents just died, but I think the important thing is that we were there to offer support.
Yesterday was the first time in a long time since I entered Junction 8. The food junction had morphed into this spanking new, brightly lit place with nice big letterings for the stall. Unfortunately the food costs seem to have risen as well. This pepper rice meal that I bought cost $5.50, which I thought was a bit high for beef on a hotplate. It had this fancy paper ring around it with printed instructions on how to enjoy the meal. It's obvious that its a marketing gimmick to make the product more attractive, and it works. Pepper rice rating: 3/5 for the poor value for money.
This morning Sandhya and I interviewed prof tay. It is shocking how many hobbies a professor can have! Books, pets, cars, gramophones, you name it, he has it.And he still manages his job as deputy head of anatomy. Won't disclose too many details - more will be published in Pulse! (I love this job! I think its fascinating to hear from the professor himself abbout his work and hobbies...)

I'm going to embark on a rather cheem project that I don't understand. (yet) But I'm rather looking forward to research, because I haven't done it in a very long time, and also because I wanted to maximise my holidays. And so far, things have turned out well. My mentor is very approachable and eager to teach! So hopefully the project I'm doing, focussing on ER cell migration, will turn out well. (author's note: on hindsight this is not the most disease related project available. But it involves live cell microscopy with beautiful colours! Which is the most aesthetically pleasing project I could find)

It was a good day to be at school because I got to meet some classmates whom I've missed. During my lunch hour Ching Hui, then Liang Yi emerged from the 'horror' of anatomy vivas. They all complained about difficult questions, but I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I heard.

Lots of things to look forward to. On Fri after interviewing prof tay our OG is having a picnic! And tomorrow is a public holiday! Woot.