Friday, June 30, 2006

7.5cm

= 75 millimetres

= 75000 micrometres

= the height of the bio essays i have languishing in my care for marking.

SIGH.

I wonder how many pieces of paper THAT is..

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Alliterated Prodigal Son: The Final Fixing of the Foolish Fugitive

Feeling footloose, fancy-free and frisky, this feather-brained fellow
finagled his fond father into forking over his fortune. Forthwith, he
fled for foreign fields and frittered his farthings feasting
fabulously with fair-weather friends. Finally, fleeced by those folly
filled fellows and facing famine, he found himself a feed flinger in a
filthy farm-lot. He fain would have filled his frame with foraged
food from fodder fragments.

"Fooey! My father's flunkies fare far fancier," the frazzled
fugitive fumed feverishly, frankly facing fact.

Frustrated from failure and filled with forebodings, he fled for
his family. Falling at his father's feet, he floundered forlornly.
"Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited further family
favors . . ."

But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching,
frantically flagged his flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and
fix a feast.

But the fugitive's fault finding frater , faithfully farming his
father's fields for free, frowned at this fickle forgiveness of former
falderal. His fury flashed, but fussing was futile.

His foresighted father figured, "Such filial fidelity is fine, but
what forbids fervent festivities? The fugitive is found! Unfurl the
flags! With fanfare flaring, let fun, frolic and frivolity flow
freely, former failures forgotten and folly forsaken. Forgiveness
forms a firm foundation for future fortitude."

from Lori's mishmash humor page

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I needed an expert to tell me that..

"Simply looking out the window is probably good enough to allow you yourself to predict what the weather will be like for at least the next 15 minutes or so, according to one eminent New Zealand meterologist."

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

a concatenation in the chain of concentrated, conforming humanity.

yeah, that's me.

on days like this i feel like i want to stretch and break out of the mold but yet i know that's just my heart telling me and it will lose to the rationalism of the mind that says "KEEP IN LINE WITH THE MASSES and keep yourself out of trouble"

bah.

Friday, June 23, 2006

End of Holiday Blog

Done in the hols:
- Had a vacation
- Attended a course
- Did up the midyear paper
- Marked SOME (hehehehehe) papers and pracs
- Moved place in staffroom

Yet to do:
- Clean room
- FINISH the abovementioned marking
- Prepare the majority of stuff for Term 3

Help, where did my holidays go??

Back to work-mode..

So close..

.. and yet so far away.

Do you realise the only thing holding you back is yourself?
I wish I could help you launch, but I cannot..

remove your own restraints.

go on... soar//

Sunday, June 18, 2006

A Short History of Medicine


I have an earache...



2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.

1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.

1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.

1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.

1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.

2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.


Case Report:
Unique Case of Aerial Sleigh-Borne Present-Deliverer's Syndrome

Source:  North Pole Journal of Medicine, vol 1 no.1, December 1998

Author: Dr. Iman Elf, M.D.

On January 2, 1998, Mr. C, an obese, white caucasian male, who
appeared approximately 65 years old, but who could not accurately
state his age, presented to my family practice office with complaints of
generalized aches and pains, sore red eyes, depression, and general
malaise. The patient's face was erythematic, and he was in mild
respiratory distress, although his demeanor was jolly. He attributed
these symptoms to being "not as young as I used to be, HO! HO!
HO!", but thought he should have them checked out. The patient's
occupation is delivering presents once a year, on December 25th, to
many people worldwide. He flies in a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer,
and gains access to homes via chimneys. He has performed this work
for as long as he can remember. Upon examination and ascertaining
Mr. C's medical history, I have discovered what I believe to be a
unique and heretofore undescribed medical syndrome related to this
man's occupation and lifestyle, named Aerial Sleigh-Borne Present-
Deliverer's Syndrome, or ASBPDS for short.

Medical History: Mr. C. admits to drinking only once a year, and only
when someone puts rum in the eggnog left for him to consume during
his working hours. However, I believe his bulbous nose and
erythematic face may indicate long-term ethanol abuse. He has
smoked pipe tobacco for many years, although workplace regulations
at the North Pole have forced him to cut back to one or two pipes per
day for the last 5 years. He has had no major illnesses or surgeries in
the past. He has no known allergies.
Travel history is extensive, as he visits nearly every location in the
world annually. He has had all his immunizations, including all
available vaccines for tropical diseases. He does little exercise and
eats large meals with high sugar and cholesterol levels, and a high
percentage of calories derived from fat (he subsists all year on food he
collects on Dec. 25, which consists mainly of eggnog, Cola drinks, and
cookies). Family history was unavailable, as the patient could not
name any relatives.

Physical Examination and Review of Systems, With Social/Occupational
Correlates: The patient wears corrective lenses, and has 20/80
vision. His conjunctivae were hyperalgesic and erythematous, and
Fluorescein staining revealed numerous randomly occurring corneal
abrasions. This appears to be caused by dust, debris, and other
particles which strike his eyes at high velocity during his flights.
He has headaches nearly every day, usually starting half way through
the day, and worsened by stress.

He had extensive ecchymoses, abrasions, lacerations, and first-degree
burns on his head, arms, legs, and back, which I believe to be caused
mainly by trauma experienced during repeated chimney descents and
falls from his sleigh. Collisions with birds during his flight, gunshot
wounds (while flying over the Los Angles area) and bites consistent
with reindeer teeth may also have contributed to these wounds.
Patches of leukoderma and anesthesia on his nose, cheeks, penis, and
distal digits are consistent with frostbite caused by periods of
hypothermia during high-altitude flights. He had a blood pressure of
150/95, a heart rate of 90 beats/minute, and a respiratory rate of 40. He
has had shortness of breath for several years, which worsens during
exertion. He has no evidence of acute cardiac or pulmonary failure,
but it was my opinion that he is quite unfit due to his mainly sedentary
lifestyle and poor eating habits which, along with his stress, smoking,
and male gender, place him at high risk for coronary heart disease,
myocardial infarction, emphysema and other problems. Blood tests
subsequently revealed higher-than-normal CO levels, which I attribute
to smoke inhalation during chimney descent into non-extinguished
fireplaces. He has experienced chronic back pain for several years. A
neurological examination was consistent with a mild herniation of his
L4-L5 or L5-S1 disk, which probably resulted from carrying a heavy
sack of toys, enduring bumpy sleigh rides, and his jarring feet-first
falls to the bottom of chimneys. Mr. C. had a swollen left scrotum,
which, upon biopsy, was diagnosed as scrotal cancer, the likely
etiology being the soot from chimneys.

Psychiatric Examination and Social/Occupational Correlates: Mr. C's
depression has been chronic for several years. I do not believe it to be
organic in nature-rather, he has a number of unresolved issues in his
personal and professional life which cause him distress. He exhibits
long-term amnesia, and cannot recall any events more than 5 years ago.
This may be due to a repressed psychological trauma he experienced,
head trauma, or, more likely, the mythical nature of his existence.
Although the patient has a jolly demeanor, he expresses profound
unhappiness. He reports anger at not receiving royalties for the
widespread commercial use of his likeness and name. Although he
reports satisfaction with the sex he has with his wife, I sense he may
feel erotic impulses when children sit on his lap, and I worry he may
have pedophillic tendencies. This could be the subconscious reason
he employs only vertically-challenged workers ("elfs"), but I believe
his hiring practices are more likely a reaction formation due to body-
image problems stemming from his obesity.

The patient feels annoyed and worried when he is told many people
do not believe he exists, and I feel this may develop into a serious
identity crisis if not dealt with. He reports great stress over having to
choose which gifts to give to children, and a feeling of guilt and
inadequacy over the decisions he makes as to which children are
"naughty" and "nice". Because he experiences total darkness lasting
many months during winter at the North Pole, Seasonal Affective
Disorder (SAD) may be a contributor to his depression.

Treatment and Counselling: All Mr. C's wounds were cleaned and
dressed, and he was prescribed an antibiotic ointment for his eyes. A
referral to a physiotherapist was made to ameliorate his disk problem.
On February 9, a bilateral orchidectomy was performed, and no further
cancer has been detected as of this writing. He was counselled to
wash soot from his body regularly, to avoid lit-fire chimney descents
where practicable, and to consider switching to a closed-sleigh,
heated, pressurized sleigh. He refused suggestions to add a helmet
and protective accessories to his uniform. He was put on a high-fibre,
low cholesterol diet, and advised to reduce his smoking and drinking.
He has shown success with these lifestyle changes so far, although it
remains to be seen whether he will be able to resist the treats left out
for him next Christmas. He visits a psychiatrist weekly, and reports
doing "Not too bad, HO! HO! HO!".

Conclusions: Physicians, when presented with aerial sleigh-borne
present-deliverers exhibiting more than a few of these symptoms,
should seriously consider ASBPDS as their differential diagnosis. I
encourage other physicians with access to patients working in allied
professions (e.g.Nightly Teeth-Purchasers or Annual Candied Egg
Providers) to investigate whether analogous anatomical/
physiological/ psychological syndromes exist. The happiness of
children everywhere depend on effective management of these
syndromes.




Friday, June 16, 2006

1st CG

First CG with W167 today after UM1's shock disbanding last week.

Still feels like I am attending make-up CG though. A little lost, a little alone, a lot of missing the old and familiar faces while putting up a lot of effort to get to know the new people. The whole let's-try-to-fit-in rigmarole. And I guess it will be like that for the next few weeks..

Nothing to do with the CG itself, nothing to do with the people there. It is just me missing the old and not quite yet embracing the new.

Never thought I would appreciate W80 so much till I transferred to W110. Never thought that for W110 too till I transferred to UM1. And now, with the transfer to W167, I suddenly treasure UM1 so much more. I am eagerly looking forward to the weekend so I can see my friends again.

Change is good and this change is for a reason.. Must move on.

Jiayou Huiming.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Enough of selfishness!

I have finally come to understand selfishness.

It is the total inability to see things from others' point of view; it is the concept that one's own needs and programmes are paramount, too-bad-for-all-you-other-mere-mortals. I, Me and Myself are the holy trinity.

BAH.

The most irritating thing is, when you confront selfishness in the face, it assumes an innocent, oh-so-hurt look of "who, me?". The selfish one does not understand that he or she is selfish. Sigh.

Monday, June 05, 2006

in the mood for cynicism..
















This one.. perfect for my students..


at despair.com.

I hate..

.. moving.. gaaaaaaahhhh.

Pack, label, shove, stack, repack, compact, count, recount, manhandle, break leg, break back, push, pull, lift, drop, see stars, shelve, wrap, tape, tie, discard.

Repeat! in four weeks.

Sigh.

.. to FLATTENED.

My gosh I admire all my usher friends more and more each time we band together to do big events. No matter how exhausting, how stretching and how long-drawn-out, we rise to the occasion magnificently. Goodness when Pastor was talking about he could have EMERGE every day of the week I bet you the first thing running thru our collective minds was "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! we are so tired!" but I have no doubts we would have made it happen anyway. Anointing from God is what it takes, is what makes our combined efforts more than the sum of their parts.

Main take-home lesson from this EMERGE: Being a Daniel in the marketplace. An update of the concept "in the world but not of the world". Many read it as being simply physically ON the earth - - nope, sorry, it's about being immersed in, relevant to and excelling at your situation AND yet staying Kingdom-centered in order to be the light that shines. (woah what a long sentence =) yeah modern vs contemporary.

OK am going off to make my way back across the sunny island state to SingEx to continue the Big Move. Packed last night, so freaking tired till i fell asleep halfway thru eating. Aneh pai kwa. Sigh. Now going for the moving and unpacking. God give me strength, You know I need it.

be back soon...