Posted in Simple Pleasures of Life

Simple Pleasures of Life #2

Listening to George Michael’s “Faith” before starting a day at the hospital (singalong/dance optional).

Reference to Scrubs, but totally gets me amped up for the day 🙂

Posted in Simple Pleasures of Life

Simple Pleasures of Life #3

Seeing a mother hold her newborn baby for the first time

Okay so this one isn’t really “simple” to come across, but when you do, it’s one of the most touching moments you’ll see. There’s something in the mum’s (and dad’s) smile that cannot be described by words. Definitely one of the (few) perks of OBGYN run. Man I can’t wait to have kids some day (I’ll regret saying this in the future).

Posted in Simple Pleasures of Life

Simple Pleasures of Life #4

Hugging someone, or a pet, or a pillow. Maybe even falling asleep like that.

I was so tired after hospital yesterday that as soon as I got home I collapsed in bed and just hugged my pillow. It was so damn fluffy and soft and comfortable. Totally fell asleep for 15 min after that… Anyway, hugging releases oxytocin and endorphins and a whole shitload of feel-good hormones, so you should go hug someone. Right now.

Posted in Simple Pleasures of Life

Simple Pleasures of Life #7

Cracking open a cold beer after a looong day.

We had weekend shifts today (and tomorrow) so I had to be at hospital from 8am to 6pm. It was…absolutely horrible. I mean luckily I saw one birth in the morning, but after that, NOTHING happened so the other student and I sat in the tea room for 6 hours twiddling on our thumbs. Well we actually got a bit of work done by quizzing each other prepping for exams lol. But still, the sitting around in boredom was pure psychological torture

When I got home, I opened the fridge, grabbed a beer, took a swig and BAM the day improved 😀 Gotta love beer~ Also made cupcakes for the first time hehe. Well, using a pre-prepared mix, so kinda cheating. Meh it tastes good XD

It also looks angry:

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Simple Pleasures of Life #8

Good Scotch and a good movie.

Finally finished weekend shifts. My god, two 8am~8:30pm back to back is inhumane >< But wait, there’s more!!! I have 7am~7pm delivery unit shift tomorrow, then 7:30am ward round on Tuesday where we get ripped to shreds. Fuck yes. On top of the piling notes that I’m failing to study due to crazy amounts of O&G. The only thing that makes it all better? Good Scotch and a good movie.

Just finished watching Now You See Me and I definitely loved it! 😀 I’ve always been a fan of magic and this movie explored the field relatively creatively. I particularly liked the magician fight scene hehe. And tbh I didn’t fully work out the twist so that was a pleasant surprise. Welp, time for me to get 5.5 hours of sleep before I have to go in to sit around and do nothing. Thank god for the simple pleasures of life that keep me going.

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Simple Pleasures of Life #10

Watching new episodes of your favourite shows and laughing so hard that all your worries and troubles melt away.

The new (and final) season of How I Met Your Mother started today!!! I’ve been so excited for this and the season premier (double episode) lived up to my expectations~ Had some good laughs hehe. I’m excited for what the rest of the season will bring, and I’m interested in the format of the season (won’t spoil anything). Also, there was a new episode of Adventure Time and that’s always welcome! 🙂

My good mood today is brought to you by what I said above, 9:30am finish from hospital, good nap, pumpkin soup (success!), nice salmon, new Magic cards (woo!), stormy weather and essentially no study. Daddy needed a break day after 34 hours of hospital over the weekends and Monday…

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Posted in Simple Pleasures of Life

Simple Pleasures of Life #14

Taking time off to do something fun when you can’t afford to.

This is most relevant to my life right now with my O&G OSCE (clinical examinations) on Friday, short cases (biggest clinical exam of med school) next Tuesday and two gigantic exams (testing us on literally everything we learnt in med school) the week after that all crashing down at once. The sheer pressure of all of this is really pushing all of us (5th year med students) to a point of anxiety, depression and insanity, and without some way to relieve that stress somewhere, we’d probably end up jumping off somewhere tall or go on a shooting spree.

I personally believe human beings feel the happiest when they are enjoying a luxury they cannot afford. For example, having a nice dinner out once in a while even though your budget is straining. The same applies to time. No matter how busy life gets, just stop what you’re doing and take some time for yourself. Whether it be spending a couple hours having lunch with a friend, playing card games for half an hour, or singing a song on your guitar for ten minutes. Hell, go to the park and lay on the grass for even five minutes, doing nothing but staring into the blue, blue sky. Trust me, it will make a huge difference to your mental health and work productivity.

Here’s an analogy from an old ARK post:

There are two clocks: a still clock and a clock that is always a minute late.
Which clock is more accurate?

The answer is the still clock – it tells the correct time twice every day, but the other clock is always wrong despite the fact that it constantly ticks.
Sometimes when life gets you down, it is better to stop and rest instead of trudging on forever, always out of sync.

(Source: https://jineralknowledge.com/two-clocks)

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Simple Pleasures of Life #18

Surviving a tough rotation and getting good feedback at the end.

I survived obstetrics & gynaecology!!! The team I was on is infamous because the consultant is well-known for…yelling at students if they do something wrong. Won’t go into detail but we (two other students and I) must’ve been the first group to go the six weeks without being yelled at. Even got very positive feedback today for last day assessment! She wrote on the form “encouraged to consider O&G” (I’d never). Still it’s been rather stressful because of the sheer pressure and time spent in hospital. And I have an OSCE (clinical exam) tomorrow morning, yippee.

The end is in siiiiiight. Just OSCE, short cases and two exams until freedom! May Robert Downey Jr. watch over me.

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Simple Pleasures of Life #24

Drowning in a tsunami of nostalgia.

So recently a 4-episode anime special came out… called Pokemon The Origin. Yes, they finally made a Pokemon anime that stays true to the original Pokemon Red/Blue game!!! Well, Red/Green because it’s originally Japanese. Anyway, I watched all of it and love love loved it 😀 The anime itself was good quality and there were tons of references to the original game that I grew up with! Plus, Mega Charizard X what. Needless to say, it evoked powerful earthquakes of nostalgia within me.

It’s probably not an understatement to say that Pokemon was the single most awesome thing about my childhood. I was – I AM – obsessed about the series, whether it be the game, cartoon or trading card game. I still have happy memories playing the original games on my gameboy, and emulating it on my old school computer. Hell, used to have it all saved in floppy disks and shit. And the days new Pokemon games came out were like second Chistmases to me~

All that nostalgia I mentioned above could not be ignored. And despite the fact that I have a massive exam next Tuesday, I have…restarted Pokemon Red. OTL. Oh and what’s that? Pokemon X/Y comes out tomorrow? Well shit, good bye med school. But it’ll be totally worth it.

Time to catch ‘em all (unlike the STDs that I should be studying for exams).

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